The Politicization Of Trade Unions.. It Has Been Unbearable

The first legislation to try and weaken TU’s was the 1980 Employment Act which was targeting secondary boycotting and picketing. The Government wanted to limit the scale and scope of these activities, to individuals who were

Two years ago the United Steel Workers organized the 400 workers at Maple Grove Foods, a food processing company in Western Ontario. Previously the company had been in operation for over thirty years as a non-union shop. Management had tried to convince employees not to join the union. The employees were paid quite well, in the view of the company.

Title: Unions have played a significant role in workforce history, have they outlived their purpose.

During the time period 1875 to 1900, the labor unions failed miserably in their efforts to amend the working conditions their workers were under. During the 19th century, the Second Industrial Revolution and The Gilded Age were taking place. These were transmuting the way society was viewed and how people lived their everyday lives. During the labor movement, there were many different organizations and groups that advocated change. Two of those specific groups were the Knights of Labor and American Federation of Labor. The failure of those labor unions between 1875 and 1900 in the U.S. was mostly due to the union's actions, followed by problems within the unions, and people's response to the union.

In Wayne Roberts and John Bullen’s A Heritage of Hope and Struggle: Workers, Unions and Politics of Canada 1930-1982, Roberts and Bullen’s outline the struggles and hardships Canadians endure post WWII on their path to prosperity with their employers. The journey begins late 1940s; conflicts emerge regarding union security which results in strikes, the 1945 Ford Windsor strike occurs as the organization’s employees demand the stability of the union. In an attempt to resolve the issues, Justice Ivan Rand urges a formula to “check-off dues” from employee paycheques to invest in the union, regarding finances and its activities. The fifties include the creation of the Canadian Labor Congress 1956 and the New Democratic Party. The sixties introduce

The Canadian labour movement consolidated an educational system between 1956 and 1972, the first purpose of which was training the fewer than 5% of organized workers who became active in their unions as stewards, committee persons and local officers (Taylor, 143). During this time, political education courses taught trade unionists why it was in their best interest to support the NDP and trained activists to work on party election

More than seventy-five years after the enactment of the National Labor Relations Act, is there still a place for unions? The solution may lay in the definition of labor itself.

Despite much of efforts in an attempt to regain political power, labor continues to have a deep frustration and stagnation. Thus, the future political possibilities of the labor movement are in question, and the need for critical evaluation is important. Understanding how and why the workers were able to have a collective power in the postwar time, how they lost it, and how they could restore it is the topic of Rethinking Labor Politics in Canada.

Before the 1930s, labor unions had little to no voice in the contracts of industrialized companies. Labor Unions “are organizations of workers whose primary objectives are to improve the pecuniary and nonpecuniary conditions or employment among their members” (Ehrenberg & Smith, pg. 451). The Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) and the United Automobiles Workers (UAW) are different unions in Canada and the Unites States. Even though they have some similarities, the two groups have many differences as well. Some similarities include how they bargain and negotiate. However, they differ in the type of union, what they stand for, how large they are, why and when they started, and what they negotiate for.

While a labor political party could provide broader support for union members, it would not focus on the primary concerns of labor members: wages, benefits, and working conditions (Fossum, 2012, p. 28). While some believe establishment of a labor political party would benefit the labor movement more than either the Republican or Democratic parties, the reality has never resulted in an effective national labor political movement (Levitt, 1955). Even national union efforts have not been entirely effective over time: the American Federation of Labor, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the merged AFL-CIO, and now the Change to Win coalition (Colorado State University-Global Campus, 2014).

As I got older, the knowledge that my father negotiated with his very own employers in order to ensure that his coworkers would also reap the benefits the entire union fought for affected me on personal a level; to know that the man who drove me to school and bought for me school supplies each year also carried a responsibility to his co-workers made me rather proud. However, despite the fact that I grew up the daughter of a Union Steward, I also grew up as a teenager in today’s society: one that no longer suffers from such rampant corruption that induced misfortunes such as illegal instances of child labor: a calamity also solved by a committee aiming to better working standards. My view of labor has always been through rose-tinted glasses thanks to modern times; I really only knew of the exploits that my father had experienced from what he told me, forms recounting various union related news lying in heaps on the dinner table, and snippets on the news or the lightly-touched upon topics in my Consumer’s Education

Employers initially resisted unions as they were seen as a ‘tool of worker power’, and some countries even banned the groups all together (Baoill 2011). Although these restraints have been lifted, restrictions and guidelines have been put in place by government bodies to govern union activity; and employees internationally have the right to form unions (Baoill 2011).

During 2011 employer associations in Australia conducted an active lobbying campaign to introduce legislative changes with respect to industrial relations. Predominantly they were seeking to diminish the power of collective bargaining and increase managerial control under the

Labour law in the Caribbean and Jamaica in particularly has traditionally been shaped by social, economic and political influences Goolsaran (2005). Over the past 100 years, its major challenge has been its response to social and political demands

With globalization,many changes have been brought up in the workplaces that are leading towards more flexibility and enrollment of the employees (Tong Fay and Anil Verma,2002). “According to a survey -unionized workers across Canada earned$5- 28/hour more than non-union workers; Women with unions earned more too and got paid more fairly (Why unions? ,2015)”. Thus ,it gives us an idea what changes are being brought about by the unions in comparison to non-union when it comes to the wage sector. The union workplaces give a chance to the members to bargain for their benefits which includes not only social well being but also the say,the right to speak up about their own views therefore giving them the chance to talk about their problems. The union have been progressed to give a fair wage