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Trade Unions and Industrial Relations Worksheet (Student Version)

• Trade Unions and Industrial Relations Worksheet
• Tutor notes

This worksheet examines the current role of Trade Unions - the work they do, their members and their role in industrial disputes. It then goes on to consider good and bad employment practices and finally looks at the role of ACAS.

Step 1 - We're all in it together?

Trade Unions have been about in the UK for more than 200 years. To find out more about them, go to the TUC Company Facts section on Biz/ed and find out answers to the following questions:

What is a Trade Union?

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Why do people join unions?

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What is the TUC?

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Step 2 - What "united groups" are there?

Use the TUC company facts section on Biz/ed to find out why unions belong to the TUC.

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The TUC has a wide variety of members. Use the TUC web site (http://www.tuc.org.uk) to find out more about some of the unions that are affiliated. Try to find the 3 smallest and the 3 largest unions who are affiliated, and note down some details about them in the table below:

The pattern of membership of trade unions has changed considerably in the UK in the last 20 years. Unions reached their heyday in the late '70s and membership numbers have declined since. Use the TUC Company Facts section on Biz/ed to fill in the table and answer the questions below:

Why has this decline in membership happened?

1.

Step 3 - The good, the bad and the ugly

Trade Unions are far more likely to become involved in a dispute where an employer is not behaving as a good employer should. The TUC Company Facts section on Biz/ed gives some examples of good and bad employment practices. Find these examples and note them down below:

Good employment practices?

1.

Bad employment practices?

1.

An abuse of an employer's power may lead to an industrial dispute. Often these will be resolved by negotiation between the firm and the union representatives. However, more complex disputes can sometimes be more difficult to resolve, and it may even prove necessary to........................

Step 4 - Call in the mediators?

The principal organisation for mediation in disputes in this country is ACAS. Go to the ACAS web site (http://www.acas.org.uk/) to get the answers to the following questions:

N.B. You may find the publications section the most useful.

What does ACAS stand for?

What does ACAS seek to achieve?

1.

What sort of problems can ACAS deal with?

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What 2 methods does ACAS use to try to prevent disputes arising?

1.

If however, they cannot prevent a dispute and need to resolve it they try to use either 'conciliation' or 'arbitration'.

What is meant by conciliation?

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What is meant by arbitration?

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What effects would you expect a higher level of industrial disputes to have on the economy?

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Step 5 - A wage too far?

N.B. To complete this step you will have to have covered supply and demand theory.

As well as representing their members more generally, unions also act on their member's behalf in wage negotiations. The level of wages is determined by the interaction of supply and demand, as shown in the diagram below. W(1) is the equilibrium wage and Q(1) is the equilibrium quantity.

Draw clearly on the diagram the effect of a union pushing through a high wage settlement. Mark the level of unemployment that results.

What could a union do in their wage negotiations to overcome the negative effects on unemployment of a higher wage?

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