Manualandservice industry workers are often organizedinlabor unions,which attempttoensure fair wages,reasonableworking hoursandsafeworkingconditionsfortheirmembers.British unions are known as trade unions because,asinGermany,they arelargely organized according totradeorskill:thereisanengineers' union,anelectricians'union,atrain-drivers'union,andsoon.In othercountries,including France and Italy,unionsarelargely political:workers in different industries join unions with a particularpolitical position.

Industrial relations tendtobe better incountries,industriesand companies, wherecommunications are good, i.e. where management consults workers on matters that will concern them,where neither side treats the otheras an adversary,and when unions donot insist upon the preservation of completely uneconomic jobsandworking practices.Althoughsomeemployers and managers(andpoliticalparties)opposetheveryexistenceofunions-eventhough,like doctors,lawyers,accountants,andsoon,they might themselves belongtoaprofessional associationwithsimilar basic aims-many management theorists stress the necessity of unions. In the 1970s, PeterDruckerwrotethat'Managementisandhastobeapower.Any powerneeds restraintandcontrol-orelse it becomes tyranny.The union servesanessentialfunctioninindustrialsociety.*Yetoneofthechiefobjectivesofright-winggovernmentsinthe1980s(e.g.in Britainandthe USA) was to diminish the poweroftrade unions,and to deregulate labor markets inaccordancewiththeidealoffreemarkets.

Asaresultofderegulation,workingconditions in many industries inmanycountrieshave worsened,leadingtothe creation of a great many casual, part-time,unskilled jobsdonebynon-unionizedworkers.France,for example,hasthelowestnumberofworkersintrade unions in theindustrialized world.The unions now represent less than10% of the French work force,and mostof those are in the public sector. The vast majority ofFrench workers seem to have rejected the confrontational politics of the main unions,notablythe communist-controlledCGT.Consequently,when the largely non-unionizedFrenchlorrydriversblockedall the motorways in the 1990s,striking overtheintroductionofanew driver's license with a penalty-point system (and over their working conditionsin general),theFrench government foundnoonetonegotiatewith.

Infact,a numberofpoliticiansandbusiness leaders are beginningtoregrettheweakness of unions.Some managers,including AntoineRiboud,the formerheadofthehuge Danone food conglomerate, activelyencourage unionization becausetheyinsist that a big companyneedssomeonetorepresentandarticulatethe needsoftheemployeesandactas a social partnertothe employer.But there is clearly a problem ifworkersbelieve thattheunions areincapableofdoing this,andchoosenottojointhem.

Find the words in the text which mean the following.

1peoplewho work with their hands

2 a unionforworkers withaparticulartypeof job

3to ask someone's opinion before making a decision

4 an opponent or enemy

5 tooexpensive,wasteful,loss-making

6 unlimitedandunfairlyusedpower

7 ending orrelaxingrestrictivelaws

8 areas of the economy run by the local or national government

9 hostile,almostaggressive, seeking conflicts

10 a large corporation, made upofagroup of companies

Paraphrase the information in the text. According to the text:

1 Whatarefrequentcausesofbad laborrelations?

2 Whathavetheconsequences of labor-market deregulation been?

3 Why can these consequencesbeaproblem for management?