Trade Unions

 

 

 

TYPES OF TRADE UNION

A trade union is a group of workers who join together in order to protect their own interests and to be more powerful when negotiating with their employers.

 

Each employee who wishes to join a trade union must pay an annual fee, which contributes towards the costs and expenses that the trade union incurs when it provides services to its members, and supports industrial action by the workers.

 

Trade unions have a number of aims:

 

1. To improve the pay of its members.

 

2. To improve the working conditions and the working practices of its members.

 

3. To support the training and the professional development of its members.

 

4. To ensure that their members' interests are considered by the employers when any decision is made which will affect the workforce.

 

There are four main types of trade union in the UK:

 

1. General Unions. These are for skilled and unskilled workers performing different jobs in different industries (e.g. cleaners, clerical staff, transport workers).

 

2. Industrial unions. These are for different workers in the same industry (e.g. the National Union of Miners (N.U.M), covering workers at all levels in the hierarchy).

 

3. Craft Unions. These are fairly small unions for skilled workers, performing the same or similar work in different industries (e.g. musicians).

 

4. White-collar Unions. These are for 'white-collar' (or professional) workers who perform the same or similar tasks in different industries (e.g. teachers, scientists).