In the past, the Republic of Korea regulated collective bargaining by requiring the participation of employers, but collective bargaining was only legal if it was held in sessions before the Lunar New Year. The British trade union movement received its legal basis in the Trade-Union Act of 1871. In the United States, the same effect has been achieved, albeit more slowly and uncertainly, through a series of court decisions that have prevented the use of injunctions, conspiracy laws, and other devices against unions. In 1866, the founding of the National Labor Union (NLU) was an early attempt to create a federation of American unions. Although the NLU disappeared in the 1870s, several of its member unions continued to represent professions as diverse as shoemakers, spinners, miners, and railway workers. The founding of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) by several skilled worker unions in 1886 marked the beginning of a great and continuing labor movement in the United States. Member groups included national trade or craft unions that organized local unions and negotiated wages, working hours and working conditions. In Western Europe, professional associations often perform the functions of a trade union. In these cases, they can negotiate for employees or skilled workers such as doctors, engineers or teachers. As a rule, these unions renounce policies or pursue more liberal policies than their counterparts in the working class.
While union organizers in both countries faced similar obstacles, their approaches developed in very different ways: the British movement fostered the political activism that led to the formation of the Labor Party in 1906, while American unions engaged in collective bargaining to generate economic gains for their workers. From Britain, trade unions became popular in many countries during the Industrial Revolution. Trade unions may be composed of individual workers, professionals, former employees, students, apprentices or the unemployed. Trade union density, i.e. the percentage of workers who belong to a trade union, is highest in the Nordic countries. [3] [4] In the United States, the labor movement was also hampered by the movement to introduce so-called right-to-work laws, which generally banned the union store, a previously common clause in employment contracts that required workers to join a union as a condition of employment or to pay a service fee to it. The right-to-work laws passed in more than half of the U.S. states and territory of Guam in the early 21st century were promoted by corporate libertarians, trade associations, and corporate-funded think tanks as necessary to protect economic freedom and workers` association. They have had the practical effect of weakening collective bargaining and restricting the political activities of trade unions by depriving them of funds. Other states have passed separate laws to restrict or prohibit collective bargaining or the right of unions to strike in the public sector. In Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (2018), the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that public sector employees cannot be required to pay a service fee to a union to support their collective bargaining on their behalf. Canada`s first union, the Labourers` Benevolent Association (now Local 273 of the International Longshoremen`s Association), was founded in 1849 in Saint John, New Brunswick. The union was formed when Coastal Residents of Saint John joined forces to advocate for regular pay and a shorter workday. [24] Canadian unionism had early ties to Britain and Ireland. Merchants who came from Britain brought with them the traditions of the British labour movement, and many British unions had branches in Canada. Canadian unionism`s relations with the United States eventually replaced those with Great Britain. With 65% of workers belonging to a trade union, Belgium is a country with one of the highest percentages of trade union members. Only the Scandinavian countries have a higher union density. The largest union with about 1.7 million members is the Christian Democratic Federation of Christian Trade Unions (ACV-CSC), founded in 1904. [19] The origins of the union can be traced back to the Anti-Socialist Cotton Workers` Union, founded in 1886.
[20] The second largest union is the Belgian General Socialist Federation of Labour (ABVV-FGTB), which has more than 1.5 million members. [21] The ABVV-FGTB dates back to 1857, when the first Belgian trade union in Ghent was founded by a group of weavers. These and other socialist unions were united around 1898. The ABVV-FGTB in its current form dates back to 1945. The third largest multi-sectoral union in Belgium is the General Liberal (classically liberal) Confederation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (ACLVB-CGSLB), which is relatively small compared to the first two with just under 290,000 members. [22] The ACLVB-CGSLB was founded in 1920 to unite the many small liberal unions. At that time, the Liberal Union was known as the “Nationale Centrale der Liberale Vakbonden van België”. In 1930, the ACLVB-CGSLB adopted its current name. [23] Today, the highest union membership quotas in the world are recorded in the Nordic countries. In 2018 or last year, the proportion of workers who belonged to a union (union density) was 90.4% in Iceland, 67.2% in Denmark, 66.1% in Sweden, 64.4% in Finland and 52.5% in Norway, while it is unknown in Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Åland Islands.
[50] Excluding full-time students working part-time, Swedish union density was 68% in 2019. [51] In all Nordic countries with a Ghent system – Sweden[52], Denmark and Finland – the density of the Union is around 70%. The substantial increase in the contributions of the Swedish trade union unemployment funds, introduced by the new centre-right government in January 2007, has led to a sharp decline in the number of members of the unemployment funds and trade unions. Between 2006 and 2008, union density decreased by six percentage points: from 77% to 71%. [53] The moderate unions of the New Model dominated the trade union movement from the mid-19th century and where the trade union movement was stronger than the political labour movement until the founding and growth of the Labour Party in the early years of the 20th century. The largest trade union confederation in the world is the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which has around 309 affiliated organisations in 156 countries and territories with a total of 166 million members. The ITUC is an association of national trade union centres such as the AFL-CIO in the United States and the Trades Union Congress in the United Kingdom. Other global trade union organisations are the World Trade Union Confederation. Trade unions (Danish: Fagforeninger, Norwegian: Fagforeninger/Swedish fagforeiningar: Fackföreningar) have a long tradition in Scandinavian and Nordic society. They began in the middle of the 19th century.
And today have a major impact on the nature of employment and workers` rights in many Nordic countries. One of the largest trade unions in Sweden is the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO, Landsorganisationen), which includes trade unions such as the Swedish Metalworkers` Union (IF Metall = Industrifacket Metall), the Swedish Electricians` Union (Svenska Elektrikerförbundet) and the Swedish Municipal Workers` Union (Svenska Kommunalarbetareförbundet, abbreviated Kommunal). [48] One of IF Metall`s objectives is to transform jobs into “good jobs”, also known as “employment development”. [49] The Swedish system relies heavily on the so-called Swedish model, which emphasizes the importance of collective agreements between trade unions and employers. [18] In other circumstances, unions may not have the right to represent workers or this right may be called into question.