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This paper aims to discuss the development and relevance of trade unions in Human

Resource Management. This will be accomplished by, a review of the development of trade

unions and the nature of industrial relations. Additionally the different frames of reference of

industrial relations will be explained and furthermore the role of the trade union and its

contribution to effective employee relations will be determined. More over a clear distinction

between roles taken by the main actors in employee relations will be acknowledged. Thus in

order for this proposition to take fruition the following must be understood.

A Trade union is a continuing permanent democratic organisation voluntarily created by

workers to protect themselves at their work, to improve their conditions of work through

collective bargaining, to seek better conditions of their terms and to provide means of

expression of workers’ views and the problems of society. Trade unions may be subdivided

according the nature of work undertaken by its members, for example, white collar unions,

which refer to employees, engaged in office work and desk jobs, or craft unions, which refer to

manual workers trained in a particular craft. Trade unions may also be classified under a

particular industry in which its members are engaged in, such as the Steel Workers Union of

Trinidad and Tobago. General unions comprise of employees from a variety of different

professions and industries an example of this is the Banking Insurance General Workers Union.

Industrial relations is not exclusively workplace relations between management and

labour (trade unions). Events outside of the workplace can still impact relations. For example

illegal activities, the influence of the government as well as that of the general public can shape

the course of interactions within the workplace. From this industrial relations can be defined as

the four actors (trade unions representing employees, employers, government, and the general

public) in industrial relations interacting to determine and administrate terms and conditions of
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service and seeking to set standards, and benchmarks so that the process can be managed

effectively.

The development of the industrial relations process has evolved to reflect the

development of trade unions on the backdrop of the changing social, economic, and political

pillars throughout the years. The early 18th century was the dawn of the industrial revolution after

the end of the English Civil War. In 1792 the first factories were developed and children and

women were expected to work because of the limited opportunity for education. However harsh

working conditions were long prevalent before the industrial revolution took place. Pre-industrial

society was very stagnant and often cruel: child labour, dirty living conditions and long hours of

work were just as prevalent before the industrial revolution and the prevalence of sickness and

industrial accidents leading to death of workers still lingered.

At that time it was illegal to for people to combine in organisations to further their

interests, or to swear oaths toward one another, for fear of rebellion, as a result workers

assembled under the guise of friendly societies and implemented the first forms of sickness,

retirement and death benefits. However most of these organisations were short lived. The

industrial revolution also gave rise to the Bourgeoisie and increases in education and the new

middle class signalled a shift in the psychological contracts of employees. This coupled with

outcries from the public and Society of Friends formed the basis for the first set of industrial

actions.

It was only after the repeal of the Combination Acts in 1824-5 that workers began to

organise trade unions openly rather than under the pretext of friendly societies however their

right to strike was limited. The first modern trade union was founded in 1851 which comprised

of educated crafts-men who were well organised and could now exercise expert and resource
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power since they possessed rare skills on the labour market. It was only until the late 1870’s that

non craft workers and white collar workers trade unions were established and by that time trade

unions came together to apply political pressure on government.

It was only after the rulings of (Quinn v Leathem) and (Taff Vale Railway Co. v

Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants) in 1901 which stated that trade unions can be liable

to employers for compensation if strike action resulted in economic losses, that the Trades

Dispute Act (1906) preventing trade unions from being liable to employers was passed. By 1913

just before the First World War trade unions were free from both civil and criminal liability.

However after The General Strike in 1926 the Trades Disputes Act (1927) made general strikes

illegal. Following the election of the Labour Party in 1945 the Trades Disputes Act (1927) was

repealed and the development of social security was underway. By 1988 the Employment Act

was established, making it illegal for trade unions to enforce membership as a consequence of

employment, and it also gave employees the right to join a union of their choice. By 1999 The

Employment Relations Act extended the benefits of union members to non-union members

within the workplace.

