Box 1: Role and functions of a trade union Functions of a trade union Power based in terms of counterbalancing management power – Economic regulation in terms of pay and conditions – Job regulation in terms of workers’ control over their job – Social change as a pressure group in society – Member services such as financial services – Lifelong learning the focus of the report – Self-fulfilment for some members to become active in the union and so fulfil their – development through this route Appealing to employees From Waddington and Whiston (1997) do people join a union?’ ‘Why Collective bargaining Represent members on an individual basis Introduction of financial services (such as life insurance and credit cards) Greater democracy to have an input in union strategy and practice Develop and pursue policies and strategies on equality issues Appealing to employers Bargaining collectively increases legitimacy to joint agreements – Offer a collective voice Offer a consultative channel Managing dissent and conflict Expertise in the of employee relations (law, training and development, health and safety (250K union H&S reps in the UK today), equality). Having established their role’ with students, section 3 in the report outlines ‘traditional their more recent focus on promoting learning in the workplace, which can also then be discussed with the students. This section is also of value to discuss with ULRs in order to familiarise them with the evidence of current studies on the union learning agenda. Managing conflict in the workplace 3.1 The causes of conflict An opening activity is to ask the students/union reps to first define conflict and then to broaden the discussion specifically in relation to how they think it manifests itself in the workplace. This gives context to the overall learning outcomes from the report and establishes their understanding (or misconceptions) of the effect of conflict in the workplace. See the discussion in section 2.1 of the report
Box 1: Role and functions of a trade union Functions of a trade union Power based – in terms of counterbalancing management power Economic regulation – in terms of pay and conditions Job regulation – in terms of workers’ control over their job Social change – as a pressure group in society Member services – such as financial services Lifelong learning – the focus of the report Self-fulfilment – for some members to become active in the union and so fulfil their development through this route Appealing to employees From Waddington and Whiston (1997) ‘Why do people join a union?’ Collective bargaining Represent members on an individual basis Introduction of financial services (such as life insurance and credit cards) Greater democracy to have an input in union strategy and practice Develop and pursue policies and strategies on equality issues Appealing to employers Bargaining collectively – increases legitimacy to joint agreements Offer a collective voice Offer a consultative channel Managing dissent and conflict Expertise in the of employee relations (law, training and development, health and safety (250K union H&S reps in the UK today), equality). Having established their ‘traditional role’ with students, section 3 in the report outlines their more recent focus on promoting learning in the workplace, which can also then be discussed with the students. This section is also of value to discuss with ULRs in order to familiarise them with the evidence of current studies on the union learning agenda. Managing conflict in the workplace 3.1 The causes of conflict An opening activity is to ask the students/union reps to first define conflict and then to broaden the discussion specifically in relation to how they think it manifests itself in the workplace. This gives context to the overall learning outcomes from the report and establishes their understanding (or misconceptions) of the effect of conflict in the workplace. See the discussion in section 2.1 of the report
The-UFHRD-Teaching-and-Learning-Resource-Bank-V2-Bennett.docx