In what ways do women and minority ethnic groups seek to transform Essay

In what ways do women and minority ethnic groups seek to transform unions and how do unions respond - Essay Example For this purpose, the trade unions also need to increase the proportion of minority ethnic groups and the women within their framework. It is a fact based on the commonsensical general awareness and well corroborated by many trade unions in the UK that minority ethnic groups and women are highly underrepresented in the union structures (Gallie & Rose, 1996). Various steps have been taken by trade unions to ameliorate this imbalance in the form of making provision for the reserved seat for minority ethnic groups and women and by allowing for proportionate representation. Irrespective of the fact that such transformational steps have been adopted by the trade unions since the last few decades, the mindset of the trade unions still remains quiet patriarchal and majority oriented (Heery & Salmon, 2000). Now is the time for the trade unions to meditate on the impact of women and minority ethnic groups in the union culture and as to have these marginalized segments of the British work forc e have contributed to and facilitated the revival and survival of the trade unions in the UK (Heery & Salmon, 2000). This article investigates the augmenting diversity in the British workforce and the biases being faced by the ethnic minority groups and women at the work place. One purpose of the paper is to identify as to how these sidelined segments of the British workforce tend to redress the work place discrepancies by trying to transform the trade unions. The paper also looks into as to how the trade unions respond to the demand for change emanating from the ethnic minority groups and women. This paper is based on the available academic and online sources pertaining to the topic under consideration. Hence it is possible that it may leave untouched some facets of the concerns and expectations of the ethnic minority and female workers. Still, it will try its best to have an insight into the dynamics of trade unions with respect to members affiliated to the ethnic minority groups and women. Diversity and Trade Unions In a broad context, diversity is universal in the sense that every individual tends to differ from other. However, defining diversity in a universal perspective will make its scope utterly meaningless for any rational analysis (Heneman et al, 1996). Hence it is imperative to define diversity in the context of the organization or institution it relates to. Yet, a broad scope of diversity do turns out to be magnanimous enough to make way for the analysis of heterogeneous aspects of varied social groups that constitute the British workforce (Liff, 1999). The nature of diversity adopted to facilitate a meaningful discussion in the context of the topic under consideration includes within its scope, gender and ethnicity. The external and internal workforce with which the trade unions have to deal with is highly segmented (Kirton & Greene, 2000). So far as the female employment in the British workforce is concerned, it is at its peak. Women today const itute approximately 45 percent of the UK’s workforce (EOR, 2001). Nearly 70 percent of the women in the UK are employed (EOR, 2001). When one comes to the last decade, the largest increase in the employment rate has been registered by the women who have children below five years of age (EOR, 2001). A noteworthy majority, say 88 percent of the women are engaged in the services sector (EOR, 2001). This data certainly hints towards augmenting gender diversity in the British