In Trinidad and Tobago the labour movement only began to assume importance after the

First World War. During the 1930’s Trinidad and Tobago suffered from the effects of the world

wide depression, unjust working practices and conditions coupled with workers were being

dismissed from the plantations and the oil fields gave rise to riots. Consequently a commission of

inquiry conducted by the British in 1940 noted low wages and poor working and living

conditions. Under the Colonial Development Welfare Act (1940) the British encouraged the

development of trade unions under the belief that labour organisations would prevent unrest.
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In 1941 during the Second World War, the arrival of the United States Army gave rise to

higher paid employment and working conditions which increased the standard of living. By the

1950’s and early 1960’s the development of the trade union movement was well underway and

there was an increase in strikes and labour disputes. The newly formed government in response

to this accented the Industrial Stabilisation Act (1965) and established the Industrial Court,

which acted as an arbitrator between trade unions and employers on industrial disputes. The

Industrial Stabilisation Act (1965) was then repealed and replaced by the Industrial Relations Act

(1972).

From the development of industrial relations and trade unions it is evident that the nature

of industrial relations is enshrined in conflict; it is the struggle for the employee voice to be herd

and acknowledged, not just in terms of betterment of conditions of service but in a wider social,

political and economic context. There are varying organisational perspectives of this. These

include the unitary perspective, the pluralist perspective and the Marxist perspective.

The unitary perspective is based on three basic factors 1) the organisation is made up of

people with a single loyalty and common values, interests and purpose; (2) management

establishes the right to manage and make decisions; (3) the organisational system is in harmony

so that conflict is unnecessary. Conflict is viewed as frictional. Management believes that the use

of power and the law is legitimate. However management views interpersonal relations, high

involvement, high commitment, communication and loyalty as the basis for the psychological

contract. Trade unions are viewed as intrusions that compete for employees’ loyalty. Theorists

argue that this view fails to acknowledge and understand challenges.

The pluralist perspective is based upon the following: (1) there is distribution of power

within the organisation; (2) there is a separation of ownership from management; (3) there is a
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separation of political conflict and workplace conflict; (4) there is acceptance of industrial

conflict; (5) there is an institutionalisation of conflict. The organisation is made up of abstract

groups who fulfil their own interests and objectives, conflict is viewed as inherent. The

organisation is multi-dimensional causing complexed tensions within the workplace. These

tensions must be managed in such a way to maintain a viable collaborative structure. This is

accomplished through institutions, rules and procedures. Management is responsible for

productivity, profitability and the activities of others to achieve results.

The pluralist perspective recognises that conflict resolution entails the need to establish

rules and procedures and that there must be collaboration through negotiations and regulations.

Trade unions are viewed as the basic partner in the pluralist framework and it recognises (1) the

industrial power of trade unions; (2) the legalising of trade union’s roles; (3) the social values of

trade unions to their members; (4) the duality in loyalties of employees to their employers and

unions; (5) that trade unions members interests and rights are protected and their officers are part

of the organisation.

The Marxist perspective concentrates on the different strata in society; this is an external

view to the organisation. This theory postulates: (1) class conflict is the source of social change;

(2) class conflict arise from the disproportion in the distribution of and access to economic power

within society; (3) the nature of social institutions are formed from economic disparity and

reinforces existing status; (5) social and political conflict are an expression of underlying

economic conflict within the society. From this, organisational tensions comprise of economic

and social tensions between those who own and manage the means of production and those who

have the labour to sell. Conflict is unavoidable and synonymous with social and political

conflict.
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The roles of trade unions are to ensure the job security of its members and to act as an

opposing force to the employer so that employees are not at the mercy of management decisions

without any say. Individuals are protected under a collective strength and can exercise their

source of labour as a countervailing force to the employer. Another role is to establish a

collaborative system in the rule making system on the conditions of work, that is, working hours,

wage rates, benefits and health and safety issues to name a few. Furthermore trade unions

provide members with services such as compensation of loss of pay during a strike, sickness, and

injury benefits and the opportunities for training and development. Moreover according to

Salamon (2000 p.124) the collective bargaining system provides an opportunity to fulfil the

psychological contract, in that, the individual’s self fulfilment can be achieved in participating in

the determination of the terms of their contract and in the decision making process.

Throughout this paper thus far, emphasis has been made on trade unions (and its

representative members/employees) and the employer. There is however other key participants in

industrial relations, such as (within the context of the UK): employer’s associations, the

government and third parties such as the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. Within

the context of Trinidad and Tobago there are four main actors namely: the trade union, the

employer, the Government (Minister of Labour and the Attorney General) and the Industrial

Courts.

