US and UK ER Flashcards
Overview UK (3)
- First country to industrialize
- Unions traced back to 19th century
- Rising entrepreneurial class achieved economic autonomy and political rights peacefully compared to other European Nations
Overview US (3)
- Turning point in employment relations - Wagner Act of 1935
- Union membership began to increase until election of Ronald Reagan in 1980
- Present day shift to best HR practices
Voluntarism
The principal that government and legal intervention in employment relations should be kept to a minimum, allowing employers and trade unions maximum scope to regulate their own affairs
UK Employment Relations (Pre-1945)
Employment relations were lacking in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the UK, as organizations used the idea of “voluntarism” with employees
UK Employment Relations (Pre-1945) main focuses: (4)
- Non-legally binding collective agreements
- Voluntary union recognition by employers
- A relatively low level of formalism of employment structures
- A refrain of the state from directly intervening in industrial relations
US Employment Relations (1860-1935) - The age of voluntarism in ER
- Knights of labor was the first union in US with national status
- American Federation of Labor (AFL) founded in 1886 - specifically for skilled craftsment
- Idea of voluntarism - no procedures for forcing a company to recognize union. Even if the company decided to recognize union, there were no laws about bargaining in good faith
Wagner Act of 1935 (4)
- Guaranteed private employees the right to unionize, engage in collective bargaining, and to take collective action such as strikes
- Put pressure on companies to bargain in good faith
- Laid out rules what was considered an “unfair labor practice”
- Union membership grew tremendously
UK employment relations (1945-1979)
- Wages councils act (1945) - sets minimum wage and encourage collective bargaining
- Unions’ members grew from 9.3 million people in 1945 to 12.6 million in 1979 - UK economic performance weakened
- Creation of the Confederation of British Industry in 1965
- Agreements reached between the unions and the employers’ associations
Summary of UK employment relations (1945-1979)
- Commission Donovan (1945) in favor of workplace bargaining
- Increase of shop stewards and workplace bargaining
- Contraction of collective bargaining in the private sector
Uk Employment relations (after 1979) - The conservative government
- Election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979: intention of severely restricting unions power and activity
- Rise of unemployment and accelerated membership decline among unions
- Deregulation of individual rights
- Minor concessions to unions: Employment Relations Act (1999)
UK Employment relations (after 1979) - Joining the european union (2)
- Employment relations are better watched under the EU influence
- Growing social agenda of the EU
Ronald Reagan Election 1980 - US ER shift to neoliberalist perspective (3)
- Election of Reagan in 1980 brought anti-labor mindset
- Began with the firing of 13,000 striking air traffic control workers in 1981, claimed it was a national safety issue and dismantled the organization’s union. Firing was deemed legal under the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947
- Believed in neoliberlism
Characteristics of neoliberalism (3)
- Association with laissez-faire economics
- Privatization of businesses
- Efficiency and perfect market competition
Two Theoretical Perspectives of ER
- Unitarist
2. Pluralist
Unitarist perspective
A managerial stance which assumes that everyone in an organization is a member of a team with a common purpose
