Trade unionism - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

The trade unionism (of syndic , coming itself from the Greek sundikos , which assists somebody in justice) is the movement which aims at unifying the workers in organizations, the Syndicat S, to defend their shared interests (rise of the wages, better work conditions, working time drops, fights against the dismissal…).

The trade unionism also indicates the militant action which seeks to work towards the ends of a trade union.

In its direction more running and more accepted, the term trade unionism applies to the wage earners associations and to a lesser extent to the student trade unions and high-school pupils. The " term; Trade union " also indicate, in certain countries, the employers' associations.

Years 1880 marked the birth of trade unionism in Europe. In France, it is a law of 1884 which authorized the creation of trade unions.

Trade unionism in France

The trade unionism is resulting from the corporative groupings (trades, trade-guild…) modern and medieval societies. These groupings are prohibited by the Loi the Hatter of 1791 and undergo an obstinate repression at the time of the first industrial revolution. But in 1864, the Loi Olivier authorizes the working trade unions, without to prevent repression anti-trade unionist (massacres of militants) . Employers' federations are created on this example. Consequently, the trade unionism tends to embrace the whole of the company of work and posts political objectives: the CGT is created in 1895, with the congress of Limoges. The trade unionism French, known as of direct action, is characterized by its revolutionary inclinations and of independence with respect to the political parties. These principles are marked at the time of the congress of the CGT of Amiens in 1906 (charter of Amiens).

At the time of the Régime of Vichy the design supporter of corporatism of the organization of work is proposed and divides the union world. A leader of the CGT, Rene Belin becomes Minister for the Industrial production and the Work of the Marshal Pétain in July 1940. The promulgation in 1941 of the Charte of Work organizes the dissolution of the existing trade-union organizations and the creation of single trade unions per corporation. The major part of the trade unionists are organized then clandestinely. Trade-union freedoms are restored by a law of July 27th, 1944 and the dissolved confederations are recreated.

After the Great War, part of the trade unionism adopts the socialist ideas then communist, whereas a minority is directed towards reformism. Thus the CFTC, of European Christian tradition, creates in 1919, brings an answer sociétale out of counterweight of the Marxist tradition. In 1936, CGT counts approximately 6 million members: the trade-union power is expressed by the number. In the Forties east creates CGC, sectoral trade union composed of a multitude of local trade unions (engineers primarily - Mines, Ponts, metallurgy, electricity…). In 1948, a current secessionist of CGT, reformist and opposed to the domination of the Communist party on CGT, creates the CGT-FO. In 1964, CFTC by deconfessionnalisation becomes the CFDT, a CFTC news - dissenting - is created by militants who refuse the deconfessionnalisation. In 1992, the movement " autonome" , comprising mainly trade unions which, in 1947, had refused to choose between CGT and FO, organizes itself in the UNSA.

They are elected, but must frequently obtain plebiscite. There exist many independent trade-union organizations, but CGT and CFDT gather the majority of it. They consist of an confederal office, federations which gather all the trade unions of the same profession, and local unions which gather all the trade unions of a city or a department around the Labor market. One thus should not confuse trade union (for example the trade union of the carpenters of the Seine) and trade-union organization (for example CGT, or CFDT).

If, today, the large trade-union organizations are less powerful, the trade unions are still present in the reality of work, even if they lost most of their tertiary base since the Années 1970. Because of fixing of thresholds by manpower and the risks to syndicate, only an employee on two is brought to elect representatives.

This decline is due to the crisis of the Industrie (trade-union bastion), an insufficient taking into account of the tertiary sector and SME by the trade unions, the Privatization of companies, a phenomenon of externalisation, the insufficient taking into account of female work, the fall of Communism and trade-union division.

Whereas the rate of unionization in the private sector is hardly higher than 5% (whereas the other European countries are in the neighborhoods of 30, even 50%), France has a divided trade-union landscape, made up of five confederations representative of right (CGT, CFDT, Working force, CFTC and CFE-CGC) as three large other organizations (which gather each one more world than other organizations which are they regarded as representative) nonrepresentative of right (the UNSA, the FSU and the European Public Service Union Solidaires to which belongbelong inter alia the “CUS”).

According to the Ministry of Labor, 8% of the French workers are syndicated in 2003.

According to a study of the Ministry of Labor on the unionization (DARES, October 2004), the rate of unionization in the companies of less than 50 paid is of 3,5% (against 5,2% in the private sector); it is only of 2,4% at the employees in CDD or Intérim (against 9,5% at the employees in Permanent contract and full-time). According to a TNS-Sofres survey of December 2005, the causes of not-unionization are:

for 38%, the feeling which the trade unions do not include/understand their problem
for 36%, fear of reprisals of their direction
for 34%, trade-union division (80% of probed estimating that there are too many trade unions in France)

Trade unionism in England

One speaks in England about " trade unions" or " ploughing unions" to indicate the trade unions. The trade unionism was severely repressed in England until 1824. The years 1830 to 1840 were remembered by the predominance of the political action in the trade unions. In 1850 more stable trade unions, provided better in terms of resources, but often less radical were formed. And the legal statute of the trade unions was established by the Royal Commission in 1867 when this one admitted that the installation of these organizations favoured the employers as much as the employees. The text was legalized in 1871.

The most influential unions of the period victorienne were the unions of skilled workers, in particular Amalgamated Society off Engineers (article in English: HTTP: /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalgamated_Society_of_Engineers). The unions combining skilled worker and semi-qualified knew a rather weak progression until the emergence of the " New Unions" with the end of the year 1880. The trade unions played a big role in the creation of the Committee of representation of the workers (Ploughing Committee Representation, which constitutes the base of the current workers party (Ploughing party, which always maintains the close links with the " Trade union movement"

See also the article:

Trade unionism in the world

See also: List of trade unions in the world, History of the trade unionism in Germany, international Trade-union confederation

Internal bonds

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