Critical Evaluation Of Three Journal Articles On Employee Relations Essay.

Compare and contrast between three journal article on RMT trade union industrial strike.

A critical evaluation of three journal articles that address a contemporary issue/debate in the field of employee relations.

Dispute Between RMT and Aslef on Driver-Only Trains and Subsequent Strikes

The union of RMT has called a deal to end the strikes posed by the fellow union Aslef and Southern Rail. The strike has crippled the south of England and London as a “shocking betrayal” of passengers and workers. Aslef was the representative train driver whereas RMT was representing the conductor and other fellow workers on the network. The dispute was detected in GTR southern, which is the parent company of Sothern Rail (Darlington, 2001). It was notified that the dispute emerged due to the unacceptable plan to introduce driver-only trains. It was argued that the removal of the conductors would be much risky since the drivers would require closing the doors themselves. It would be unsafe for the passengers and the conductors would lose their jobs. The commuters were under the misery for months when the services were abruptly cancelled and sometimes delayed due to the staff shortage and industrial actions. The strike then came to end when Aslef agreed to sign a deal with GTR Southern. In this deal, it was mentioned that the company would improve the safety parameters by exchanging the recommending deal of the union. Almost 1000 drivers would cast their vote on such initiative. However, Mick Cash, the General Secretary of RMT observed that this deal could lead to de-staffing of trains. He exclaimed, “This so-called agreement is a shocking and historical betrayal presided over by the TUC of not only the conductor grade and drivers, but also the passengers, including disabled passengers, who have lost the guarantee of a second member of staff on their trains” (Darlington, 2001). On the other hand, Mick Whelan, the General Secretary of Aslef remarked, “I am pleased that we have finally been able to reach an agreement with the company which reflects the concerns of train drivers”. This statement clearly pointed out the satisfaction of the secretary by signing the deal.  

Implementation of Kelly’s work on mobilization theory has been integrated in the Industrial sector in Britain since its formulation a decade ago. Extensive research shows that Kelly’s argument attempt to explain the relation between activist and worker’s in realization of center for bargaining agreement within contracts. However, several scholars such as Fairbrother have criticized Kelly’s ideology saying that the model is a mere analysis of a leader-oriented dichotomy as opposed to a model that embraces the nature of work and employment relations (Fairbrother 2005). Fairbrother, goes on to argue out that it is important to abandon Kelly’s mobilization theory model and adopt a mechanism that explores all the conditions of a workplace organization: such as unionism, activism, workers’ welfare, and working conditions. As such, ideas in this paper seek to present multidimensional set of evidence in relation to the role played by workers union such as the RMT union to champion for the rights of employees. Notably, the paper will have several sections to discuss the relevance of the assigned topic as shown below.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Trade Union Organizations and Policies in the Conservative and New Labor Era

To start with, it is important to identify some of the weaknesses associated with the New Labor regime. First, the period saw an increase in the bureaucratization and privatization of trade union in Britain (Coats 2005). For instance, during the 2000s regime trade unions opted to shift from conservative nature of having on-site stewards to centralized governance that involved management of different worker by one person. Additionally, studies by the WERS shows that the New Labor regime is associated with trade union representative being the aged and incompetent in championing for the rights of employees and advocating for the inclusion of centre of bargaining agreement. According to Waddington, 2009, he is of the opinion that majority of the bureaucratized representative liaised with the noble class of employers and union officials in acting as obstacles towards fair election in the union and to a greater extent operating as inhibitors to achieving a centre for bargaining agreement (Darlington 2006). With that in mind, it is wise to also recognize the strengths associated with the state of workplace reps union organization during the conservative era and the New Labor regime.

