Loud labour and the great frustration

I thought it was time I got in on the buzzword craze….

Of late, we have had quiet quitting, quiet hiring and even quiet thriving.?But there’s one thing right now that isn’t in the least bit quiet.?Employee relations.?Or rather, as we used to say in the old days, industrial relations.

In the UK, trade union membership has been declining for decades. There are now a little over 6 million trade union members – less than a quarter of the labour market – from a peak in the late 1970s of over 13 million.??That membership is often concentrated in certain industries or sectors.?The data also tells us that more than three quarters of union members are over 35.?I know that when I mention trade unions to my 20-something undergraduates, I am often met with blank looks.?In previous academic years I have had to carefully describe that a strike is.?Maybe this semester will be different....

Take a look at the news in recent months and you would be forgiven for thinking pretty much everyone is on strike.?Nurses, ambulance drivers, postal workers, university lecturers, school teachers, train drivers….. some of them employee groups that have never taken industrial action before.?

So just why are we seeing such loud labour, such an increase in strikes and other forms of industrial action??I believe that there are several underlying factors, all coming together, creating a sense of mass frustration and unfairness.?

Cost of living crisis.?The cost of almost everything seems to be going up and up.?When people are working full time but can’t afford to put the heating on, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see a big push for higher pay.??

Low wages.?High inflation means real wages are falling even if there are some headline grabbing big pay rises.?You can’t reasonably live on the national minimum wage.?Home ownership is beyond the reach of many. ?Precarious work remains a problem too.?

The pandemic effect.?Some of those employee groups currently taking industrial action were on the front line of Covid-19.?We clapped for them.?We called them essential.?And we have failed to reward them.?

I believe there is a political dimension at play too.?In the UK, for many months there has been a steady drip of media stories relating to the pandemic that are squarely hitting the fairness button. From politicians failing to follow their own roles, to accounts of waste and cronyism with a privileged group making money from the crisis – there is a lot right now that just doesn’t feel very fair.?The gap between the haves and the have nots feels bigger than ever.?

Together, these issues have combined to what I'm going to call the great frustration. A sense of overall unfairness. And this has bubbled over into industrial unrest.

At the heart of all employee relations, is fairness. Overall, taking into account the particular context, how fair do employees feel that they are being treated??Whether it is about pay, the handling of redundancies, restructures, a single flexible working request, reward and recognition or just simply day to day management, fairness is what we seek.?It is hard wired within us. When we do not perceive that we are being treated fairly, frustration, resentment and anger results. In an employment context, it can lead to disengagement and demotivation, withdrawal of effort (quiet quitting anyone?) or ultimately, resignation.

Collectivism, it seems, is back. Only time will tell if this is the start of a resurgence of trade union membership - but right now industrial action is at its highest levels for years, and we need to not just solve individual disputes but understand why. It is often said that you get the employee relations that you deserve; if you treat people poorly, provide them with difficult working conditions, burn them out or fail to recognise or reward them, we should not be surprised to see some loud labour.

The keys to settling industrial disputes are listening, dialogue, an open mindset and a willingness to compromise. It is about feeling fairness. Through this lens, we can move from strife and conflict to a better understanding.