What are the functions of a trade union?

Function and benefit of trade unions

In the broadest sense, trade unions came about as a way to protect workers after the industrial revolution in England, where they were working 12 to 14 hour days 6 days a week for whatever the company owner decided he would pay them. Which of course was as little as possible.

Not that the need for trade unions was restricted to workers in England. A good read if you want to know what working conditions were like in America in the late 1800s and early 1900s would be Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, BUT BE WARNED there are some truly harrowing scenes in this book, and it's publication in the 1920s caused such an uproar that the government created the FDA in an attempt to stop the worst excesses.

For a slightly gentler view of the life of the working classes around 1900 America, try Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie.

You should also research the Pullman Corporation, and the Carnegie Steel empire, both of which grabbed back a good part of what little they paid in wages by forcing employees to live in filthy, unmaintained hovels in company towns, and shop at the company store where, of course, they were charged super high prices for everything. If I recall, the first of the American trade unions, and one of the first to strike, were the pullman car waiters, who were all poor blacks (and referred to, whatever his name might be, as "George").

For many Americans, all the name Henry Ford means is paying his employees enough to be able to buy one of his cars (of course, you didn't buy a Chevrolet if you worked for Ford.) The power of a union is that the union can collectively bargain for the best possible deal for all its members; not just wages, but the right to live anywhere you wanted and not just in company housing, the number of hours worked, medical benefits, and paid time off. The power of a union is also limited to the solidarity of the members, because the only thing a worker possessed was the ability to walk off the job, so it's more effective if everyone walks out and stays out together. Of course, the loss of wages for a man who was earning maybe 6 dollars a week caused huge strain on poor families, and employers had no problem hiring non-union labor to come in and work for the strikers. Ford hated the unions and was the last of the car manufacturers to recognize the right of the workers to organize. The detective agency Pinkerton's was originally created to break up strikes by Ford workers at the Dearborn plant in Michigan, and they cheerfully broke up picket lines with shotguns, billy clubs, and anything else they saw fit, all the while protected or ignored by the police.

Many Americans are still prevented from organizing themselves into a union, as is evidenced by the struggle for recognition by the employees at WalMart. Other Americans do not see the need for trade unions; after all, this is America and not Russia. But when you realize that in 1920 there was no medical insurance, no paid maternity leave, no paid day off for Labor Day (ironically Labor Day is to celebrate the gains made for American workers, but of course the WalMart employees and many many others are still required to work on labor day) no paid day off for Presidents day. The right to a 5-day 40 hour workweek was not won until the 1950s. Bear in mind that ANYTHING an employer gives an employee comes directly out of his pocket. DO you think you would have all the benefits you have today if people had not given their lives to the Pinkerton thugs in Dearborn? No. You'd still be working 11 hours a day 6 days a week, with one day off for Christmas.

I strongly suggest you do a lot of reading and some internet research if you want to know why you have the benefits you do (and the European benefits, which are even better than yours, because unlike Americans, most European workers did not simply walk away from trade unions (largely, of course, because of the publicity generated by the connection between the Teamsters, Jimmy Hoffa, and the Mob). That should get you started anyway. Be grateful to the unions. Phil

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