Despite the discussed setbacks associated with the shift from the conservative to New Labor era, it is important to note that the survey by the WERS is a prescriptive analysis rather than a descriptive evaluation of the problem on the ground. As much as the New Labor record a period of increased strikes, bureaucratization, and privatization of trade unions: where there was a decline in the workplace union strength, the regime also records positive results both in the public and private sector (Crow 2005). For instance, report by the TUC approximated that the trade unions to ensure site safety have deployed around 150,000 health and safety representatives. Moreover, almost 20,000 union learning reps have been allocated in workplace to provide training and development: majority being women representative, this is in consideration with the BME.

What is more, the provided evidence on the strength of the New Labor is not enough as there is also the balance of power between employers and employees. As much as employers are in control of trade unions, shop stewards and other workplace union reps still play a significant role in resisting, amending, and to some extent influence the management initiatives: they form the backbone of the union movement that is responsible with championing the rights of employees welfare (Batstone 1977). To that end it is important to analyze the industrial relations under a conservative government as shown below.

Factors Affecting the RMT Union of Workers in Britain

The obtained information from Darlington’s article indicates that there is the visibility of the exceptional picture is much prominent in case of RMT. Over the past 10 years, the ‘brand image’ of RMT increased due to the striking union. It was noticed that the almost dozens of strikes affected the national railway network and London Underground (Darlington, 2001). The article reflects that the left-wing union approach has been facing the dynamic criticism. As per the report presented in the article, it was mentioned that the ‘hard-left’ militant leaders in the union are responsible for the persistence of the strikes. In fact, RMT could legitimately claim for high profile bargaining victories with the help of such militant approaches.

The case study present discussion for the analysis of the factors affecting the RMT union of workers in Britain where there are two different sets of ideologies. First, there is the plight for the employees’ welfare: including the unforgotten workers such as security personnel and chefs in the rail industry (Berlin 2006). Secondly, there is a heated debate on the noble social class, which is frustrating the employees and exploiting them. The poor relationship between the employees and the unions in London is addressed by the late Ms. Claire Perry in her fight to change the ‘system’ towards realizing and appreciating the welfare of the employees. Recent, research shows that the stakeholders and policy makers in the rail industry are benefiting much at the expense of the employees’ efforts and resources.

Wilkinson argued that the government was ready to offer civil servants large salaries pay while offer peanuts to the workers at the RMT. As a result, employees resort to striking for as long as 24 hours a day for three days consecutive. However, for every problem there is always a solution, the paralyzed RMT union of employees was redeemed when Bob Crow, a supporter of the CDFU and an ex-member of the CPSLP was elected as the general secretary of the franchises in the year 2002. Crow helped the employees by fighting against privatization of trade unions and establishing a centre for bargaining agreement for the union. Furthermore, the contemporary issue in employment relations in Britain is explained by the journal on the state of workplace union reps organization.

The article presented by Christian Wolmar is signifying that the Union Leaders have presented their concerns by stating that there is no prospect of the industrial action on Southern Ending. The passengers in Britain have been suffering mainly because of the poor railway network. This network has been suffering from fresh disruption on the first day of the three-day’s strike. Govia in fact made a fresh appeal to the railway networks for the unions to end the disputes. For an organization to realize its mission, vision, and value statement it is of great importance to integrate its culture and climate. Organization culture and climate helps in creating good working relationships between staff members as it breeds creativity through interaction (Frege and Kelly 2006). For instance, the RMT union is made up of members who share the same ideologies and problems: under payment and exploitation. Therefore, for the RMT union, the type of relations between their employers and lay union representatives (Darlington 2008) determines the state of workplace.  

