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Trade union - History

Trade union - History: Encyclopedia II - Trade union - History

Beginning in the 18th century, much of Western society (notably the United Kingdom) witnessed a pivotal transformation from an agrarian culture with craft based production, to the first industrial revolution. Within this transformation several changes provided much of the impetus for the rise of the trade union. These changes sparked rising fears in the crafts and guilds of the time, who feared encroachment on their established jobs, including changes in wages and work methods^{See also:Trade union, Trade union - History, Trade union - Early history, Trade union - Origin of unions, Trade union - Shop types, Trade union - Benefits extend beyond membership, Trade union - The problem of international comparison, Trade union - Trade unions by country, Trade union - Trade unions in the United Kingdom, Trade union - Labor unions in the United States, Trade union - Unions in other countries, Trade union - International cooperation, Trade union - News, Trade union - Criticism}

Trade union, Trade union - Benefits extend beyond membership, Trade union - Criticism, Trade union - Early history, Trade union - History, Trade union - International cooperation, Trade union - Labor unions in the United States, Trade union - News, Trade union - Origin of unions, Trade union - Shop types, Trade union - The problem of international comparison, Trade union - Trade unions by country, Trade union - Trade unions in the United Kingdom, Trade union - Unions in other countries, AFL-CIO, Craft union, Directly Affiliated Local Union (DALU), Eight hour day, General union, Industrial union, Industrial Workers of the World, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, Labor aristocracy, History of the labor movement, Landrum-Griffin Act, List of labor unions, Salting, Strike, Trades council, Trades Hall, Union federation

Trade union: Encyclopedia II - Trade union - History

Trade union - History

These changes sparked rising fears in the crafts and guilds of the time, who feared encroachment on their established jobs, including changes in wages and work methods^[5]. Additionally, the rapid expansion of the industrial society was to draw women, children, workers from the rural community, and immigrants to the work force in larger numbers and new roles. These roles were often performed in appalling conditions, and for meagre wages. This pool of labour was to spontaneously organise in fits and starts throughout its beginnings, and would later prove to be an important arena for change.

Trade union - Early history

The 18th century capitalist economist Adam Smith noted the imbalance in the rights of workers in regards to owners (or "masters") in The Wealth of Nations, chapter 8, Smith wrote:

We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations of masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labour above their actual rate… [When workers combine,] masters… never cease to call aloud for the assistance of the civil magistrate, and the rigorous execution of those laws which have been enacted with so much severity against the combinations of servants, labourers, and journeymen.

As indicated in the preceding quotation, unions were illegal for many years in most countries. There were severe penalties for attempting to organise unions, up to and including execution. Despite this, unions were formed and began to acquire political power, eventually resulting in a body of labour law which not only legalised organising efforts, but codified the relationship between employers and those employees organised into unions. Even after the legitimisation of trade unions there was opposition, as the case of the Tolpuddle Martyrs shows.

Many consider it an issue of fairness that workers be allowed to pool their resources in a special legal entity in a similar way to the pooling of capital resources in the form of corporations.

The right to join a trade union is mentioned in article 23, subsection 4 of the UDHR, which also states in article 20, subsection 2. that "No one may be compelled to belong to an association". Prohibiting a person from joining or forming a union, as well as forcing a person to do the same (e.g. "closed shops" or "union shops", see below), whether by a government or by a business, is generally considered a human rights abuse. Similar allegations can be levelled if an employer discriminates based on trade union membership. Attempts by an employer, often with the help of outside agencies, to prevent union membership amongst their staff is known as union busting.