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2005
Union: 1410, "action of joining one thing to another," from O.Fr. union
(12c.), from L.L. unionem (nom. unio) "oneness, unity, a uniting," also
in L. meaning "a single pearl or onion," from unus "one," .Sense of
"action of uniting into one political body" is attested from 1547.
Meaning "group of people or states" is from 1660. Short for trade
union, it is recorded from 1833.
Rights: O.E. rihtan "to straighten, rule, set up," from riht (adj.); see
right (adj.1). Cf. O.N. retta "to straighten,"
First Unions
1
Today, union members make up about 34% of the non-
agricultural workforce; 4 million Canadians belong to unions.
Membership is greatest in British Columbia and Newfoundland, where
about 50% of the workforce belongs to unions. Most early unions were
craft unions, that is, they joined all the skilled workers in a particular
craft or trade. In the late 1930s, industrial unions began to grow in
Canada. Industrial unions join all workers in a single industry,
whatever their skill. Today the most rapidly expanding section of the
union movement consists of public-service unions, made up of
government employees (for example, teachers, postal workers, and
nurses) at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels of
government.
2
Workers fed up with intolerable conditions sometimes organized
shop committees to put their demands before employers. Occasionally,
they carried this action as far as a strike. Women who had little
previous union experience proved surprisingly militant in these
situations. For example, textile, boot and shoe, and tobacco workers
struck in several Canadian and Maritime centres in the 1880s.
However, such tactics rarely proved successful in the long term
against the growing power and organization of the manufacturers.
Employee Rights
3
What rights and how extensive? Most workplace innovations
involve employees in one or more of the following areas:
The typically conservative firm lies on the far left on all of the
dimensions - employees have no explicit rights in any of these areas.
In contrast, the worker cooperatives of Mondragon, Spain - almost
100 firms and 20,000 workers - lie on the far right-hand side, except
for the first dimension. While these firms have only recently begun to
experiment with shop floor and work group decision-making,
employees have well-established rights regarding full ownership of
these firms, distribution of the profits, management decision- making
at several levels, and hiring and firing of management through all
elected boards of directors. Furthermore, the rights of these
employees in all these areas are firmly guaranteed by constitutions
within each firm. For these reasons, the Mondragon cooperatives
currently represent the most advanced example of democratized
workplaces.
4
Shop floor / work group decision-making Undoubtedly the most
popular innovations in this country have been quality circle programs.
Typical quality circle programs are based upon weekly meetings of
shop floor or work group employees and their supervisor. The purpose
of these meetings is to encourage employee problem-solving of quality
issues regarding the group's product or services. Suggestions for
improving quality are developed in the group and then presented to
management for approval and implementation. Within this basic
format, many other aspects of programs can vary, such as the extent
of employee training in problem-solving techniques, the role of the
supervisor in the quality circle, and so on.
5
solving committees with local authority. In evaluating labor-
management committees, it is crucial to examine carefully the letter
of agreement between the two parties, with special attention to the
decision- making process. Ideally, labor and management should exert
equal voting power on the committees.
6
Other possibilities Clearly, some programs of workplace innovation
can involve two or more of these dimensions at once. Quality circle
programs often add a profit or gain-sharing component after three or
four years of operation, providing employees a financial share in the
productivity increases that usually result from these programs.
Scanlon Plans for sharing reduced labor costs are usually coupled
with an employee-suggestion mechanism that influences management
level decision-making
7
plan for workplace innovation, there is no single path. The particular
mix of innovations and their sequencing in time needs to be tailored to
local conditions and to the particular culture of each organization. The
most effective way to ensure the appropriate mix of innovations is to
involve employees or their representatives right from the start in the
decision-making about the process of workplace innovation. While the
results are less predictable than a program solely developed by
management, and the initial planning stage may take longer, a high
degree of employee involvement from the beginning has several
benefits. It guarantees that whatever program is developed has a high
degree of acceptance, and is tailored to the needs and wants of both
management and employees. It serves as an early demonstration of
management's openness and desire for collaboration with employees,
an important step for reducing resistance to change. And lastly,
because employees are involved in the process, the resulting program
of innovation will include important features that management would
have overlooked or ignored, aspects that give employees a real sense
of ownership regarding the whole enterprise.