What are trade unions?
A union is essentially a group of workers who organise together with the aim of improving pay, conditions and benefits in a workplace.
Trade unions are more than just about improving rights at work too. They are also about readdressing the power imbalance that exists in a workplace between ordinary workers and the people in charge.
One of the key arguments in favour of trade unions is the fact that employers often work together in groups to fight for their own interests in the economy, so why can’t workers do the same?
Historically, unions were organised according to different skilled trades, reflecting the fact that unions had their roots in medieval trade guilds and trade associations. They are usually membership organisations in which staff pay a monthly membership fee in return for collective and individual representation and access to particular services.
The history of trade unions in the workplace is a turbulent one. In the past, many trade union activists suffered discrimination, violence and even death for daring to try to change conditions at work. Today, around 6.4million people are members of trade unions in the UK.
How did trade unions come about?
If you want to really understand how – and why – trade unions came into being, you have to dig into the history books a bit so we’re going to look at a subject that seems pretty far removed from HR, but bear with us. Let’s dive into the Black Death and the end of Feudalism.
Trade unions have their roots in the Industrial Revolution and the growth of capitalism.
The Black Death and the Birth of Capitalism
Stay with us, we’re going on a slight tangent.
In the mid-14th century, the Black Death reached the shores of the UK. It’s estimated that it wiped out around 50% of the European population, making it one of the most devastating pandemics that humans have ever faced. The Black Death also devastated the economic system of the time – feudalism.
Feudalism tied people to the land of powerful lords and organised society hierarchically. In return for protection and the right to cultivate a small patch of land, serfs (as these people were known) would work their lord’s land and serve them for a certain amount of time each year. Any time they had left they would spend cultivating their own land.
Serfdom was essentially a type of economic slavery. Serfs had few legal rights and weren’t able to leave the land that they were born on very easily. If you were born a serf, you usually died a serf.
The Black Death killed so many people that it fundamentally weakened feudalism. Following the pandemic, there were huge labour shortages and those serfs who survived found that they had real power to negotiate better conditions and rights.
In 1574, serfdom was officially abolished in England and Wales. This drastically changed the economic relationship between ex-serfs and Lords. Whereas under feudalism, serfs legally had to provide free labour to their lords, in return for protection and land, now, under the emerging system of capitalism, they had to sell their labour in return for wages. The concept of ‘employment’ as we know it today was born.
Following the end of serfdom, many people migrated to towns and cities, selling their labour to different industries. Some stayed on the land, working for their previous lord. Over time, this led to the growth of groups and societies related to particular trades. Trade unions have their roots in these associations.
In the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution – a huge industrialisation of the economy – swept Britain. New technology made many roles which supported millions of workers obsolete – like handloom weavers and spinners. These workers were often forced to take jobs in the new factories where production was centralised. They often worked for longer hours (around 12 hours a day and even longer), lower wages and in terrible, exploitative conditions. Injuries and even death were common. Child labour was common too – even in heavy industrial workplaces like mines.
Over time in response to this, workers began to organise to improve their rights and conditions at work. They formed trade unions – groups of workers, usually organised around a particular job or trade. These unions were membership organisations and an early form of workplace democracy. As well as being based in a particular trade, unions were also rooted in their communities, with industrial centres, like mining regions, having particularly strong union cultures.
Unions like this enabled workers to have more power to effect change. Whilst one worker didn’t have much power to change things at work on their own, if the majority of workers in an organisation joined together and acted together they could have a drastic impact. Workers used a variety of tactics to agitate for better conditions at work, from petitions and debates through to withdrawing their labour – known as ‘striking’.
The reaction to workers getting together to demand better working conditions and rights wasn’t welcomed by employers and unions were often violently cracked down on. For many years, trade unions in the UK were illegal and many activists went to prison.
