Introduction
Trade unions are a significant component of a democratic nation that values the accountability of leaders, collective decision-making, and popular participation. The formation of trade unions came after many bloody fights and struggles for rights. Following their establishment, these collective institutions had a significant impact on politics, society, and the economy. For instance, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), a federation comprising 49 unions across various sectors, celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2019 (Simms, Holgate, and Roper, 2019). The organization has successfully served many member states in finance, transport, and health.
However, trade unions are in danger of withering away due to the growth of the gig economy. The primary challenge of the informal sector is finding a principled solution that ensures benefits are equitably distributed without undermining innovative business models and compromising efficiencies (Lao, 2017). Moreover, complex issues emanate from the transformations in the labor market, and various forms of employment exist. This paper discusses the challenges that trade unions face in organizing gig economy workers. Additionally, the essay will exemplify the adaptation strategies that unions employ to adapt to the new realities of labor.
Challenges Faced by Trade Unions
Traditionally, trade unions comprise people working within the same profession, such as teachers, medical practitioners, and industrial workers. The people had formal employment, receiving salaries regularly based on their contracts. Conversely, there are distinct job groups in the informal sector. Within such labor organizations, people perform a series of gigs (meaning one-off jobs) to create an income (Chesta, Zamponi, and Caciagli, 2019). Furthermore, due to technological advancement, individuals can complete their tasks on online platforms.
Workers are not necessarily involved in any form of corporate responsibility, and no specific laws govern the interactions between employers and employees. The atomization of work and the absence of a workplace constrain interpersonal relationships. The current organizational model is negatively related to labor activism. Therefore, the circumstances of precarious workers are preventing them from developing corporate membership for collective bargaining. Although trade unions are attempting to support workers in the gig economy, they face significant challenges that hinder their efforts to do so.
Difficulties in Defining the Target Members
Within the gig economy, there are various types of workers; some are marginalized, while others enjoy stable incomes. Three primary categories of workers in the informal sector can potentially become the target members. The first category includes enterprise owners who employ a small number of people. They may be a target group for trade unions to negotiate with.
Secondly, the independent account workers who own small businesses whose activities are hindered lack skills, credit, and raw materials. The other major category comprises dependent employees whose working conditions are often unhealthy and harsh. Notably, most people in the informal sector are women running small businesses.
The activities of the dependent workers are rarely recorded, yet they stand to benefit most from the trade union. The implication is that it is difficult to find their biographic data as their work is primarily casual. For instance, in European cities, companies like Foodora, Deliveroo, Glovo, and Just Eat employ young people who deliver their products using bicycles or scooters (Chesta, Zamponi, and Caciagli, 2019).
Some of those workers offer their services on an interest-only basis, so they do not receive a salary. Moreover, suppose they get injured in the line of duty. In that case, employers rarely take responsibility. Convincing enterprise owners to join a trade union, where they are the key negotiators, is challenging. After all, they are already accustomed to employing workers who have nowhere to vent their problems.
Offering Leadership Despite Little Control
Trade unions are challenged to provide guidance and advocate for workers’ rights when they have little or no control. Traditionally, labor organizations were relevant and effective due to representatives in the workplace who shaped employees’ expectations (Simms, Holgate, and Roper, 2019). One of the core principles of trade unionism is the ability of employees to support and represent each other in the workplace. Yet, Union representatives are aging and have not been sufficiently replaced by young individuals.
For example, half of the new representatives enrolled in the TUC training program are more than 46 years old, while only a fifth are under 35 (Simms, Holgate, and Roper, 2019). Failure to backfill these representatives implies that the unions’ relevance and authority will continue to diminish. People’s interest in enrolling as union members is continually decreasing. Thus, labor unions have no future unless new people are recruited to provide advocacy in various workstations.
Amidst reports and public discourses concerning the poor working conditions that people are experiencing in the gig economy. Moreover, since the 2007/2008 financial crisis, there have been complaints about the downgrading of wages and working conditions (Simms, Holgate, and Roper, 2019). Trade unions face the challenging task of offering leadership to address these challenges. Notably, providing leadership based on the current workplace organization is impossible. For trade unions to continue making an impact, they need to have a greater effect and more members within the informal sector.
Lack of Constitution for Informal Employment Sectors
Trade unions operate by following the tenets of their constitution and policies, which define the distribution of power among the association, its members, and officeholders. Having a set of guiding principles makes it efficient for all democratic engagements, as it outlines the steps followed in the election of members. The problem that trade unions are currently experiencing is that the constitution was established for the formal sector.
To include people in the gig economy, it is essential to adjust policies to accommodate them. The reconstruction of the constitution should ensure fair representation. The other issue is that the informal workers pay little dues, which makes their representation costly.
Building Solidarity Between Workers
Trade unions gain influence from the solidarity of workers from diverse job groups. Unity is essential during campaigns and peaceful demonstrations to advance their agenda. However, finding common ground to unite all people in the informal sector is challenging.
The diversity of interests among business owners and employed workers makes it challenging to align their interests (Jepsen & Drahokoupil, 2017). For instance, it is a matter of raising salary; the latter may not be comfortable with the agenda because it will mean that they will reduce their income to promote the welfare of their workers. Yet, it remains critical that a person speaks to and for employees, because labor should be held in high regard and rewarded accordingly.
Reduced Alliances between Politics, Judiciary, and the Labor Unions
The nexus between political parties and their affiliate unions is continually weakening due to conflicting interests in introducing new reforms. Particularly, when political parties are elected as rulers, they may wish to introduce policies against those of the Unions they supported. In another case, they may seek to change union politics, making them less aggressive. Such a conflict of interest creates tension and destroys the alliance between politics and trade unions.
