Weakening trade union power

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli Moen
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Union Power ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
The Past ◽  
Atypical Employment ◽  
Reducing Costs

For the past two decades – and in particular after the 2008 crisis – atypical employment has expanded across Europe. The crisis led to increased demand for more flexible labour markets, and thus atypical employment became an important tool for employment, competitiveness and economic growth. However, recent research reveals that employers are using atypical employment not just to compensate for unstable markets, but also as an opportunity to cut costs by bypassing collective agreements and to discipline workers, works councils and unions. The case study presented in this article corroborates these findings, arguing that employers – in addition to reducing costs – are making use of atypical employment to weaken organised labour as a goal in its own right. Whether such behaviour forms part of a larger drive to resist unions needs to be further researched. In any event, atypical employment represents an increasing challenge to trade unions across Europe.

scholarly journals Organising to beat the Trade Union Act (2016) voting thresholds: a case study of organising and tactics from the University and College Union

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Richards ◽  
Vaughan Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
College Union ◽  
The University ◽  
Further Development

PurposeA retrospective action-research case study of one branch of the University and College Union (UCU) is used to show how threshold requirements of the Act can be systematically beaten.Design/methodology/approachThe paper responds to calls for “best practice” on how trade unions may react to member voting threshold requirements of the Trade Union Act 2016 (the Act). A broader aim is to make a theoretical contribution related to trade union organising and tactics in “get the vote out” (GTVO) industrial action organising campaigns.FindingsFindings are presented as a lead organiser's first-hand account of a successful GTVO campaign contextualised in relation to theories of organising. The findings offer “best practice” for union organisers required to beat the Act's voting thresholds and also contribute to theories surrounding trade union organising tactics.Research limitations/implicationsFurther development and adaptation of the proposed model may be required when applied to larger bargaining units and different organising contexts.Practical implicationsThe findings can inform the organising practices/tactics of trade unions in relation to statutory ballots. The findings also allow Human Resource (HR) practitioners to reflect on their approach to dealing with unions capable of mounting successful GTVO campaigns.Social implicationsThe findings have the potential to collectively empower workers, via their trade unions, to defend and further their interests in a post-financial crisis context and in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic.Originality/valueThis is the first known empirical account of organising to exceed voting thresholds of the Act, providing practical steps for union organisers in planning for statutory ballots. Further value lies in the paper's use of a novel first-hand account of a GTVO campaign, offering a new and first, theoretical model of organising tactics to beat the Act.

Trade Union Ambivalence Toward Enforcement of Employment Standards as an Organizing Strategy

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Landau ◽  
John Howe
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Minimum Standards ◽  
The Past ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Employment Standards ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
Core Part

Trade unions in Australia have long played an important role in the enforcement of minimum employment standards. The legislative framework today continues to recognize this enforcement role, but in a way that is more individualistic and legalistic than in the past. At the same time that the law has evolved to emphasize the representation and servicing role of trade unions, the Australian union movement has sought to revitalize and grow through the adoption of an “organizing model” of unionism that emphasizes workplace-level activism. This Article explores how these seemingly opposing trends have manifested themselves in the enforcement-related activities of five trade unions. Considerable diversity was found among the unions in relation to the extent to which and how the unions performed enforcement-related activities. However, all five unions spent significant time and resources on monitoring and enforcing employer compliance with minimum standards and saw this work as a core part of what they do. The case studies suggest, however, that the way in which this work is undertaken within unions and by whom has changed significantly in recent decades. While there was evidence that enforcement work was used tactically by unions in certain cases, this was largely on an ad hoc basis and there was little indication that the enforcement work was integrated into broader organizing objectives and strategies. Overall, the unions were ambivalent, if not skeptical, as to the capacity for enforcement work to grow unions through building workplace activism and collective strength.

scholarly journals Institutional resources as a source of trade union power in Southern Europe

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Rigby ◽  
Miguel Ángel García Calavia
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
Union Power ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Institutional Resources ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes ◽  
Southern European Countries

Institutional resources are one of the sources of power available to trade unions, but recent literature has tended to pay less attention to these than to associational and organizational resources. We examine institutional resources in three Southern European countries, Greece, Portugal and Spain, which share many common characteristics. However, the character of institutional resources in Spanish industrial relations is distinctive. We examine the plasticity of industrial relations institutions in Spain in terms of labour market outcomes but argue that institutional security is an essential platform for unions seeking to develop other sources of power.

