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What is a trade union?
A trade union is a an organized association of trade, group of trades, or profession, set up to protect and further the rights of the workers within that trade or profession. They do this mostly through negotiating with companies within their industry, however sometimes negotiating fails and the trade unions are left with little option other than to strike, this is why we are seeing so many strikes from different industries. There are currently 128 trade unions in the United Kingdom, the biggest being Unite and Unison which both boast over 1 million members within their sectors. Trade unions first began gaining traction in the United Kingdom in 1833 although they were not legally recognized until the Trade Union Act in 1871.
Although it is widely believed that trade unions first got their legalized powers to represent their members, and over time they have increased Unions' rights and powers to be able to sufficiently represent their members from the Labour party. It was actually the Liberal party which brought into law the Trade Union Act in 1871 - George Carr Glynn, 1st Baron Wolverton, brought the Bill before parliament which gave trade unions the right to strike in the UK.
In 1866 a new trade union was formed by the United Kingdom of Alliance of Trades, this became the Union that would form the TUC in the UK. The TUC stands for Trade Union Congress, which is based at Congress House in London. The TUC has a range of responsibilities including regulating the Unions and holding them accountable should they try to recruit members from a different industry; an agreement has been signed by the major Unions not to try to recruit from other Unions' potential membership pool and, in turn, most unions will see if someone tries to join and will either reject their membership request or transfer them to the correct Union. The TUC also will lobby government when employment rights are adversely affected by new legislation.
Making sure the employees are part of the correct Union for their industry is important as there are different policies and legislation covering them; for example professional drivers have a certain amount of drivable hours so they are restricted to not go above them and rest breaks will be different because of the high way code. Whereas someone working in retail if they have a later break or work past their working hours for the week it is less likely to be dangerous to others around them.
From my experience as both a member and representative of a trade union they are usually well versed in representation - they hold this with very high regard and the conservative governments over the years have tried to curb their extended powers, the reduction in funding by the governments has not made it easy to achieve their goals for their members. One of the biggest challenges a trade union faces is being able to recruit new representatives which means there are a lot of unnecessary delays in dealing with formal meetings such as disciplinaries and grievances. Unfortunately because representatives use their working hours to represent members as per the partnership agreements with some of the companies like Tesco, the Co-operative, Morrisons and Primark, once a representative no longer works for a company with a partnership agreement they can no longer be a representative.
Some of these companies actively promote and welcome union involvement however there are others which are quite hostile to people wishing to become representatives. These companies actively make it difficult to get relieved from normal duties in order to be able to represent members - these companies sometimes might take actions such as actively encouraging employees to go to formal meetings without the representative being present or to ignore the representation offered, which is never the right decision. Trade Unions are structured to offer professional advice and support, acting as a form of spokesperson for the member; a representative is not legally allowed to answer questions for a member but they can do all other speaking, they will look at the evidence and try to pick the case apart. From experience, one of the biggest issues I find members face when going through a disciplinary is that companies like to try to find an excuse to push an allegation in the category of gross misconduct, I have represented multiple cases where gross misconduct has been alleged and when I have pulled the case apart there has been no evidence to sustain such allegations.
During my 12 years with the Usdaw union I represented a manager who was alleged to have committed 9 gross misconduct offences. The meeting was conducted with a HR Manager, by the time we had gone through all 9 allegations, having done my job as a representative none of the allegations were upheld. I was told by the area organiser of Usdaw that they had never seen anyone with 9 gross misconduct allegations keep their job and that the member would definitely be dismissed. I was also told that some of the allegations should be dismissed, but that was without seeing the lack of evidence and the fact that for some of the alleged offences the member wasn't even in the country. By the end of the hearings the Manager didn't even get a verbal warning.
Part of the job is also offering emotional support to the members represented, going through a formal process with worrying consequences sometimes requires talking to someone about the emotional and mental impact it can have on the members. At the end of the day you are putting your trust into a person you have possibly never met before, and that person could be your last barrier to preserve your employment and livelihood - as a representative you feel that when people break down in tears or give you a hug after they keep their job. This has been the same when I have represented people facing a grievance this can be upgraded to a disciplinary depending on what the grievance is for.
I once had to represent on a group grievance against a manager I had been sent to observe and one of the first things she said to me was "I have got rid of all of the staff in a store before." After seeing her conduct for 3 weeks I advised a group grievance which I represented on with an area manager hearing the case, the manager was disciplined and ultimately dismissed for bullying every member of staff and falsifying legal documents.
A trade union doesn't just represent people in formal meetings, they are responsible for negotiating pay, policy and terms and conditions to adhere with current legislation. These negotiations work better if the trade union has a higher percentage of employees as members as they have a bargaining chip. Some trade unions like Usdaw don't really like striking, so they prefer leaving that as a last option, during my time as a representative I was never made aware of any striking happening within Usdaw.
Usdaw like other trade union are there to offer advice on anything employment related such as discrimination; this can take many forms and if on the receiving end can make going to work more challenging mentally through the anxiety of what you might face when you get there. Discrimination takes many forms which include but are not restrictive to, gender assignment, race, religion, sexual orientation, pregnancy or on maternity leave, being married or in a civil partnership, sex, age, disability.
In conclusion trade unions, while not actively encouraged by several businesses, are overall responsible for assisting in ensuring fair and equal treatment at work and around the workplace - in my experience as a trade union representative I have been responsible for ensuring employees were not mistreated, that they were represented and had a voice during times of particular struggles and, above all, that they didn't need to fear unfair dismissal or prejudicial practices in professional environments.