Organizational Union Identity

2020 ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
Bob Smale
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Organisational Identity ◽  
Avoidance Strategies ◽  
Union Avoidance ◽  
Political Alignment ◽  
The Impact

This chapter explores ‘organisational union identity’ projected by unions that organise within employer defined membership territories. These unions project three forms of organisational identity, namely, ‘organisational union identity’, where the unions such as Advance seek to organise the whole organisation, ‘sub-organisational union identity’, as with Skyshare which organises pilots employed by NetJets and ‘multi-organisational union identity’ where unions including NGSU operate at a group level. The chapter explores the observable characteristics of organisational union identity together with the impact of mergers, membership benefits, affiliations and political alignment. It further recognises that whilst organisational unions were often formed with employer encouragement as part of union avoidance strategies, that many have now progressed to become certified trade unions and some to have merged with more broadly based trade unions. Therefore, given that there would seem to be a ‘direction of travel’ from formation to certification, it is argued that fermenting new organisational unions might perhaps be a route to restoring trade union membership.

Political attitudes and trade union membership in the Nordic countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Strøby Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Impact

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.

Een halve eeuw vakbondslidmaatschap : Een verkennende longitudinale studie naar enkele cyclische determinanten voor de ledenontwikkeling van de Belgische vakbonden, 1946-1995

Res Publica ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-32
Author(s):  
Kurt Vandaele
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Econometric Model ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Union Density ◽  
Free Riding ◽  
Structural Variable ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
The Impact

This article explains the ebb and flow in Belgian trade union membership from 1946 to 1995 by replicating the econometric model by Bain and Elsheikhn in which changes in macro-economic variables are highly significant. Since the automatic indexation of wages and the extension of collective labour agreements invite free riding, the relevance of the change in inflation and real wage is quite striking. However, the free riding-effect is slowed down by the institutionalised presence of the trade unions on the work floor. The Ghent system explains the positive impact of the unemployment rate . The model is furthermore improved by the trade union density as a structural variable. The linear form reflects the enforcement effect, while the quadratic form mirrors the saturation effect on the trade union membership. Mainly due to the 'Allgemeinkoalitionsfähighkeit' of the Belgian government system, the impact of left parties on union growth and decline is not significant in a quantitative framework. With only four explanatory variables the model clarifies more than 75% of the fluctuations in Belgian trade union membership.

Ethnic Minorities and Equal Treatment: The Impact of Gender, Equal Opportunities Policies and Trade Unions

2001 ◽  
Vol 176 ◽  
pp. 105-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Noon ◽  
Kim Hoque
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Ethnic Minorities ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Equal Opportunities ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Non Union ◽  
Minority Men ◽  
The Impact

The article examines whether ethnic minority employees report poorer treatment at work than white employees, and evaluates the impact of three key features — gender differences, formal equal opportunities policies and trade union recognition. The analysis reveals that ethnic minority men and women receive poorer treatment than their white counterparts. In addition, there is evidence to suggest that ethnic minority women receive poorer treatment than ethnic minority men. Equal opportunities policies are effective in ensuring equal treatment, but the presence of a recognised trade union is not. White men and women in unionised workplaces enjoy better treatment than their white counterparts in non-union workplaces, but the same is not true for ethnic minorities. By contrast, there is very little evidence of unequal treatment in non-union workplaces.

Was it worth it? The impact of the German minimum wage on union membership of employees

2021 ◽  
pp. 0143831X2110358
Author(s):  
Simon Ress ◽  
Florian Spohr
Keyword(s):  
Propensity Score ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Propensity Score Matching ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
German Trade ◽  
The Impact

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.

Purging the Trade Unions

2020 ◽  
pp. 343-373
Author(s):  
Ewing Mahoney
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Service Trade ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
Legal Foundations ◽  
Legal Position

This chapter looks at government attempts to ban trade unions, considering the steps that were taken in lieu of an outright ban on trade union membership. Consistently with other measures taken at the time under the cover of security, government intervention to deal with the alleged menace of Communist infiltration of the civil service trade unions did not take the form of legislation. The legal position reflected both the lack of legal regulation of industrial relations generally and the lack of legal regulation of public-sector employment in particular. In practice, governments rarely needed to reveal or justify the legal foundations for their actions. The benefit for government is that although security policies might well be announced and made public, there would be little accountability thereafter if operated unobtrusively.

