Trade Unions and Influence on Better Circumstances for Workers

With the world becoming more and more industrial it became important that the labor force can keep up with the progression. The better the work force makes for a better company and leads to the better product – so treating workers better was necessary to move the industrial development forward. This is where the Trade Unions came into play.

Trade Unions are “ an organization of workers who have come together to achieve common goals such as protecting the integrity of its trade, achieving higher pay and benefits such as health care and retirement, increasing the number of employees an employer assigns to complete the work, safety standards, and better working conditions” (Wikipedia). So as industry grew, so did the Trade Unions. Many laborers distrusted corporate power, and sometimes the Government but they did trust the Trade Unions. It became a necessary for corporations and unions to form a bond, otherwise industry would fall apart. Trade Unions would get the Government to pass laws that better served the working force like, for example, the 8 hour work day. The safer and better working conditions led to better products which helped industry grow. Government’s regulations or lack thereof greatly effects how a corporation can function. The lack of a union to be the voice heard by companies and government is what led to the ideas of communism and several strikes or revolts in Europe.

So it could be said that Trade Unions did much for the worker than the Government because the Government would have done nothing about the poor working conditions. Trade Unions forced the Government to pass laws that in turn forced corporations to create better conditions. The better conditions for laborers allowed for unskilled to become skilled and thus production increased. Trade Unions are still active and valuable in the modern age, where industrialism keeps reaching new peaks.