simply questuons, due 8 hours, easy I supply other student answers, NO WORD COUNT REQUIRED

Student answer

(a) With respect to union density French unions’ density is relatively weak compare to that of Britain and US. The state plays an important role in pay settlements and minimum national wage as well as employment relations. However in Britain unions are also struggling to find a clear path in the 21stcentury while in US non-union growth and globalization are taking place. In Britain the regulatory system of employment is basically inexistent for which negotiations and conditions of employment are relatively handle independently between the parties. However some regulations are being implemented in relation to employment rights following EU initiatives. At the same time in US decentralization has increased due to diversification and globalization. Employment relations are more direct between employer-employee. The increased involvement of employee in business decision has created wide variance in work settlements.

(b) In France the state has long compensated for the lack of efficiency in industrial relations, however due to high unemployment levels in the 90’s, governments were induced to take a bigger part in the labor market.

(c) The lack of development of French unions is created by an absence of recognition between the anarchists and social revolutionists. Such situation prevents a level of organization required to increase the number of members in union organizations.

(d) In France the political role of unions is weak due to a lack of organization to gain collective bargaining and a low membership.

(e) In France the work representation is more complicated compared to that of US and Germany. Conflict between unions creates a hostile environment that affects union membership. Even though delegates and councils have active participation in the work place the lack of support towards employees creates an inefficient result.

Student answer

a.) Union density as we know was decreasing around the world, not only was United States affected by union density, but also France and Britain. According to the article “Union membership peaked in the late 1970s at over 13 million, and then fell dramatically in the 1980s as Margaret Thatcher took on the trade unions. Membership then stabilized and the figure has remained between seven and eight million since the mid-1990s. In 2009 23.5% of the UK workforce belonged to a trade union while 46.6% were employed in a workplace where a trade union was present. Figures also show that 61.1% of trade union members worked in the public sector.” This shows how dramatically union density has changed over the years; it had its Golden days and not such glorious days. France was also facing similar changes. France had low levels of union density however they showed tremendous power when in time of strikes occurring. Here are some interesting facts from the article: “France the unions have repeatedly shown that despite low levels of membership they are able to mobilize workers in mass strikes and demonstrations to great effect…. In France, for example, official figures covering the period 2001 to 2005 show that 15.2% of those directly employed by the state were in unions, compared with only 5.0% in the private sector. 3 In Croatia, a survey published in 2010, found union density to be 68% in the public sector, but only 17% in the private sector.”

 

b.) High unemployment rates in France among younger individuals, college-age workers, older workers and ethnic minorities are all in fact linked to labor relations system. It’s like a monopoly when one thing falls it takes the whole system down with it. This is why we need a strong economic stand, keep unemployment rate low, encourage people to spend money because that same money will recirculate and keep the economy flowing.

c.) The role that anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism played in development of the French unions is that they helped the development of young minds, took power out of the governments hand and gave it to the French people. It made the people mind predominantly strong and guided them to stand up for themselves. It’s almost like the lazzie faire movement that occurred during history lazzie faire “let the people say”.

d.) The political role of French unions and the role of state intervention in the French labor relations system are some what equivalent to the political and government roles in Britain the US and Germany. The French unions and state interventions were created to provide the common man with a backbone of support to face economic challenges that were present in society. France main goal was to improve its economical condition and political power that would only happen if France stabilized it economic condition. Thus jobs were created and youngsters were encouraged to work and unemployment rate did decline, when the facts were monitored closely. This raised Frances stability and power. Germanys government was more involved in collective bargain and employee relations. Now lets move on to the United States of American where do we stand in all of this? The US has department for almost every condition, we have a HR (human resource) section, we have a human relations section, we have census that monitors our employment rates. We have overall monitoring on our jurisdiction, unemployment rate did decrease, job opening have opened up more, but we have not boomed in economy just yet. Not to long ago the recession hit, and we have yet stabilized.

Student answer

a. Just like British unionism, French union membership has declined significantly over the years (from 23% in mid-170s to less that 8% in 2007). Similarly to the American unions, their numbers are lower than those of the UK. The 5 French union confederations (CGT, CFDT, FO, CFTC, and CFE-CGC) have been granted the status of representative unions, and their purpose was to gain independence from employers. A group of sector specific unions were formed later. Due to state intervention, the state legislated increases in the national minimum wage, and the Aubry law (the 35-hour week law) in order to reduce unemployment rates. 

b. The restructuring of the French economy, the changes of the labor contracts, and high unemployment levels caused skepticism amongst the younger workers as well as other groups, which lead to low union memberships. 

c. Anarchists and revolutionary socialists within the labor movement, as well as the influence from employers, helped the development of French employment relations. The creation of the autonomous unions in 1981 within the public sector had a corporatist orientation with a left-wing agenda (Union Syndicale Solidaire).

d. State intervention in France, Germany, the US, and the UK are strong but vary slightly regarding the degree of juridification. In France, there is a close link between the formation of industrial law and collective bargaining. The state also creates jobs and helped to raise minimum wage and make efforts to lower unemployment. In Germany, the government had a high involvement in employment relations by passing a plethora of acts to regulate the relation between employers and employees with respect to collective agreements and collective bargaining. Despite the states claim of being a central part of industrial relations institutions, the British industrial relations has been characterized as voluntarist, where there are non-legally binding collective agreements and a low level of formalization of industrial relations structures. In the US, the state serves as a direct regulation of the terms and conditions of employment as well as the regulation for the way the organized labor and management relates with each other. 

e. Workplace representation is more complicated in France than in the other mentioned countries because the French government has established a range of representative bodies at the enterprise level. This includes workplace delegates, works councils, union branches, and stewards. The workplace delegated deal with individual employee grievances, works councils deal with workplace consultations and the union branches and stewards represent the unions and participate in collective bargaining. In regard to the American system, employer organizations are relatively unimportant because there has never been national employers' confederations engaging in the industrial relations activities. The local unions usually carry out the day to  day activities of the union movement. The US approach seems to be a general one. The French approach will likely lead to greater competitiveness since they seem to have a more direct interaction between employers and employees. This model provides a recipe for generally faster results.