Industrial relations throughout the years have become a science in its own right. This

field of practice requires specialist knowledge hence the need for trade unions. Employers

associations are the balance to the IR equation, in the past its primary objective was ‘to protect

management’s prerogative and resist the development of trade unionism’ Salamon (2000 p.269).

Today its functions include assistance or direct negotiations of collective bargaining agreements
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with trade unions, the assistance in the resolution of disputes, and to represent the views of its

members to government and other agencies.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service as the name suggests and the

Industrial Court within both geographical contexts as previously mentioned, have the ability to

intercede at the request of the trade union (not the employee) or the employer on the dispute of

rights which relate to terms and conditions of employment and disputes of interests which relate

to negotiations and the collective agreement. Within the context of Trinidad and Tobago IR

procedures and legislation state that the dispute must first be reported to the Minister of Labour,

after which a certificate is issued. This certificate is a criterion before the matter is heard before

the Industrial Court.

The role of Government in a wider sense includes the responsibility of regulating the

economy, maintaining an acceptable standard of living, reducing unemployment and ensuring

national competitiveness on a global scale. As a result it seeks to correct the social ills of society

by implementing legislation and institutions to set the minimum bar in the governing of

processes.

The management of labour has evolved through the years to cope with the changing

environment. There has been a conceptual shift in the view of employees from being a cost or a

resource to be used up to employees being viewed as human capital capable of thought and

innovation of which to be invested in. Modern human resource management is viewed as being

strategic; utilising vision, mission, and corporate objectives. Business strategy is incorporated

into HRM strategy (vertical integration) and HRM’s strategy is horizontally integrated into all

business processes. Its aims are to ensure flexibility, high commitment, high involvement, and

high performance of employees. However the bottom line is the same as with traditional
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approaches- profit maximisation and increase in share holder value while maintaining a sustained

competitive advantage. A strong point of argument is that this approach is coined as old wine in

new bottles; however its emphasis is on being proactive rather than the traditional mode of being

reactive to change. One of the catalysts for this change stemmed from the human relations

studies such as the Hawthorne studies in 1920’s, and the works of Maslow and Hertzberg in the

1950’s, which discovered the importance of the psychological contract and recognition of

employees’ needs.

In strategic human resource management, the personnel management/industrial relations

approach is viewed as outmoded. Modern practices are viewed a softer and seek to eradicate the

need for trade unions. Therefore its practices focus on individualism rather than on collectivism.

It is viewed that management being proactive and seeking mutuality of interests to foster

employee buy in and commitment will provide attractive conditions of employment and there

will be no need for trade unions. SHRM takes the unitary perspective. Story’s Twenty seven-

points of difference highlights the difference between the HRM approach and the PM/IR

approach. Some key points include the movement away from the demarcation of job descriptions

to accountability profiles in terms of output of performance, incentives are integrated as

compared to piecemeal, communication is direct, and pay is performance related as compared to

fixed grades to name a few. This strategy’s emphasis is on speed to react to change in the

business environment. It is viewed that if management has to negotiate with trade unions this

will deter organisational flexibility, resulting in an inability to realise business strategy.

This however only occurs in a theoretical bubble, as employees can produce themselves

out of employment. The organisational reality today is that most firms still practice some form of

traditional management. Firms today utilise an amalgamation of the varying best practice
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strategies to achieve a best fit strategy to cope with both their internal and external environment,

however most firms acknowledge the pluralist perspective but successful firms view conflict as

constructive and can introduce new solutions to problems. As with the Marxist perspective the

need for industrial relations and trade unions as well as social dialogue will continue to exist as

long as there is social and economic disparity.

In retrospect this paper has made clear what a trade union is. The differing types of trade

unions namely, craft and occupational unions, industrial unions and general unions were

identified. The history and development of trade unions and industrial relations within the social,

political, economic, and legal, contexts as it relates to the UK and T&T were made known. The

ideological frames of reference namely the unitary, pluralist and Marxist perspective were

explained and related to the different approaches in the management of labour. The main actors,

that is to say- Trade unions, the Industrial Courts/Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration service,

Employers’ Associations and the Government were identified and their roles differentiated. The

role of the trade union was also used to show its contribution to effective employee relations and

finally trade unions and industrial relations was put in the context of human resource

management with mention of the different frames of reference and the relevance of trade unions.