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Trade associations and trade unions





In most industries, there are trade associations, like the British Clothing Industry Association (BCIA), which represent employers, and trade unions, like the GMB, which represent employees.

Trade associations have three main functions:

• They negotiate national rates of pay and conditions of employment with' trade unions in some industries

• They present the industry's views to the European Union, the government and the public.

• They provide advice and information, and sometimes carry out industrial research, for member firms.

There are 114 main employers' associ­ations in Britain. Many of the other trade associations are small and cover only part of an industry.

Employers as a whole are represented by the Confederation of British I Industry (CBI). More than 200 trade associations and employers' organiza­tions and more than 250,000 public and private companies are members. About half of the members are small- and medium-sized firms with less than 200 employees.

The CBI's main task is to state the views of British business to the gov­ernment, the public and the European Commission in Brussels, where the CBI has a permanent office. In addition, it has regional offices in Britain and provides information and research services for its members.

The main functions of trade unions are to:

· negotiate rates of pay and

· conditions of work with employers, including health and safety matters

· give members legal advice about problems at work and provide lawyers to represent members in courts or at industrial tribunals

· support members financially during strikes and lock-outs by employers and after accidents at work

· provide a range of other services for members, such as mortgages, insur­ance, personal loans and discounted holidays.

There are 256 trade unions. Many of them are very small craft unions formed in the last century for skilled workers in one trade, such as the Pattern Weavers Society with its 58 members! Some kinds of employees still have their own separate union, such as the National Union of Journalists or the British Airline Pilots Association. In recent years, however, there have been many mergers of smaller unions. Bigger general unions have been formed to represent skilled, semiskilled and unskilled workers in a variety of industries. One of the most striking changes in recent years has been the growth of white-collar unions, such as the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union, for clerical workers, managers and professionals in different industries.



The largest union is Unison with 1,400,000 members. It was formed in 1993 by a merger of three unions: the Confederation of Health Service Employees, the National Union of Public Employees and the National and Local Government Officers' Union. Other big unions include:

• Transport and General Workers' Union, 900,000 members.

• GMB (formerly the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union), 790,000 members.

• Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union, 750,000 members.

• Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union, 452,000 members.

Most unions have a president, general-secretary and national executive, who have to be elected by members in a secret ballot. They have paid officials to assist them. Bigger unions have region­al or district committees, also elected by members. There are usually paid officials in the regions. Most negotia­tions in the workplace are carried out by shop stewards, who are unpaid union representatives elected by their workmates.

Most of the bigger unions, 67 in all, are attached to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which represents the union movement as a whole, as the CBI represents business.

Trade union membership has fallen dramatically in recent years. It reached a peak of 13.3 million in 1979. It is now about 7 million, the lowest since 1946. This represents about 40 per cent of people in employment.



The main reasons for the decline are an increase in the number of unem­ployed and part-time workers who are less likely to be trade union members.

From 1979, Conservative govern­ments passed a series of laws to reduce the power of trade unions. Strikes were one of the unions' main weapons. As a result of the new laws, a strike can only be called after there has been a secret postal ballot of members. The result has to be checked by inde­pendent persons. Employers must be given seven days' notice of any indus­trial action. If a strike takes place, peaceful picketing is allowed, but there must be no more than six persons at each entrance to the workplace. Secondary picketing by workers from other firms is illegal, as are all unoffi­cial strikes. Under the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act of 1993, anyone deprived of goods or ser­vices by illegal industrial action can apply to a court for it to be stopped. The Act also made it more difficult for unions to collect subscriptions auto­matically from members' pay. Other laws have made it almost impossible to set up a closed shop where only union members can be employed.

 

Text 3

Collective Bargaining

In some industries, rates of pay are decided nationally by collective bargaining between employers and trade unions. The employers are represented by their trade associations and the trade unions by representatives of all the unions involved. These repre­sentatives decide a minimum rate of pay for workers in the industry. In a few industries, they decide the actual rates of pay. In addition, they usually decide the length of the working week overtime rates and the minimumlength of holiday. There may also be talks on working conditions and other matters, including:

• sick pay

• maternity leave

• fringe benefits

• changes in working practices

• training

• recruitment

• health and safety

• pensions.

National bargaining is also used in much of the public sector to set salary scales and other working conditions for employees throughout the country.