Traditionally, political parties played a crucial role in advocating and implementing workers’ rights. During the foundation of the trade unions, the judiciary was at the forefront in making court rulings that favored workers, unlike in recent times. For instance, during Brexit, the Court of Justice interpreted the consultation rights of workers as collective redundancies, imposing obligations to negotiate (Countouris & Ewing, 2021). The tension in the alliance means that the trade unions now have a dual task to perform, pushing for changes among employers and political leaders.
Global Competition and Capital-Friendly Nations
Globalization and increased trade relations between countries make it more challenging for trade unions to operate effectively. Many organizations now employ people from other countries whose contract terms may not permit them to participate in union membership (Lao, 2017). Some employers are international organizations originating from different countries. In addition, companies are increasingly sourcing cheaper labor from other countries to lower their production cost. All of these changes brought about by globalization hurt trade unionism.
Structure and Collection
Most of the income that trade unions receive to run their activities comes from dues paid by their members. Ideally, members should contribute a small percentage of their salary to the union to facilitate payment of staff, campaigns, lawyer fees, and other necessary services. Yet, the informal structure of the gig economy means that workers are mostly paid based on the services they provide. The contracts are short-lived and terminated upon completion of the task and payment of wages.
The implication is that people have more than one employer and fit in more as independent contractors (Lao, 2017). Job security for casual laborers is low, making it hard for them to commit to paying monthly dues for their services. Moreover, informal economy workers have a limited understanding of labor movement operations, making it harder for them to save their income. The implication is that trade unions risk losing support if they advocate for their rights.
Strategies Unions Are Using to Adapt
The challenges of the gig economy can enable trade unions to devise new strategies for protecting the majority of people working in the informal sector. What is needed is effective leadership and innovative ways of solving current challenges. Several unions are already showing progress in ensuring their sustainability.
Successful unions are not just bargaining for and representing members. They seek new ways to build expertise and engagement in labor movements. There are different ways in which trade unions across the world are trying to overcome the current challenges.
Minimal Service Fee
Unions can resolve the problem of paying dues by maximizing the number of people enrolling as members. Notably, most people in the current economy are low-wage earners who work under harsh conditions. Some are immigrants who struggle to get employment (Rogers, 2017). These people may be attracted to union membership because they can benefit from the collective bargaining power.
However, they rarely join trade unions due to the assumption that they have high premiums. The solution is to lower the dues to a minimum while advertising the union for many people to join, such that the collective fee will be enough to manage the institution. For example, the Union of Informal Workers’ Association (UNIWA) is the first trade union in Ghana for informal workers. The members are expected to pay a fee of $10 for a whole year (Choudhary, 2022). The low fees make the institution attractive to others, making them join faster. It is vital to offer effective leadership to manage people.
Membership Equality
The other strategy is ensuring that all members are treated equally, regardless of the nature of their job. Essentially, the union revokes all the binding laws and constitutions to become more accommodating. The union has to operate under principles and values that all members observe to ensure peaceful coexistence. For instance, the Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina-Autonoma (CAT), a trade union in Argentina, does not distinguish between the formal and informal powers. The result is that the union supports all forms of careers.
Notably, there are some considerations since the workers are not separated by whether they work within a formal or informal sector. The first category of workers is the service providers, including entertainers, street vendors, and hawkers, among others. There is a category for transport workers covering all forms of careers within the industry. The union has created a good path for showing the workers that they can belong to the union. The strategy resolves the challenge of knowing who to serve because it shows that people from all socioeconomic backgrounds can see results.
Community Leadership and Organizing
Traditionally, the powers vested in the trade unions are centralized, such that there is a commission of people doing the work and organizing significant events from the comfort of their offices. However, there are now considerable changes that have made a centralized system of management ineffective. Notably, when trade unions were starting, the workers whose rights were being advocated for were used to listening and obeying authority.
The solution is to offer a convenient way of attracting new target groups and members. For example, the Unite trade union of the UK has opened its registration to people not in paid employment, including students, carers, claimants, and retirees (Simms et al., 2019). The implication is that the trade unions can change their focus by becoming more like social movements to meet the demands of the gig economy. The definition of the working class changes since other individuals may not be employed throughout but receive regular gigs.
Conversely, gig economy workers are used to making decisions without following the authorities. After all, they are mostly paid to finish their work and show expertise. Thus, dealing with people in the informal sector requires trade unions to change tactics and provide community-based leadership, where they meet members within their environment. They can even register potential working-class people after listening to their plight.
For example, the UK union has successfully organized living wage campaigns to register students, religious groups, and non-governmental organizations as members (Simms, Holgate, and Roper, 2019). By bringing the community members together, they can increase other people’s earnings through the living wage campaign.
Collaboration Between Employers and Trade Unions
Some trade unions are overcoming the gig economy challenges by targeting the employers as the prominent members and then working with them to create a favorable environment for informal workers. For example, the International Road Transport (IRU) is a trade union for private transport employers. By working together, they have developed applications such as the UpTop, which provides quality criteria for evaluating taxis. The implication is that informal workers, such as drivers, benefit when their employers are part of a trade union because they are committed to providing a standard work environment. Working with the employers makes it easy to cater to the needs of gig economy workers who offer their services in the short term.
Conclusion
Conclusively, trade unions are vital to a democratic society as they give room for collective bargaining and representation of workers’ needs. The unions advocate for employees’ rights by keeping the employers in check. However, the recent shift to a gig economy, where most people are not employed full-time but work on short contracts, presents new union challenges. There is a loss of interest in membership by young people, conflict of interest among potential target groups, weakening political and trade union nexus, and lack of judicial support, among others. To combat these challenges, trade unions are adjusting to remain relevant and serve the diverse needs of people in the informal sector.
Reference List
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Choudhary, N. (2022) Informal workers and organized action: narratives from the global south. Palgrave Macmillan.
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