The Impact of Unions on Pay Levels in Lower-Skilled Jobs

2001 ◽  
Vol 176 ◽  
pp. 76-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Forth ◽  
Neil Millward
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Employee Relations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Sphere Of Influence ◽  
The Impact

The decline in trade union influence over the past two decades raises the question of whether pay levels in lower-skilled jobs now lie outside the unions' sphere of influence, as tacitly acknowledged by their acceptance and later endorsement of the principle of the statutory minimum wage. This article examines pay levels among lower-skilled jobs in the private sector in Britain using the Workplace Employee Relations Survey of 1998. It shows that trade unions still had a positive impact upon pay levels in lower-skilled jobs and identifies those forms of unionism associated with the largest premiums. However, the article also shows that the activities of trade unions did little to counteract the forces generating the lowest levels of pay.

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 Unions and Information, Britain 1900–1960: An Essay in the History of Information

1999 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair Mutch
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Occupational Change ◽  
British Trade ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Information ◽  
Union History

This article examines the use of information by British trade unions to react to occupational change. Using a case study of the response to welding by the Boilermakers' Society, it looks at the barriers that prevented the use of information. It then examines the rise of trade union research departments. This leads to an outline of a framework for looking at the ways in which trade unions used information, based on their attitude towards their environment. The article suggests that an “information perspective” is a useful supplement to existing ways of examining trade union history which may shed new light on their development.

Institutional effects on the presence of trade unions at the workplace: Moderation in a multilevel setting

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoltán Fazekas
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Analysis ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Institutional Effects ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
Very High

Previous research has found that the presence of a union at a workplace is an important individual-level determinant of union membership. The present article, drawing on a multilevel analysis of 21 European countries, provides further evidence which nuances the conclusions of previous studies by introducing and testing institutional moderation effects. Thus, in countries with Ghent systems, having a union at workplace is less important, since probability of membership is already very high. Conversely, if there are extension mechanisms for collective agreements there is less incentive to join a trade union, and this is not compensated even when there is an active union at the workplace.

Trade Unionists in Parliament and Macroeconomic Performance: Evidence from Germany

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 101-116
Author(s):  
Michael Berlemann ◽  
Klaus W. Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Macroeconomic Performance ◽  
Macroeconomic Conditions ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Members Of Parliament

This article focuses on the role of unionised members of parliament. While unions have a direct effect on the labour market via wage negotiations, they often also take part in political debates. In many countries, significant shares of the members of parliament are also members of a trade union. However, up to now little empirical evidence is available on the extent to which unionised members of parliament try to achieve union-specific goals and thereby influence the macroeconomic conditions of an economy. A recent study for Germany comes to the conclusion that union members in the Bundestag cannot be seen as the parliamentary arm of the trade unions. However, we present contradicting empirical results by showing that, in Germany at least, the degree of unionisation of parliamentary members has a negative impact on economic growth and increases inflation, while unemployment remains unaffected.

Inequalities in Europe's SMEs: the challenges for a trade union agenda

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-146
Author(s):  
Gill Kirton ◽  
Ian Read
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Study Material ◽  
Ethnic Inequalities ◽  
The Status ◽  
Contingent Approach ◽  
Policies And Practices

In the context of continuing gender and race/ethnic inequalities in labour markets throughout Europe, this article uses case study material gathered in eight countries to explore equality policies and practices in SMEs. Overall the findings indicate a limited and contingent approach to equality issues on the part of SME owners and managers and an ineffective trade union challenge to the status quo. The article offers some thoughts on possible ways forward, concluding that unions have a long way to go before their rhetorical commitment to representing SME workers effectively and to pursuing an equality agenda is translated into action and practices at workplace level.

Austerity and public sector trade union power: Before and after the crisis

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Schmidt ◽  
Andrea Müller ◽  
Irene Ramos-Vielba ◽  
Annette Thörnquist ◽  
Christer Thörnqvist
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Union Power ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Political Resources ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Uk

We use a power resources approach to examine the effects of the 2008–2009 financial and economic crisis on public sector trade union power in Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK, comparing structural, organizational, institutional, societal and political power resources before and after the crisis. Unions’ power resources have (at least temporarily) weakened in Spain, with a similar but less pronounced trend in the UK; whereas in Sweden and Germany, one can detect ambiguous but slightly positive signals, which reflect neither the crisis nor opposition to austerity. As well as structural, organizational and institutional power resources, societal and political resources are decisive for public sector trade unions.

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