Union membership, collective bargaining coverage and the trade union mark-up for Britain

1991 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.H. Blackaby ◽  
P.D. Murphy ◽  
P.J. Sloane
Author(s):  
Ian Smith ◽  
Aaron Baker ◽  
Owen Warnock

This chapter considers the laws that affect trade unions and employment relations at a collective level, with the exception of strikes and other industrial action which are examined in Chapter 10. The chapter begins by considering the legal status of a trade union and the statutory concept of trade union independence. The focus then shifts to the ways in which the law seeks to secure freedom of association, by provisions which protect and support union membership and activities including giving protection against discrimination and providing rights to time off for union duties and activities. The chapter then turns to the concept of recognition of unions for collective bargaining, and the legal rights that come with recognition. It also examines the statutory system for securing recognition. The law relating to domestic and European works councils is also considered.


Author(s):  
Cécile Guillaume

Abstract Based on in-depth qualitative research conducted in one of the major French trade unions (the CFDT), this article explores to what extent and under what conditions trade unions adopt different legal practices to further their members’ interests. In particular, it investigates how ‘legal framing’ has taken an increasingly pervasive place in trade union work, in increasingly decentralised industrial relations contexts, such as France. This article therefore argues that the use of the law has become a multifaceted and embedded repertoire of action for the CFDT in its attempt to consolidate its institutional power through various strategies, including collective redress and the use of legal expertise in collective bargaining and representation work.


2020 ◽  
pp. 0143831X2098005
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Frangi ◽  
Muhammad Umar Boodoo ◽  
Robert Hebdon

The general decline of strikes does not necessarily imply that workers are demobilised. A dormant strike potential can be present. Drawing on strikes as ‘experience goods’, this article sheds light on this point by studying pro-strike attitudes among employees in 24 countries who have never been on strike. The variation in pro-strike attitudes is explained by both contextual (collective bargaining coverage, economic conditions and freedom of rights and liberties) and individual (union membership and confidence in unions, political values and household financial situation) factors. Deeper analyses of three countries highlight the potential impact of specific repertoires of contention developed over time on the formation of pro-strike attitudes. Implications for the labour conflict literature and union strategies are discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0143831X2110358
Author(s):  
Simon Ress ◽  
Florian Spohr

This contribution scrutinises how introducing a statutory minimum wage of EUR 8.50 per hour, in January 2015, impacted German employees’ decision with regard to union membership. Based on representative data from the Labour Market and Social Security panel, the study applies a logistic difference-in-differences propensity score matching approach on entries into and withdrawals from unions in the German Trade Union Confederation (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB). The results show no separate effect on withdrawals from or entries into unions after the minimum wage introduction for those employees who benefited financially from it, but a significant increase of entries overall. Thus, unions’ campaign for a minimum wage strengthened their position in total but did not reverse the segmentation of union membership patterns.


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans De Witte ◽  
Sjoerd Goslinga ◽  
Antonio Chirumbolo ◽  
Johnny Hellgren ◽  
Katharina Näswall ◽  
...  

Job insecurity as violation of the psychological contract among trade union members: consequences on attitudes towards unions and the intention to resign membership in Belgium and the Netherlands Job insecurity as violation of the psychological contract among trade union members: consequences on attitudes towards unions and the intention to resign membership in Belgium and the Netherlands Hans De Witte, Sjoerd Goslinga, Antonio Chirumbolo, Johnny Hellgren, Katharina Näswall & Magnus Sverke, Gedrag & Organisatie, Volume 18, February 2005, nr. 1, pp. 1-20 In this article the consequences of job insecurity among union members are explored. Having established that most employees have instrumental motives for joining a union, and using psychological contract theory, we hypothesize that job insecurity among union members correlates with a lower level of perceived union support, lower satisfaction with the union, reduced (affective) commitment towards the union, and a higher intention to resign union membership. These hypotheses were tested in Belgium and the Netherlands. Evidence was found to support the assumed association between job insecurity and a reduction in perceived union support. In Belgium, job insecurity was also associated with reduced union satisfaction and intention to resign membership. In neither country job insecurity was associated with union commitment. These results partly support the hypothesis that union members experience job insecurity as a violation of their psychological contract with the union.


Tempo Social ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
Baptiste Giraud

This article reviews how French trade union are coping with the neo-liberal policies since the early 1980s. It shows their divergent reactions, and how these liberal reforms are implemented in a context of transformation of trade union action: the use of strikes is more difficult at the same time as the relationship between trade unions and collective bargaining is transformed in a logic of depoliticizing their strategies of action. These developments did not prevent a resurgence of strikes in the 2000s. It reveals the limits of the trade unions’ power of political influence, that implies the use of collective action. However, strikes have declined further in recent years, revealing the weakening of trade union mobilisation power.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Strøby Jensen

Do political attitudes influence the likelihood of employees being members of a trade union, and to what extent is this the case in the Nordic countries with their high aggregate levels of membership? In this article, I address these questions using European Social Survey data from 2012. The results show that left-wing political attitudes have the most impact on the likelihood of trade union membership in Sweden and to a lesser extent in Denmark. In Norway and Finland, there is no statistically significant impact. I argue that the impact of left-wing political attitudes on unionization in Sweden and Denmark reflects a conception among employees that trade unions are normative organizations.


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