Answer to Question #239985 in Management for Graylin Lapi

Question

Write an essay to discuss the future of trade unionism in your home country or any South Pacific Island Country. Discuss the factors or issues unions need to discuss to stem the declining trend in union membership and how unions should manage and mitigate the declining trend. Use relevant examples from your country or any South Pacific Island Country to explain and support your answer.

Answer 1

The future of trade unions depends on organizing the informal economy

A new report reveals that organizing workers in the informal economy may spark the renewal of the trade union movement. This can be done by expanding membership and collective bargaining coverage in the informal economy in order to protect labor rights, project a united voice and influence social and economic policies entitled Organizing Informal Economy Workers into Trade Unions, the report states that organizing informal workers into trade unions provides opportunities to expand membership and collective bargaining coverage to protect labor rights, strengthen workers’ collective voice, and influence social and economic policies.

“The future trends and dynamics of the informal economy have important implications for workers’ organizations. As such, the trade union movement in general must remain committed to promoting workers’ rights in the informal economy, ensuring the improvement of their working conditions and enabling them to play a decisive role in the economic and social development process of their respective countries. The ILO Recommendation No. 204 is a unique instrument that provides guidance to a rights-based approach on the transition from the informal to the formal economy”, said Mohammed Mwamadzingo, ACTRAV Desk Officer for Africa.

The report identified the six main challenges to the integration of the informal economy into the trade union movement;

Who to organize

How to organize

Constitution and representation

Dues structures and collection

Services and benefits to offer

Fostering democratic practices unmet:

Presenting best practices and case studies from trade unions worldwide, Organizing Informal Economy Workers into Trade Unions seeks to improve the technical knowledge and skills of union leaders, educators, organizers, and representatives of organizations of informal economy workers on the need for formalizing the informal economy.

“The aim of this study is to offer practical guidance on how to address institutional challenges in organizing the informal economy into trade unions. The study relies on practical and important lessons from around the world on how to integrate the diverse group of informal economy workers and operators into the formal structures of the trade union movement,” said Jorgen Assens from the DTDA.

Organizing Informal Economy Workers into Trade Unions is part of a series of ACTRAV publications intended to help workers’ organizations understand and address decent work deficits in the informal economy.

A recent ILO report shows that the informal economy accounts for 85.8 percent of employment in Africa, 68.2 percent in the Asia-Pacific region, 68.6 percent in the Arab states, 40.0 percent in the Americas, and 25.1 percent in Europe and Central Asia. In addition, Women and men in the informal economy.

The overall decline of union membership is partly the result of the changing composition of jobs in the US. Healthcare, restaurant and hospitality jobs are among the fastest-growing and, historically, these industries that have not had high unionization rates.