 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 3 ] Next Last |
As labour law is very diverse in different countries, so is the function of unions. For instance in Germany, only open shops are legal. This affects the function and services of the union. On the other hand, German unions have played a greater role in management decisions through participation in corporate boards and co-determinationCo-determination is a practice whereby larbor union or worker representatives are given seats on a company's board of directors. German unions have played a greater role in management decisions through participation in corporate boards and co-determinatio than have unions in the United States.
In addition, unions have very different relationships with political parties in different countries. In many countries unions have formed long-term relationships with a political party which is intended to represent the interests of working people. Typically this is a left-wing or socialist party, but there have been many exceptions. In the United States, by contrast, while the labor movement is historically aligned with the Democratic Partylogo depicts a stylized donkey in red, white, and blue. The Democratic Party is one of the two major United States political parties. The Party is currently the minority in both the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, as w, the labor movement is by no means monolithic on that point; the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has supported Republican Party candidates on a number of occasions and the Professional Air Traffic Controllers OrganizationThe Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization was a labor union which formerly represented air traffic controllers and weather observers in the United States in matters relating to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. It cam endorsed Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan ( February 6, 1911 June 5, 2004) was the 40th ( 1981 1989) President of the United States and the 33rd ( 1967 1975) Governor of California. Reagan was also an actor in films before entering politics. Early life and career Reagan was b in 1980, shortly before he destroyed it and banned all of its striking members from employment as air traffic controllers in 1981. In the United Kingdom the labour movement's relationship with the Labour Party is fraying as party leadership embarks on privatization plans at odds with what some perceive as workers' interests.
Finally, the structure of employment laws affects unions' roles. In many western European countries wages and benefits are largely set by governmental action. The United States takes a more laissez faire approach, setting some minimum standards but leaving most workers' wages and benefits to collective bargaining and market forces.
The legal status of trade unions in the United Kingdom was established by a Royal Commission, which agreed that the establishment of the organisations was to the advantage of both employers and employees. Most British unions are members of the TUC, the Trades Union Congress, and where appropriate, the Scottish Trades Union Congress and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which are the country's principal national trade union centers. The Labour Party arose from the organised labour movement and still has extensive links with it. Margaret Thatcher's governments weakened the powers of the unions in the 1980s and some within the British trades union movement criticise Tony Blair's Labour government for not reversing some of Thatcher's changes since taking office in 1997.
Most labor unions in the United States are members of a larger umbrella organization, the AFL-CIO, or the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations. The AFL-CIO advocates for policies and legislation favorable to workers in the United States and Canada. The AFL-CIO also often works with other international and national unions on global trade issues.
Labor unions are tightly regulated and overseen by the United States Department of Labor under the authority of the National Labor Relations Act, passed in 1935. To join a union, workers must either win voluntary recognition from their employer or have a majority of workers in a "bargaining unit," as determined by the federal government, vote for union representation. In either case, the government must certify the existence of the union.
Once the union is certified in a workplace, it has the sole authority to negotiate the conditions of employment. The terms and conditions of employment are spelled out in a legally binding contract between the employer and the union. When disputes arise over the contractual agreement, most contracts call for the parties to resolve their differences through a grievance process to see if the dispute can be mutually resolved. If the union and the employer still cannot settle the matter, either party can choose to send the dispute to arbitration, where the case is argued before a neutral third party.
The Taft-Hartley Act, passed in 1947 over the veto of President Harry Truman, severely limits the powers of unions in the United States, and remains in effect. Closed shops are forbidden; union shops are allowed within the limits allowed by the statute and subject to additional conditions imposed by the National Labor Relations Board and the courts. Jurisdictional strikes (where two unions each claim work that they believe should be assigned to the workers they represent) and secondary boycotts (boycotts against an allegedly neutral company that does business with another company with which a union has labor dispute) were made illegal. Unions are no longer allowed to donate money to federal political campaigns.
Most importantly, the bill provided the executive branch of the Federal government with the ability to obtain legal strikebreaking injunctions if an actual or impending strike "imperiled the national health or safety", a test that has been in practice interpreted loosely by the courts.
Many U.S. unions lost much of their prestige when links to organized crime were discovered. Union membership has been steadily declining for the past decade or so in all but the public sector (that is, unions of government employees).
Right-to-work statutes forbid unions and companies privately agreeing to contracts with one another. Hiring halls are legal, but a contract where a business agrees to let a union be its sole provider of labor is illegal - therefore all hiring halls operate on a voluntary basis.| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|