what is the history of a union?

Answer 1

Most of us carry insurance on our cars and homes, even our lives. Try thinking of the Union as an insurance policy for the workplace. Though some may not utilize its benefits for long periods of time, it’s comforting knowing it’s there when you need it.

Unfortunately, on-the-job injustices occur all too often. When they do, local USW officers – elected by the membership - are there to assist you and take care of the issues through a highly effective, issue-solving process. Many times, problems can be resolved with minimal effort.

Perhaps the best part of being involved in a Union is that it’s member driven. Members elect who will represent them and they have a voice in the day-to-day operation of the Union.

Answer 2

Yahoo has the answer to this one.

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Answer 3

Trade unions have sometimes been seen as successors to the guilds of Medieval Europe, though the relationship between the two is disputed. [3] Medieval guilds existed to protect and enhance their members' livelihoods through controlling the instructional capital of artisanship and the progression of members from apprentice to craftsman, journeyman, and eventually to master and grandmaster of their craft. They also facilitated mobility by providing accommodation for guild members travelling in search of work. Guilds exhibited some aspects of the modern trade union, but also some aspects of professional associations and modern corporations.

Additionally, guilds, like some craft unions today, were highly restrictive in their membership and only included artisans who practiced a specific trade. Many modern labour unions tend to be expansionistic, and frequently seek to incorporate widely disparate kinds of workers to increase the leverage of the union as a whole. A labour union in 2006 might include workers from only one trade or craft, or might combine several or all the workers in one company or industry.

Since the publication of the History of Trade Unionism (1894) by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, the predominant historical view is that a trade union "...is a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment" [1]. A modern definition by the Australian Bureau of Statistics states that a trade union is "...an organisation consisting predominantly of employees, the principal activities of which include the negotiation of rates of pay and conditions of employment for its members". [4]

Yet historian R.A. Leeson, in United we Stand (1971), said:

"Two conflicting views of the trade-union movement strove for ascendancy in the nineteenth century: one the defensive-restrictive gild-craft tradition passed down through journeymen's clubs and friendly societies,...the other the aggressive-expansionist drive to unite all 'labouring men and women' for a 'different order of things'..."