In the private sector, the working conditions in firms vary so much than it has long been common to hold local talks on pay and conditions in addition to the national discussions, This collective bargaining between management and unions goes on at both company and factory level. For example, the managers and unions at plant level might agree that shop-flora workers should be paid 50p an hour extra for working evening shifts and 140p an hour extra for night shifts. Extra payments for white-collar workers might also be decided at the local level. For example, managers and unions might agree to give a cost-of-living allowance of £1,500 a year to .3 office staff as the factory is in Greater London, where homes and other things cost more. There can be a lot of hard bargaining over pay at local level. Very often, the unions are forced to accept a productivity deal, which means that higher wages have to be paid for by greater productivity or efficiency.



Other matters that might be decided locally include:

· redundancy policies

· productivity agreements

· appraisal systems.

In recent years, there has been a great decline in collective bargaining. It now covers less than half of all employees. In the private sector, many employees, particularly white-collar workers, have been taken out of collective bargain­ing. They now have personal contracts of employment with their employers. The Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act of 1993 encouraged the change by allowing employers to offer pay rises or other inducements to employees who opted out of collective bargaining.

As the Study Points have shown, pay is often decided by some form of job evaluation. Many firms have switched from set salary scales to per­formance-related pay rises. Employees' performance during the year might be judged by a manager. Or they might be given pay rises for achieving certain targets. For example, bank employees might have to sell a certain number of insurance policies to customers to get a pay rise. There has also been a change to performance-related pay in some parts of the public sector. It has been introduced in parts of the Civil Service and in National Health Service trusts. From 1996, all government depart­ments and agencies became responsible for their own pay negotiations with staff below the senior level.

Some Far Eastern companies with factories in Britain and trade unions have introduced 'new style' agree­ments which depend on much closer co-operation between managers and unions. Some of the main features of these 'new style' agreements are:

Recognition of only one union. It is easier for management to make deals with only one union than with a number of unions. It also strengthens the union if no other union is allowed to join in the talks.

Single-status employment. The tradi­tional differences between managers and workers, between 'them' and 'us', is ended. Manual workers have the same hours of work, holidays, canteens and car parking as white- collar workers.

Labour flexibility. All workers do any job which they are capable of doing.

Teamwork. There is a greater empha­sis on teamwork and co-operation between all grades of employees.

No-strike agreements. The union agrees not to strike. Both management and union agree to accept the

decision of an arbitrator, or independent judge, in any dispute. Pendulum arbitration is often used.

In pendulum arbitration, the arbitrator makes a straight choice between the views of the management and the union. For example, if the manage­ment has offered a pay rise of £1 an hour and the union wants £2 an hour, the arbitrator cannot say that the rise should be £1.50 or £1.75. He or she has to say 'yes' to either the managers or the unions: the pay rise has to be either £1 an hour or £2 an hour. This kind of arbitration encourages both sides to be moderate in their demands. They know that if their case is extreme it is likely to be rejected outright.

Some trade unionists see these 'new style' agreements as the way forward into a new era of co-operation between management and workers. Others believe it a sacrifice of their basic rights.

To increase worker participation, or Works councils share, in the running of businesses, the European Union (EU) has decided that 'European Committees', or works councils, should be set up in all multi­national firms in the EU. This will apply to all firms with more than 1,000 employees that have branches employing at least 100 workers in two or more EU countries. The works councils have the right to be informed and consulted on all matters that affect the interests of the workers.

 

Text 4

Industrial Conflict

In Britain, the number of working days lost through strikes in 1994 was the lowest since records began in 1891, As the Study Points have shown, there has been a similar trend throughout the west. It has been caused in part by economic insecurity, flexible working, a shortage of full-time jobs and, in Britain, new laws which make it more difficult to strike.

Strikes are the workers' most powerful, and final, weapon. A firm suffers great losses because it cannot produce any goods or services. However, the workers also lose, as they receive only I a few pounds a week in strike pay from their union. To lessen the effects on their members, unions sometimes call a short strike lasting only a few days.

In addition to strikes, workers can also; take other industrial action. The three main kinds are:

Non-co-operation. The workers may boycott, or refuse to have anything, to do with, a new working practice of which they do not approve. For example, a new method of keeping records may have been introduced without prior talks with the unions. The workers may refuse to operate the new system.

Working to rule. There are official rules in workplaces about the conditions and terms of employment. For example, they may specify all the parts that should be checked before a machine is used or all the protective clothing that should be worn for a particular job. In practice, some of these rules are often ignored in the interests of greater speed and efficiency. However, when there is a work to rule, or go slow, all the rules will be strictly observed. As a result, the jobs take I much longer and productivity falls. Shop stewards may take every sin­gle complaint and grievance to management, which he or she would previously have settled on the spot. As a result, management time is wasted.

Overtime ban. Workers may refuse to work beyond the normal hours. Firms that rely heavily on overtime working to keep to their production schedules will be affected. The workers are also affected as they lose valuable overtime pay.

Employers can also take industrial action against the work force. Some of their main actions are:

Closer work supervision. Managers can supervise, or examine, employees' work more closely and point out the faults.

Pay freeze. Employers can say that costs have to be cut and, therefore, wages and/or salaries will have to be frozen at their present level for a period of six months or a year.

Derecognize union. Employers can refuse to talk to a union unless over 50 per cent of employees are members.

Lock-outs. Employers lock the work­ place gates or doors to prevent employees entering and stop paying them wages. A lock-outalso harms employers as they have to go on paying their overheads and may lose orders and damage the image of the firm.

Factory or office closure. The employ­ers' final weapon is to close a factory or an office with a long record of con­flict. However, the employers may then face a large redundancy bill.

Many disputes are settled peacefully by management and unions. If they cannot settle the dispute themselves, they may call in the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). This independent body was set up during the great industrial dis­putes of the 1970s. Some of its main functions are:

• To settle disputes between unions and employers by conciliation.

• To refer unsettled disputes to arbitration with the agreement of all the parties involved.

• To advise both sides of industry on ways of improving industrial relations.

CAS has an excellent record in settling disputes. In recent years, it has not had to deal with so many industrial conflicts, owing to the great decline in both collective bargaining and trade union actions. The number of individual conciliation cases, however, has increased greatly from about 50,000 in 1986 to over 90,000 in 1995. About half of them concerned allegations of unfair dismissal.

About 70 per cent of the cases were withdrawn or settled through ACAS conciliation.

Text 5

Employees` Rights

Employers cannot treat their employees in any way they like. There are dozens of laws protecting employees` rights. If employers break these laws they can be taken before an industrial tribunal, which can award the employee thousands of pounds' compensation.

Some of the things an employer must do are:

• Provide employees with a written statement of employment within two months of starting work, unless they will be employed for less than a month. The statement should include:

- the employer's name

- the employee's name

- the date employment began

- the amount of pay and the intervals between payments

- hours of work

- holiday entitlement

- sick-leave arrangements

- pension arrangements

- length of notice for ending employment

- job title or brief description

- if not a permanent job, the period for which employment expected to last

- the place of work

- details of disciplinary and grievance procedures

Provide an itemized pay statement showing gross and net pay, statuto­ry deductions for income tax and national insurance, and any pension contributions and voluntary deductions.

Give men and women equal pay if they are doing the same work or work of equal value. Give Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to an employee who has been off sick for four or more days in a row for up to 28 weeks.

Give guarantee payments of up to £14.10 a day to employees who are laid off through shortage of work, for up to five days in a three-month period.

Give women 14 weeks' unpaid maternity leave regardless of length of employment or hours of work. Give women who have worked for the business for two years Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) of 90 per cent of their weekly earnings for the first six weeks and, at the time of writ­ing, £52.50 a week for the remaining 12 weeks. These payments must be made even if the woman is not returning to her job. Provide a written statement of rea­sons for dismissal. Employees are entitled to receive at least one week's notice (or pay instead) after one month's employment and a maximum of 12 weeks' pay for 12 years of employment or more. Give redundancy pay to employees with at least two years' service. This ranges, according to age, from half a week's to one and a half weeks' pay for each year of employment, up to a maximum of 20 years. Observe the Health and Safety Regulations of 1993, based on a European Union (EU) law, which makes it compulsory for employers to treat health and safety as seriously as any other aspect of their business by assessing risk and tak­ing suitable action. The regulations include most of the provisions of the Health and Safety Act of 1974.

• Give part-time workers the same employment rights as full-time workers.

• Treat disabled workers no less favourably than other workers under the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995. This applies only to businesses employing 20 people or more.

An employer must not:

· Discriminate against employees because of their race (see Unit 74).

· Make deductions from pay, except in a few cases allowed by law or by a contract of employment or when an employee has given written con­ sent, e.g. for trade union subscrip­tions or National Savings.

· Stop an employee from joining a trade union or dismiss an employee for belonging to a union.

· Stop an employee taking time off for public duties, e.g. as a magistrate or as a member of a local council.

· Employ children under 13 years of age, except in some family businesses.

· Dismiss a woman because she is pregnant.

· Dismiss an employee for refusing to work on Sundays.

· Dismiss an employee unfairly.

The main reasons for which an employer can dismiss an employee are:

• misconduct

• inability to do the job

• redundancy, if the employee's labour is no longer needed.

If the dismissal was for misconduct, the employee must know that he or she was committing an offence, and a warning has to be given so that the employee has a chance to put a case, or to put right his or her behaviour. If it was for inability to do the job, it must be shown that adequate training and supervision were provided and that a more suitable job was offered instead. If it was for redundancy, the employer needs to show that he or she gave as much notice as possible and that the method of selection was fair.

 

 

Unit 7. Trade

Text 1

Foreign Trade

 

Most international trade consists of the purchase and sale of industrial equipment, consumer, goods, oil and agricultural products. In addition, services such as banking, insurance, transportation, telecommunications, engineering and tourism account for about one-fifth of all world exports.

Trade has long been considered a primary instrument for development. It also has a social impact by bringing isolated cultures into contact with new ideas, technologies and goods. In 1964, when the first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) met in Geneva, trade was still recognized as a primary vehicle for development. The conference concluded that the effective development assistance was extremely limited in its power to bring social change compared to trade, which could generate employment and accelerate economic growth.

In the course of historical development, one can observe recurrent swings in commercial policy of different countries: from protection toward free trade, and back toward protection. During the mercantilism the national policies were to export much, import little. Countries often pursued highly restrictive policies, imposing tariffs, quotas, embargoes, state monopolies, and a variety of other measures to regulate their foreign trade. The middle of the nineteenth century witnessed a definite shift in the direction of free trade. Great Britain was the leader in this movement. Some countries followed the British example. Many countries concluded commercial treaties stipulating tariff reductions and other measures to liberalize trade. Most of these treaties included a most- favoured -nation clause providing the lowest tariff rates.

One of the most significant trends in the world economy since the end of World War II has been a rapid increase in international trade. In 1950, total world merchandise exports amounted to $58 billion. In 1990, exports were $3.5 trillion, over 60 times as much. Thisrate of increase was roughly three times fast as overall world economic growth. As its volume has increased, trade has become ore important to the economic well-being of many countries.

All governments regulate foreign trade and practise protectionism to some extent. The debate is over how much or how little protectionism to use to reach a country's economic goals. Those ;who favour free trade think that an open trading system with few imitations and little government involvement is best. Advocates of protectionism believe that governments must take actions to regulate trade and subsidize industries to protect the domestic economy.

In order to examine a country's position in international trade is useful to consult two of the most frequently used statistics, the balance of trade and the balance of payments. When you hear on the news about "trade balance", what you are usually hearing about is the merchandise trade balance, which is the difference between a nation's exports and imports of merchandise. A "favourable" merchandise balance of trade, or trade surplus, occurs when a country's exports exceed its imports. A 'negative' balance, or trade deficit, occurs when a country's imports exceed its exports. The balance of trade, however, is not the whole picture; it includes only purchases and sales of merchandise.

The- complete summary of all economic transactions between a country and the rest of the world - involving transfers of merchandise, services, financial assets and tourism - is called the balance of payments. The balance of payments for the country is separated into two main accounts: the current account and the capital account. The current account records sales and purchases of goods, services and interest payments. The entire merchandise trade balance is contained in the current account. The capital account deals with investment items, like whole companies, stocks, bonds, bank accounts, real estate and factories.

Recent decades have seen important shifts in the composition and directions of world trade. The manufactured goods of the developed countries have accounted for the main growth of trade, surpassing the growth rates for trade in agricultural raw materials, ores and metals. In many countries one of the driving forces behind the increase in export was the success of companies in selling "knowledge-intensive" manufactured goods to other countries. The production of these goods relies more on a skilled, well educated workforce than on natural resources. These knowledge-intensive products are becoming a major force in international trade and a source of much wealth to countries whose economies are well-positioned to compete in those markets.

The diversification of the types of goods exported has been the hallmark of world trade in the past several decades. Companies operating in home markets encounter many common problems in selling their products or services - minimizing costs, achieving the required quality, meeting delivery dates, collecting payment, and financing the whole operation.

When companies start to export they face similar problems, but with differences that are peculiar to the task of selling abroad. The laws, languages and customs of most overseas markets are likely to be unfamiliar, as are particular commercial and technical specifications required by overseas buyers. Payments have to be made in a currency foreign either to exporters or to their buyers or both. Fluctuations in the exchange rate are an added hazard, creating uncertainty about the value exporters finally receive. In addition, overseas governments may apply controls which restrict buyers' access to any foreign exchange needed to pay exporters.

 

Text 2

Articles of agreement

Contractor License No._____

THIS AGREEMENT, made this 25th day of October, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven, between ROBERT SMITH, hereinafter called the Owner, and ELVIS PRESLEY, hereinafter called the Contractor (it being understood that the terms “Owner” and “Contractor” used herein in the single number shall include the plural, and the use of the masculine gender shall include the feminine and neuter).

WITNESSETH:

ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT
Contractor's License No.   THIS AGREEMENT, made this 25th day of October, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven, between ROBERT SMITH, hereinafter called the Owner, and ELVIS PRESLEY, hereinafter called the Contractor (it being understood that the terms "Owner" and "Contractor" used herein in the single number shall include the plural, and the use of the masculine gender shall include the feminine and neuter).  

 

FIRST: The Conctractor, within the space of 180 working days from and after recording of a loan agrees to furnish the necessary labour and materials, including tools, implements and appliances required, and to perform and complete in a workmanlike manner, free from all liens and claims of artisans, materialmen and subcontractors thereon, all the work on attached plan and specifications, incorporated herein and made a part hereof; the Contractor to be responsible for carpet, drapes, and furniture placement: this is a "turn key" operation; carpet, furniture, and drapery cost shall be borne by the Owner; and all other works shown and described in and by and in conformity with, the plans and specifications for the same signed by the parties hereto; said plans and specifications to be furnished by the Contractor.

SECOND: Said construction work to be erected on a lot of land situated in the County of Sacramento, State of California, and described as follows: 1415 Baxter Street.

THIRD: The Owner agrees, in consideration of the performance of this agreement by the Contractor, to pay or cause to be paid to the Contractor, his legal representative or assigns One hundred fifty thou­sand dollars ($150,000) in United States legal tender, at the times and in the manner following, to wit: in the normal manner.

NOW, THEREFORE, the Owner hereby accepts the above pro­posal, and the Contractor agrees to perform the work comprehended thereunder, and by and between them as part and parcel of this contract the stipulations set forth in original writing on the reverse side hereof are understood and agreed upon.

The Owner to pay the Contractor 7% ($10,500 maximum) fee outside of a construction loan and as a monthly billed basis.

Any cost exceeding a construction loan to be Robert Smith's, but not to exceed $6,000.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, both parties have duly executed this agree­ment the day and year first above written.

 

Witness __________ Owner_____________

Witness __________ Contractor __________

 

Text 3

A. SALES CONTRACT

CONTRACT NO____.

(city) “ ”---------------------------200--

(name of company), (city), hereinafter referred to as the Buyer, on the one hand and (name of company), (city), hereinafter referred to as the Seller on the other hand, have concluded the Present Contract on the following:

I. Subject of the Contract

The Seller has sold and the Buyer has bought on CPT (city) Airport the goods as per specification attached which is an integral part of the present Contract.

II. Price and Total Value
of the Contract

The total Value of the Contract is US Dollars .

Prices for the goods delivered under the present Contract are understood CPT (city) Airport and include packing for overseas shipment, delivery and marking.

Prices are firm and not subject to any alteration during the whole period of the Contract.

III. Terms of Payment

Payment shall be effected in US Dollars within 90 days after the date of shipment. Payment shall be made by bank transfer on receipt of the following

1) Sellers' invoice - in triplicate; documents by the Buyer:

2) Airway Bill - original and 2 copies;

3) Certificate of Origin;

4) Certificate of Quality.

Text 4

 








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