A Half Century of Trade Union Membership. The Cyclical Macro-Determinants of Postwar Union Growth in Belgium

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt Vandaele
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Half Century ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Union Growth ◽  
Seminal Contribution ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Leftist Parties

Based on the seminal contribution of Bain and Elsheikh, this article explains the ebb and flow in trade union membership in Belgium from 1948 to 1995. With only four explanatory variables, the model clarifies more than 75 per cent of the fluctuations in Belgian trade union membership. The results show that rises in inflation, real wages and, due to the Ghent system, unemployment have a positive impact on unionization. Although there is an enforcement effect, a saturation effect takes over, indicating that further union growth is hampered by the union's own size. Mainly due to the 'Allgemeinkoalitionsfähighkeit' of the Belgian government system, the impact of leftist parties on unionization is not significant in a quantitative framework.

Industrial/Occupational Union Identity

2020 ◽  
pp. 65-80
Author(s):  
Bob Smale
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Affiliation ◽  
Professional Issues ◽  
Professional Qualification ◽  
Industrial Action ◽  
Related Group ◽  
Industrial Sources ◽  
Political Alignment ◽  
The Impact

This chapter explores industrial and occupational union identities because it was observed that more than half of certified unions draw upon both occupational and industrial sources of identity. ‘Occupational / industrial union identity’ is projected by unions which either represent a single occupation within an industry, as with PFA, or a closely related group of occupations, as exemplified by Equity. ‘Industrial union identity’ is projected by unions organising a broad range of occupations within an industry, as with RMT. ‘Professional union identity’ is recognised as a subcategory of ‘occupational union identity’, with unions including BMA projecting a distinct range of characteristics, including a requirement for professional qualification and concern over professional issues and standards. The chapter explores the observable characteristics of industrial / occupational union identity together with the impact of mergers, membership benefits, affiliations and political alignment. It recognises that some unions project a ‘hybrid union identity’ in having servicing arrangements with other unions. ‘Protest union identity’ is projected by unions that demonstrate an antipathy to political affiliation and industrial action, providing a benign alternative to other unions within competitive sectors, whilst ‘clandestine union identity’ is applied to unions avoiding recognition as trade unions.

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.

Who Cares? Child-Care, Trade Unions and Staff Turnover

1996 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micheal Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Staff Turnover ◽  
Child Care Workers ◽  
Turnover Rates ◽  
High Turnover ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Union Voice

This article analyzes survey results from the female-dominated occupation of child-care. It examines job satisfaction and trade union membership in an industry that has high turnover rates. The article explores why child-care workers prefer the exit voice over the trade union voice despite a favotrrable attitude to trade unions generally. The article concludes that unless the political factors that dominate the industry are also addressed, the ability to reduce staff turnover, improve the industrial conditions of child-care and increase union membership will be extremely difficult, though not impossible, as the example of nurses in the 1980s demonstrates.

scholarly journals Restoring Democracy to the Workplace? An Analysis of Union Membership Patters Before and After the Employment Contracts Act

1970 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Cregan ◽  
Chris Rudd ◽  
Stewart Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Employment Contracts ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Before And After ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Impact

This paper investigates the impact of the Employment Contracts Act on trade union membership. Two separate surveys of labour market participants lvere conducted in Dunedin on the eve of the legislation and one year later. The findings demonstrated that for these samples, trade union membership in aggregate was not based on compulsion before the legislation and remained at a similar level a year later. Democracy was not restored to the workplace it was already apparent there. This implies that changes in the industrial relations system had already taken place prior to the legislation and it is suggested that these findings are explicable if the effect of the exigencies of the recession on both parries is taken account of In the ensuing discussion, reasons for the persistence of the same level of union membership after the legislation were considered. It was demonstrated that most members li'anted the union to act as their bargaining agent and felt few pressures regarding their choice of employment contract. In other words, employers did not utilise the provisions of the Act to weaken union membership, at least in the short term.

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