Levels of Strike in United Kingdom (Essay Sample)

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In recent past, there has been numerous bout of strikes action by civil servants, teachers, rail and underground workers and firefighters among others. These strikes were called for by unions. Despite the fact that at times the union members in favour of the strikes were few, they were persistent and disruptive. However, strike levels have fallen to historic low due to employment relations particularly in the private sector CITATION Ral15 \p 4 \l 1033 (Darlington & Dobson, 2015, p. 4). The strike action has had adverse effects, especially on the public sector as in the case of complete shutdown of the underground network in London. These actions have forced governments to strike back by introducing measures to try and curb the situation. The most recent action by the Conservative government was the publication of Trade Union Bill published on 15th July by the conservative government. To understand strike action and employment relations, this research paper explores two questions.
* How much can levels of strike action tell us about the state of employment relations in UK workplaces?
* What other factors might be important to consider and why?
Definition of Employment Relations (ER)
The United Kingdom is going through a major transformation in its employment relation for both individual and collective presentation at work CITATION Bla06 \p 5 \m Tay12 \p 6 \l 1033 (Blanchflower, Bryson, & Forth, 2006, p. 5; Taylor, 2012, p. 6). Some scholars have already characterised Britain as practically being a quite workplace revolution. A new trend is certainly developing that is distinct from the past practice. However, there may still be considerable continuity of the past practice. To human work is fundamental as it determines what they do and preoccupies their thoughts. It permits them to interact with others and also help assists them to define their sense of identity. Therefore, its allocation, organisation, reward, and management are of no small significance CITATION Kei06 \p 187 \l 1033 (Abbot, 2006, p. 187). Within this working environment, there must be a form of employment relationship
Employment relation has led to a new development in human resource management and industrial relations where management and employee bargaining have moved down to the firm level. This, in turn, has generated considerable interest in employment relations at all levels of the firm and not just specialist managers’ level. Despite this progress, scholars have not reached a consensus regarding the definition of employment relations CITATION Ack08 \p 1 \l 1033 (Ackers & Wilkinson, 2008, p. 1). Labour International Organisation CITATION Int152 \n \t \l 1033 (2015) defines "employment relationship as a link between employers and employees" par. 1. It is conceived when one party carries out an activity or provides their services under the condition that they would receive remuneration. It is through employment relations that there is creation of rights and mutual obligation between the employer and employee CITATION Ove \p 9 \l 1033 (Overell, Mills, Roberts, Lekhi, & Blaug, 2010, p. 9).
Employment relation context defers among nations, for instance, United States refer to employment relation when describing the corpus of human resource management fictional activities and other connected relations that do exist between an employer and the employees in the workplace CITATION Kei06 \p 188 \l 1033 (Abbot, 2006, p. 188). Using this context, it is typically divergent from the older forms of human resource management and industrial relations. On the other hand, British human resource management literature has the tendency of applying a wider meaning to employment relation that go beyond the workplace. According to Dibben, Klerck, & Wood, (2011), "in seeking to understand the employment relations, it is not sufficient simply to consider the relationship between the employer and employee" CITATION Dib11 \p 3 \n \y \t \l 1033 (p. 3) but also incorporate potential diasagreement between these two parties as well as taking to account the broader context. Therefore, this wider perspective of employment realations takes into consideration micro level relations that develops between the employer and the employees as in the American literature context and also the macro level realations that develops between the extraneous institutions set that go up to govern these relations.
Background Context about the History of Employment Relations in the United Kingdom
The current perspective of employment relationship is a relatively novel phenomenon. In most developed and developing nations, other ways of organising labour predominated in the late nineteenth and twentieth century CITATION Yar07 \p 2 \l 1033 (Yarrington, Townsend, & Brown, 2007, p. 2). The most common ways included some variant forms of labour contract system. Managers employed services of brokers and subcontractors in an attempt to evade their responsibilities of controlling and directing labour CITATION Dib11 \p 3 \l 1033 (Dibben, Klerck, & Wood, 2011, p. 3). In Britain, industrial relations that was revolutionised into employment relations was one of the oldest and most established social science discipline. Prior to the establishment of business schools in Britain strong industrial relations groups had formed at Nuffield College, Oxford, Glasgow, Warwick and Cardiff Universities CITATION Ack08 \p 2 \l 1033 (Ackers & Wilkinson, 2008, p. 2). In 1869 United Kingdom Trade Union Congress (TUC) was formed. During the post-war United Kingdom the dominant pluralist school of Alan Fox, Allan Flanders and Hugh Clegg among others greatly influenced industrial relations on public policy, the most notable being the 1968 Donovan Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers Association CITATION Wil13 \p 2 \l 1033 (Wilson, 2013, p. 2).
The collapse of United States trade union membership left a significant gap between the conceptual life world of United States’ Labour relation that centred on collective bargaining and trade unions, and the current contemporary employment relations. Some nations like Australia have had robust industrial relations because the principle of joint regulation still applies to working life. Britain’ industrial relations lies between United States and European model, and it is way down the line to United States CITATION Ack08 \p Ibid \l 1033 (Ackers & Wilkinson, 2008, p. Ibid). Traditionally, United Kingdom’s industrial relations is characterised by a concept of volunteerism between social partners with minimal state interference. In early industrialisation the state rarely intervened in matters of private sectors, the trade union saw an opportunity consolidated its membership and set a strong base throughout the nineteenth century. With already established Trade Union Congress in 1869 and publication of various laws such as 1871 Trade Union Act, 1875 Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, and 1906 Trade Disputes Act, trade unions had enough powers to engage in industrial action without fear of lawsuits.
At the time, British Economy was favourable to the development of these unions. Rapid economic growth characterised early nineteenth century and twentieth century due to advanced growth in industrialisation as well extensive colonial markets for United Kingdom’s industry. This economic robust facilitated the development of collective bargaining system where the fruits of the economic robust could be put forward for a collectively bargained wage increases CITATION Ack08 \p 12 \m Wil13 \p 2 \l 1033 (Ackers & Wilkinson, 2008, p. 12; Wilson, 2013, p. 2). The employers and trade union only needed legislation that would support the collective bargaining system and not regulate it. The law provided the trade unions with immunities from the United Kingdom common law. For instance, trade unions would carry out an industrial action with employers, an unlawful act under United Kingdom common law.
Industrial actions increased into the 1970’s when the Donovan commission was formulated to try and find the possible cause of disputes. Without finding an amicable solution, the government resolved to regulate collective bargaining system. The first attempt by the government failed with 1978-1979 ‘winter of discontent’. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government and other proceeding conservative governments pursued legislative measures aimed at inhibiting trade unions from engaging in industrial actions. In May 2010, saw the formation of a joint Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government that presents potential change in the United Kingdom’s industrial relations system. The new government has laid out plans aimed at reducing national deficit.
Strike Action in the United Kingdom
In the early 1970s, Industrial conflict grew remarkably partly due to economic crisis that had affected the western nation, especially after the oil shock. This era was characterized by high level of industrial actions and trade union militancy. However, in the late 1970s the level of industrial actions dropped. It is one of the indicators of the state of employment in United Kingdom at that particular time. The average number of days lost annually, in the late 1970s and early 1980s was around seven million working days, an equivalent of 300 days per thousand employees CITATION Gil08 \p 3 \l 1033 (Dix, Forth, & Sisson, 2008, p. 3). 2014 saw only 151 stoppages as compared to 1,206 stoppages in 1984 CITATION Off15 \p 4 \l 1033 (Office for National Statistics, 2015, p. 4). The decline of industrial action was also characterised by the decline of trade union membership ...