Trade Union

Trade Unions are organizations which (in theory) represent the interests of workers as opposed to bosses.

History

Trade unions are seen by some as the successor to the guilds of medieval Europe, although this is disputed. Trade unions first emerged in the late 1700s in Northwest Europe (notably Britain) with the rise of the industrial revolution and capitalism.

With the rise of neoliberalism in the 1970s and 1980s, many states began to place strong legal restrictions on trade unions due them peaking at their power, leading to several violent confrontations.

Philosophical Debates

Criticism

Co-Opation

Many leftists have argued that trade unions, being entities clearly visible to capitalists and the state, are vulnerable to co-optation, rendering them supports of the system and the entities that destroy radical movements.

Workerism

Trade unions have been accused by some as workerist, being unable to account for people who do not work (ie the unemployed, homemakers, children, teenagers, students, the elderly, the disabled and prisoners, who make up around 40% of the population of most western countries).