Trade Unions and Efficiency (in Local Government)

1928 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-141
Author(s):  
Haden Corser
2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-222
Author(s):  
Heather Connolly

In a broader context of austerity, sustained financial pressures and policies of restructuring and outsourcing have steadily eroded traditional features of UK public sector employment such as job security, fair reward and collective representation through trade unions. This article examines how a UK trade union representing local government workers attempted to respond more effectively to radical restructuring plans. By engaging in a process of democratic experimentation, full-time officials from above and activists from below sought to challenge the existing ‘insider’ relationship between branch officers and management, which was seen as ineffective in responding to a severe disruption in the regulation of local government employment. Drawing on participatory ethnographic research, the findings show the importance of leadership in the processes towards union renewal and the tensions and struggles underlying democracy and solidarity. Union renewal is presented here as a dialectical process and set of responses involving both strategic direction from above and membership pressure and activism from below.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 840-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathew Johnson

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of living wages on organisational pay systems. Design/methodology/approach The research draws on 23 semi-structured interviews with HR managers, trade union representatives, and politicians at four UK local government case study sites. Findings The findings suggest that living wages can have a positive impact on directly employed workers in cleaning, catering and care services, but the research also finds that the localised adoption of living wages can lead to significant wage compression, resulting in a broad band of “low skill-low wage jobs”. Originality/value The theoretical contribution is twofold. In-line with earlier research the “first-order” effects of living wages are clear: hourly wages for a large number of women in part-time roles increased sharply. However, this is only part of the story as “second-order” effects such as ripples and spill-overs are less extensive than suggested by other studies. This is due to the limited scope for trade unions to restore wage differentials through collective bargaining, the slow progress in extending the living wage to contracted staff, and parallel processes of downsizing and outsourcing.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-380
Author(s):  
Bettina Severin-Barboutie

Abstract On May 2, 1964, a so-called Emigrationsparlament held its constituent meeting in the house of the Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (dgb) in Stuttgart. The meeting was opened by a speech of the parliament’s president, Antonio Maspoli, in which he outlined the aims of the new institution and coined the phrase ‘The emigrant is a worker from and for Europe and Europe is his country’. In the months following the Emigrationsparlament gathered several times and Maspoli—a Swiss national known for his engagement in the trade unions in Switzerland—pleaded for the establishment of a ‘sort of a European parliament of the foreign worker’ in Stuttgart. Maspoli’s repeated claims initiated debates within the municipal government about the stimulation of self-help among foreigners and their growing involvement in issues concerning them. Furthermore, Maspoli obtained premises for the establishment of an international meeting point called ‘Europa-Club’. However, his wish of setting up a European parliament in Stuttgart remained unfulfilled. While the local government eventually established a council, the desired parliament of foreign workers did not come into existence. Hence, Stuttgart missed the opportunity to become the site of an elected European parliament and the activities of the ueg fell into oblivion.


Author(s):  
Damian Grimshaw ◽  
Stefania Marino ◽  
Dominique Anxo ◽  
Jérôme Gautié ◽  
László Neumann ◽  
...  

This chapter compares union actions affecting local government workers during a period of austerity across five European countries: France, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, and the UK. These five countries are characterized by different national industrial relations institutions, different systems of public sector wage-setting, and varied opportunities for local union influence. The study analyses the conditions under which trade unions have been able to reduce precarious work among local government workers (in-house and subcontracted) and to promote more equitable and solidaristic outcomes. It specifically focuses on union actions against pay precarity and employment precarity. It concludes by discussing the contributory roles played by national institutions, austerity measures, and unions’ power resources in shaping the prospects for pay equity and chain solidarities in Europe’s public sector.


1928 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-132
Author(s):  
F. H. C. Wiltshire

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satnam Virdee ◽  
Keith Grint

This paper considers the significance of self-organization for black and minority workers in trade unions. It embodies a review of the theoretical and empirical evidence in support of black self-organization within unions; that is, a strategy of relative autonomy rather than separatism or submersion within a race-blind union. The theoretical support is derived from arguments concerning identity, participation and power. Much of the empirical material is based upon interviews with black and white lay members and shop stewards from three branches (‘Helthten’, Shaften’ and ‘Mounten’) of the National and Local Government Officers union (NALGO) and with NALGO national officials between 1989 and 1990.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-148
Author(s):  
Goddey Wilson

Human resource management is the mobilisation of available human resource in the organization to achieve the organizational goals. Human resource management activities are not devoid of challenges in any organization, including Local Government Councils in Nigeria; hence, this study identified such challenges as environmental factors and classified it as internal and external environmental factors affecting human resource management in Nigerian Local Governments. These factors were identified on account of the observed irregularities in human resource management policies and practice in the Local Government service. This study therefore aims at examining the environmental factors affecting human resource management in Nigerian local governments between 2010-2018. Data were collected from observations, interviews and  documented facts on the subject matter, while system theory was used to explain the interdependence of the various departments and its effects on human resource management in the Councils. The study findings identified poor capacity building and orientation, activities of trade unions, administrative policies and politics, capacity of the Council leadership, among others as internal factors; and political, social, legal, physical, etc., as part of the external environmental factors affecting human resource management in Nigerian Local Governments. The study concluded that the internal and external factors have significant effects on the human resource management and productivity of the Local Governments in Nigeria. This study further made some recommendations on strategies to achieve effective human resource management in Nigerian Local Governments. Keywords: Staff development, Local Government, environmental factors, human resource management, organizational productivity.


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