Social pacts, collective bargaining and trade union articulation strategies

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Molina
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Different Levels

This article analyses some implications for trade unions of social pacts. Unions' participation in tripartite agreements has been one response to tensions triggered by the decentralisation and individualisation of employment relations. However, their involvement in social pacts renders it increasingly difficult for unions to strike a positive-sum balance between competing logics of influence and membership. Following an analysis of four countries with social pacts, this article shows that trade unions' participation in social pacts has been most successful when unions have pursued a strategy of ‘articulation’ between their different levels of organisation by enhancing the participation of rank-and-file members in decision making and by strengthening company level representation structures.

9. Collective Labour Law

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Smith ◽  
Aaron Baker ◽  
Owen Warnock
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
The Law

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.

Employer-initiated collective bargaining: a case study of the Chinese sweater industry

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyi Wen
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
The Government

Purpose – Collective bargaining (CB) in China is perceived as inadequate, thanks to the lack of trade union independence and representation. However, CB of the sweater industry in Wenling, one of the world’s largest manufacturing centre, shows another tendency. Using Wenling as the case, the purpose of this paper is to explore whether a new form of CB is emerging in China. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a qualitative case study approach, and covers stakeholders, including the government, trade union, sweater association, workers and employers. Findings – In China, trade unions are constrained by corporatism and therefore cannot become the effective agents of CB. However, the increased industrial conflicts could in effect push employers to become the engine of change. This paper finds that employers endeavour to use CB as a tool to stabilise employment relations and neutralise workers resistance. Consequently, a gradual transition in labour relations system is on the way, characterised by “disorderly resistance” to “orderly compliance” in the working class. Research limitations/implications – The case industry may not be sufficient in drawing the details of CB in China, while it provides the trend of change. Originality/value – Conventional wisdom on the Chinese labour relations and CB tends to ignore the employer’s perspective. This paper partially fills in the gap by offering CB and change of employment relations from the aspect of employers.

Legal Expertise: A Critical Resource for Trade Unionists? Insights into the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cécile Guillaume
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
Collective Redress ◽  
Critical Resource ◽  
The Law ◽  
Legal Expertise

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.

scholarly journals The changing face of union action put to the test by neo-liberal reforms in France

Tempo Social ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
Baptiste Giraud
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Union Action ◽  
The Relationship

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.

How to Build a Trade Union Oligarchy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Stephenson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Context ◽  
Free Communication ◽  
National Differences ◽  
United Automobile Workers ◽  
Occupational Communities

Trade unions are ostensibly democratic organizations, but they often fail to operate as democracies in practice. Most studies of Western trade union democracy have acknowledged that oligarchy is the norm among unions but have nonetheless examined exceptional democratic unions to understand how those unions defied the trend. My study inverts this approach and instead examines two known oligarchical unions, the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and the United Automobile Workers (UAW) in the United States. I argue that union oligarchy requires certain conditions to thrive. Both unions lacked democratic rules, close-knit occupational communities, local autonomy, rank-and-file decision making, internal opposition, equality between members and officials, and free communication, but these absences were expressed in different ways in each organization. Comparing a prominent US union with a prominent Australian union allows for assessment of the extent to which oligarchy was the result of national context. I argue that the experience of trade union oligarchy in the United States and Australia was more similar than different. National differences between the two countries were important, but they manifested primarily as different methods to achieve similar outcomes.

13. Collective bargaining

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roseanne Russell
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Bargaining Power ◽  
Employment Relationship ◽  
Relationship Status ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
And Function ◽  
Additional Reading

The Q&A series offer the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, bullet-pointed answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary and illustrative diagrams and flowcharts. This chapter presents sample exam questions about collective bargaining. Through a mixture of problem questions and essays, students are guided through some of the key issues on the topic of collective bargaining including inequalities of bargaining power in the employment relationship, status and function of trade unions, time off for trade union members, and rights to information. Students are also introduced to the current key debates in the area and provided with suggestions for additional reading for those who want to take things further.

9. Collective labour law

2019 ◽  
pp. 635-703
Author(s):  
Ian Smith ◽  
Aaron Baker ◽  
Owen Warnock
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
The Law

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 applicability of trade union law to workers in the gig economy is also considered. 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 relevance of the European Convention on Human Rights is considered throughout as are the changes made by the Trade Union Act 2016. The law relating to domestic and European works councils is also considered.

The changing nature of collective employment relations

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 645-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Marginson
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Collective Actors ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
Firm Basis ◽  
Underlying Processes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to survey developments in four aspects of collective employment relations (ER) since the mid-1960s: collective representation and organisation; collective bargaining coverage and structure; the collective bargaining agenda; and joint consultation arrangements. It considers the reasons underlying change. Design/methodology/approach – A range of published sources are drawn on, including quantitative, survey based and qualitative, case-study and other evidence. Findings – The landscape of collective ER has changed markedly over the past half century. Membership of trade unions has fallen from around half of the workforce to one-quarter. Employers who mainly conducted collective bargaining through employers’ associations now negotiate, if at all, on a firm-by-firm basis. Collective bargaining coverage has sharply declined and now only extends to a minority of the private sector workforce. The bargaining agenda has been hollowed out. Joint consultation arrangements too are less widespread than they were around 1980. Originality/value – The paper contends that change has been driven by three underlying processes. “Marketization” of collective ER entailing a shift from an industrial or occupational to an enterprise frame of reference. The rise of “micro-corporatism”, reflecting increased emphasis on the common interests of collective actors within an enterprise frame. Finally, the voluntarism, underpinning Britain’s collective ER became more “asymmetric”, with employers’ preferences increasingly predominant.

scholarly journals Comparison wage in trade union decision making

2007 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-388
Author(s):  
S. Drakopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Utility Function ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Unemployment Benefit ◽  
Union Power ◽  
Starting Point

The starting point of this paper is the idea that trade unions and individual workers pay attention to wage settlements in similar sectors of the economy. The foundations of the concept of comparison wage can be found in other social sciences and also in the literature of psychological economics. Despite the fact, however, that comparison — or reference — wage enters the decision making of the union (i.e. the union utility function), the concept has not received much attention in connection with union decision making. In this paper, a union utility function is employed incorporating the concept of comparison wage. The analysis is conducted in a bargaining framework and the results show the effects on the optimal wage of important variables like comparison wage, unemployment benefit, union power and of the weight that the union places on the comparison wage.

scholarly journals Taming Labor: Workers’ Struggles, Workplace Unionism, and Collective Bargaining on a Chinese Waterfront

ILR Review ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 1053-1077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Pringle ◽  
Quan Meng
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Container Terminal ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Enterprise Level

This article examines the case of the Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT) to consider under what conditions unions can provide effective workplace representation in China. The authors draw on semi-structured interviews to analyze how and why the union was effective, despite rigid prohibitions against organizing outside of the Party-led All-China Federation of Trade Unions. The authors argue that the YICT union developed a system of annual collective bargaining that tamed the power of militant dockworkers and helped prevent strikes. This outcome required an effective enterprise-level trade union that was nevertheless able to influence and manage members’ somewhat ambiguous acceptance of its role. Ultimately, workers’ interests were partially represented and their acquisition of associational power—in the form of trade unions—increased.

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