Importance of Organization Culture and Climate in Employee Relations

Mitchell goes ahead to talk of the Australian trade union movement that occurred in 1997 gained nothing while championing for the centre of bargaining agreement and welfare of employees. In my opinion, it is considered wise for any trade union to have a deal with the government in a civilized manner so as to reach an agreement. Likewise, it is better for the government to have mechanism in place to boost productivity through creating better working terms and conditions. The discussion builds evidence from the understanding of Hoch child’s primary emotional labor: a tool for developing materialist theory of labor subjectivity relating to Marxist tradition (Behrens et al. 2004). Implementation of Hoch Child’s aspect of emotional labor paves way for the development of subjective-collective theory of labor power with references outsourced from Vygotsky’s concept of unity of thought speech to theorize the relationship between labor and consciousness.  An integration of Bakhtin’s materialist concept of emotion in labor activity with the Hoch Child’s concept of emotional labor and Vygotsky’s psychology ideologies provides a platform understanding of collective work responsibilities, role of managers, and the need for paying attention to employees’ feelings and behavior (Cohen 2006). The model indicates that it is easy to draw illustration from the leadership at the RMT union in Britain and evaluate the underlying factors associated with the conservative and new labor regime. For instance, to avoid the strikes in the union, under payment, and exploitation of the workers by the employers, the trade union officials together with the government could have implemented the Hoch Child’s concept of emotional labor and Vygotsky’s psychology ideologies to have the centre for bargaining agreement. After integrating the described models, is it possible for employees to strike? The answer to the question lies in the discussion below.

The article presented by Charles’ Moore highlights the prospective of such failure in rail networks. It was stated that the many members of RMT Union were prone to sudden sick leave. The rail-war has been going on for nearly a year. Even the passengers required some of the recognizable changes in the service of the network. The current report derived from the Office of Road and Rail exclaims that the DOO trains that are capturing almost 30% of the national network are quite safe for the passengers (Christianwolmar.co.uk 2017). When the huge crowds pile into strike, the safety fell into significant danger. Moreover, Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary had undertaken the tough action in order to resolve the issues.  

Emotional Labor and Its Role in Labor Subjectivity and Consciousness

The distance between a workplace and the employee’s place of residence has an influence on the level of production. The closer the place of residence to the industry, the increase in time devoted to work. The famous geographer, Waldo Tobler, who is of the opinion ‘fist law of geography’, clarifies the argument: that everything is related, with near objects being closely related than distant objects (Bryson 2003). An assertion that social life has particular spatiality, in this context the closer the employee is to the work place the higher the productivity levels.  

Further explanation on the relationship between geographical landscape and industrial relations has three significant roles. First, there is integration between the IR practices and the economic landscape where social actors respond to changes brought about by the IR practices. That is to say that the expectations and behaviors an employee are directly influenced by their actions towards their geographical landscape. Secondly, economic geography is directly proportional to the productivity of employees (Bryson 2003). For employees to be termed productive or unproductive their economic geographical actions play a role to their either advantage or disadvantage. Thirdly, geographical effects influence the growth of an industry. For instance, before allocation of an industry survey and research is done to determine the availability of raw materials and to some extent the availability of labor within the geographical zones. In Britain’s RMT union, geography plays a significant role in determining the profits of the organization. For instance, Mr. Brown, an army officer reported that either the trains in London used to delay with twenty or thirty minutes and it had an impact on the economic production of the state. In his view, location of the railway station was far from his home: but still he had to board another train that made her wife to drive extra thirty minutes to pick him.

Conclusion

Finally, it is possible to discern that the industrial relationship between RMT union and its employees are at its best, but there are several positive measures being taken to strengthen and address the plight of the employees.  For instance, 2,300 employees opted to strike for almost thirty six hours to have their opinions realized and appreciated. The resultant outcome had a negative economic impact on the company as well as Britain’s economy. Above all, drastic measures such as the election of Bob Crow salvaged the employees’ welfare even though it was not fully implemented. The action saw Ms. Perry giving her best in order to change the ‘normal’ routine of the RMT union. That said it is important to realize the positive role played by the RMT in ensuring health safety on site and allocating union learning reps to offer training and development strategies on site.

