Human Resources Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Human Resources Management - Essay Example Reference is made to UNITE, a quite powerful trade union in Britain. It is proved that the power of trade unions in Britain has been reduced compared to the past; still, the decisive role of trade unions in promoting employment rights cannot be doubted. In UK, trade unions are a key element of ‘the country’s industrial relations system’ (Singh 2011, p.51). In order to understand the role of trade unions in UK it is necessary to refer to their characteristics and their relationship with their members. In Britain trade unions represent the workers through the ‘shop steward framework (Singh 2011, p.51). The term shop steward refers to the member of a trade union who has, simultaneously, two roles; ‘he occupies an official position in the union and he also works in an organization’ (Singh 2011, p.51). The definition of trade unions is included in the 1913 Trade Unions Act. According to the above Act a trade union is ‘any combination, whether temporary or permanent, the principal objects of which are†¦. the regulation of the relations between workmen and masters†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Jackson 1982, p.69). It is also noted that trade unions have the power to intervene in conflicts developed between employees, or those developed between employers, i.e. it is not necessary that the one party is a worker and the other is a master (Jackson 1982, p.69). Trade unions in Britain have three objectives: a) to keep the level of wages standardized preventing reductions in employees’ real income; in the same context, trade unions have the power to intervene when issues related to hours of work or conditions of work appear (Singh 2011, p.51); b) to promote full employment for all workers across UK and c) to support ‘the increase of power of workers in Britain’ (Singh 2011, p.51); in fact, due to the interventions of trade unions workers have been given the chance ‘to participate