The Industrial relations system is complex in nature. It has a number of key players who are very dynamic. These players also known as parties are commonly known as management (Employers), workers (Employees) and the state (Government). When these parties are properly organised in a collective manner, their power and capabilities will have consequential influences to the industrial relations system itself and even on to the society as a whole. This essay explains why the organised employers’ associations (the employer party) and trade unions (the employee party) are different and similar to some extent. The three distinguishing aspects between the two parties include their form of memberships, political linkages and their influence on the state and the setup of their objectives and functions. Two notable similarities on how the parties are organised in similar forms and the functions they perform will also be discussed.

Firstly, the membership constituent of an employers association is different from that of a trade union. Looking at the definition of these parties would enlighten a better understanding on the membership of the organisations. In the course book, trade unions are defined generically as representative organisations of workers designed to protect and promote the collective employment interest of the workers. On the other hand, according to (Plowman, 1982) employers’ associations are “organisations consisting predominantly of employers whose activities include participating in determining employees’ conditions of employment on behalf of its members”.
Discerning the above definitions with regards to its membership element, it is certain that the memberships of these organisations are distinguished in the sense that trade unions members consist of individual employees while employers’ association members are corporate bodies rather than individuals.