“Trade unions have always had two faces, sword of justice and vested interest” by Alan Flanders
The sword of justice was concerned with the union’s role in upholding rights, protecting the weak and always had a sense of wider social purpose. While, the union had vested interests in defending and enhancing the material interests of its members, their pay, working arrangements and job security. It can be said that they are engaged in a “zero sum game” in which the union’s gain equals the employer’s loss, and vice-versa. However, the balance between these two features is changingsignificantly over the last 2 decades.
These unions are facing challenges which need to be tackled in the future unless the very existence of trade unions will be under the threat of extinction. The challenges are internal as well as external.
In addition to these challenges, there are some other leaderships as well as organizational issues like changing workforce demographics, declining union powers and influence. Each of these challenges needs to be considered in the coming years for the future of the Trade unions. In this article, we have shown the importance of the labor movements through cross-border organization by using an example of shipping industry.
Emerging Trends in Unions:
Cross Border union
inTRODUCTION
Need for cross-border unions
The power and influence of global labor unions has drastically waned
over the past 20 to 30 years. The combined effect of neoliberal state
policies and targeted multinational corporate (MNC)strategies in the development
and supply of labor has led to the decline in membership, financial and bargaining power of unions. Concurrently, the ability of multinational business to segment and exploit labor internationally has increased during this period, resulting in an overall deterioration in the situation of workers, characterized by work intensification, decreasing netpay and casualization. In this context, the shipping industry, presents us with an ideal opportunity toanalyze some of the results of such trends because the industry is extensively globalized, and inmany respects, exemplifies the growth of multinational corporate power, the withdrawal of the stateand the decline of union capacity.
Internal Challenges
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FMS Scholastic Council