Hi all,
I hope you’re all settling into the module well. As promised, here’s a quick breakdown of what we’ve covered in Weeks 1 of Trade Unions and Collective Bargaining. I’ve written this as a handy reference for SIPTU Learn: use it to review before our next session or while listening to the podcast.
Here is the podcast you need to listen to before our next class:
ACTIVITY: When you listen to the podcast, please add a comment below telling us one key function of trade unions you hadn’t thought about in detail before.
Week 1: Introduction to Trade Unions and Collective Bargaining
In our first week, we set the foundation by exploring what this module is all about: from collective bargaining to the broader world of industrial relations (IR). We discussed how views on IR and bargaining vary based on your worldview, and we dove into key definitions, history, and theories.
- Key Definitions:
- IR: A set of phenomena inside and outside the workplace for determining and regulating employment relationships (Salamon, 2000).
- Collective Bargaining: Negotiation of wages and conditions by organized employees (Oxford English Dictionary).
- Concepts & Figures: We played “Guess Who?” with IBEC, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, laissez-faire (government hands-off approach to the economy), and monetarism (Milton Friedman’s focus on controlling money supply for price stability).
- Who’s Who in IR: It’s more than unions! Institutions include employer organizations and third parties; roles like shop stewards, HR managers, and union officials; processes such as strikes and referrals; issues like the state’s role, the EU, and politics.
- History of IR in Ireland:
- 18th/19th centuries: Industrial Revolution sparked laissez-faire economics and unions to balance power imbalances (Webb definition: continuous association of wage earners to improve conditions).
- Early unions were illegal; craft unions emerged in the 1800s, trades councils in the 1880s, with UK recognition laws (1871–1906).
- Post-1913 Dublin Lockout: Rapid growth; Free State (post-1922): Legal tolerance but little policy; 1930s protectionism; 1940s/50s stagnation and emigration; 1960s boom with FDI; 1970s Keynesian national agreements; 1980s monetarist downturn; Celtic Tiger (1990s–2000s) driven by social partnership; 2008 recession and Croke Park Agreement (2010–2014).
- Politics & Economics in IR: Unions evolved from illegal to state partners; voluntarism (minimal legal interference); EU entry (1973) brought new laws and multinational influences; shift from neo-liberalism to partnership.
- Theoretical Perspectives:
- Pluralist: Society has competing interests; conflict is inevitable but managed through bargaining and institutions (Marxism seen as outdated).
- Unitary (Managerialist): Shared workplace goals; no real conflict; unions often unnecessary.
- Marxist/Radical: Class struggle from capitalism’s inequalities; IR as a temporary arena for conflict.
- Bonus mentions: Social Action (individual influence on events); Systems (actors, environment, rules, ideology).
The big takeaway? IR is shaped by your perspective, and unions have always adapted to economic and political shifts.
SLIDES: