The Role Trade Union can Play in Productivity

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A trade union is an organization, which is made up of workers who are permanent, or temporary formed to protect and improve the rights at their workplace and to enhance their status in society (Huat, 2007). In these days, trade union become key developmental agents in society and gains a lot of interest in relation to productivity because strong existence of trade union can give an industrial peace.

What roles can trade union play in promoting productivity?

As many of organizations go to globalization, the rapid changes in technology, and increasing market, organizations have to be competitive. In order to be a successful organization, it depends highly on human resources like workers’ skills, experiences and on productivity. Therefore, trade unions need to play a role of proactive and supportive in helping management so that work force will become productivity (Boon, 1999).

According to Derek Bok and John Dunlop (1970), the impact of trade union in productivity has long been one of the major controversies among analyst of unionism. (C.Bok & T.Dunlop, 1970)

Union aids members in training or internships so that employees will become higher skill workers. It has found out that participants can get knowledge, skills and confidence to take on the new role and increase activity in the workplace from the training courses. Therefore, higher skill workers will perform higher and as a result productivity will increase. (Trades Union Congress, 2009). In industries like construction, unionized training program appears to be higher workers’ productivity.

Moreover, union helps organizations by providing ways of consulting with workers over changes and reducing the chances of staff resistance. All of these can lead to a more devoted and ...

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