Subjective-Collective Theory of Labor Power

It was quite clear that the article presented by Darlington established the concerns with the emerging issues in a clarified manner. It pointed out each of the reasons that influenced the issues in a prominent way. On the other hand, the article creates a debating scenario where the activities of both the railway networks and the union. It was quite clear that the passengers have been suffering from the poor railway services. The dispute was detected in GTR southern, which is the parent company of Sothern Rail. The strike then came to end when Aslef agreed to sign a deal with GTR Southern. The deal was signed to put an end to this emerging issues that hev eben affecting both the southern railway and the associated drivers. In this deal, it was mentioned that the company would improve the safety parameters by exchanging the recommending deal of the union. Other article has highlighted the faults of southern railway services that created hazardous situations for the passengers. However, the articles failed to address the proper initiatives that can improve the union activities. In compare to this, the article presented by Darlington was much focused on the argumentative scenario for understanding the consequences more precisely.

References

Bagwell, P. S. 1996. The Transport Crisis in Britain (Spokesman).

Batstone, E., I. Boraston & S. Frenkel 1977. Shop Stewards in Action: The Organization of Workplace Conflict and Accommodation (Blackwell).

Batstone, E., I. Boraston & S. Frenkel 1978. The Social Organization of Strikes (Blackwell).

Behrens, M., K. Hamman & R. Hurd. 2004. ‘Conceptualizing labor union revitalization’, inc.

Berlin, M. 2006. Never on Our Knees: A History of the RMT, 1979–2006(Pluto Press).

Bryson, A. 2003. Working with Dinosaurs? Union Effectiveness in Delivering for Employees, Policy Studies Institute research discussion paper no. 11(Policy Studies Institute).Catalyst (2004) Renaissance Delayed? New Labour and the Railways, working paper (Catalyst).

Catalyst,. 2005. The Railways in a Third Term, pre-election briefing paper (Catalyst).

Charlwood, A. 2003. ‘Willingness to unionize amongst non-union workers’, in H. Gospel & S. Wood (eds.) Representing Workers (Routledge).

Christianwolmar.co.uk, 2017. RMT disputes are not a return to the 1970s | Christian Wolmar. [online] Christianwolmar.co.uk. Available at: <https://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/2016/08/rmt-disputes-are-not-a-return-to-the-1970s/> [Accessed 17 Mar. 2017].

Coats, D. 2005. Raising Lazarus: The Future of Organized Labour (Fabian Society).

Cohen, S. 2006. Ramparts of Resistance: Why Workers Lost Their Power and How to Get it Back (Pluto Press).

Crow, B. 2005. ‘It’s the war, stupid’, Across the Tracks, July.

Darlington, R. 2001. ‘Union militancy and left-wing leadership on London Underground’, Industrial Relations Journal, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 2–21.

Darlington, R. 2002. ‘Shop stewards’ leadership, left-wing activism and collective workplace union organization’, Capital & Class, no. 76, pp.95–126.

Darlington, R. 2006. ‘The agitator “theory” of strikes re-evaluated’, Labor History, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 485–509.

Darlington, R. 2007. ‘Leadership and union militancy: The case of the RMT’, International Industrial Relations Association conference, University of Manchester, 3–6 September.

Darlington, R. 2008. ‘Striking against PPP: RMT organization in Metronet on London Underground, 2003-8’, British Universities ‘Industrial Relations Association conference, University of the West of England, 26–28 July.

Edwards, C. 1987. ‘Formal industrial relations and workplace power: A study on the railway’, Journal of Management Studies, no. 24.Evening Standard (2001) editorial: ‘Hardliners on the RMT’, 16 May.

Ewing, K. D. 2003. Moving Forward on the Railway: Integrated Industrial Relations and the Public Interest (Institute of Employment Rights).

Fairbrother, P. 2005. book review of G. Gall (ed.) ‘Union Organising: Campaigning for Trade Union Recognition’, Capital & Class, no. 37, pp. 257–63.

Frege & J. Kelly., 2000 (eds.) Varieties of Unionism: Strategies for Union Revitalization in a Globalizing Economy(Oxford University Press) pp. 11–29.

Gall, G. 2006. ‘Organising for the future. Today’, RMT News, September, pp. 10–11.