scholarly journals An Institutional Approach to Trade Union Density. The Case of Legal Origins and Political Ideology

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (49) ◽  
pp. 35-49
Author(s):  
Jacek Lewkowicz ◽  
Anna Lewczuk
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Union Density ◽  
Terms Of Trade ◽  
Institutional Research ◽  
Institutional Approach ◽  
Legal Origins ◽  
The Status

Abstract Which institutions may be important in terms of trade union density and how significant they are? Although the status of trade unions may be very different among states, unions are still a very meaningful component of labour markets. In this paper, we contribute to the debate about the institutions that may affect the outcome of trade unions in different legal systems. Firstly, we draw on the theoretical underpinnings of trade union activity and density. Then, we conduct an empirical analysis of the relationships between trade union density in a particular country, country’s legal origins and government’s ideology. In this way, the paper enriches an underexploited niche in institutional research devoted to labour market issues.

scholarly journals Stéttarfélagsaðild á Íslandi

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-90
Author(s):  
Gylfi Dalmann Aðalsteinsson ◽  
Þórhallur Örn Guðlaugsson
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Union Density ◽  
Employment Contracts ◽  
Employment Rates ◽  
Fierce Competition ◽  
Second World

Few studies have been conducted on trade union density in Iceland, some has been written about trade unions in Iceland. There has been a lot of debate in Europe over the last 20 years of declining trade union density. There are various reasons for this decline, such as general economic prosperity since the end of the Second World War, EU directives and regulations on increased rights and protection of workers, more focus on work life balance, increased economic growth, higher employment rates, structural change in the labour market and new management practices that encourage employees to be outside of trade unions. Furthermore, as a possible explanation, internationalization and fierce competition of companies in global markets has also been pointed out, greater emphasis on flexibility in employment contracts, job outsourcing and the fact that it is more difficult to get well-educated professionals to be union members. The development of trade union density in Iceland has been different. For the last 20 years, trade union density in Iceland has been very high and remained fairly stable. This paper deals with trade union density in Iceland from 1994 to 2016. Few proposition, according to the authors’ assessment, are put forward that can shed light on high union density in Iceland. They are: 1) closed shop agreements, 2) check-off system, legal obligation for employers to deducts a portion of an employee’s wages to pay union dues, 3) large public sector, 4) strategic work of trade unions to make union membership attracting with various services and benefits for members, 5) trade unions has emphasized on reaching to young people in the labour market, 6) trade union membership granted union members access to pension fund, 7) the “Ghent system” which linked unemployment benefits to union membership.

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.

European trade union cooperation, union density and employee attitudes to unions

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-358
Author(s):  
Bengt Furåker
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Union Density ◽  
Employee Attitudes ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
International Social Survey Programme ◽  
European Trade ◽  
Using Data ◽  
International Social

European trade unions have much to gain from cooperating with each other. Such cooperation does exist, but it is still fairly limited and many obstacles need to be overcome if cooperation is to be improved. According to our survey data, higher-level union officials regard differences concerning financial resources and national labour market regulations to be particularly substantial barriers to cooperation. The enormously varying union density across Europe, and its general decrease, also creates barriers. Therefore, employee attitudes to unions are examined using data from the International Social Survey Programme. As expected, union members tend to be more positive about trade unions than non-members. The most interesting finding, however, is that employees in some countries with low union density exhibit fairly positive views or at least views that are not less positive than what we find among employees in many countries with higher density rates. This suggests that there is potential for recruiting members.

scholarly journals Relying on weak governments: Austrian trade unions and the politics of smoothed dualization

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Rathgeb
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Labour Market Policy ◽  
Active Labour Market Policy ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Power Resources

Austrian political actors have improved the protection of outsiders by expanding the coverage of labour rights, social security, and active labour market policy spending in the past two decades. The article attributes these ‘solidaristic’ traits of Austrian labour market policy change to the persistent reliance of weak governments on trade union support in the mobilisation of a durable consensus. When governments are internally divided and prone to reform deadlocks, they face a powerful incentive to share policy-making authority with the social partners. Despite a significant decline in power resources, the Austrian trade union confederation has therefore remained influential enough to compensate outsiders for growing economic uncertainty on a volatile labour market. To substantiate this claim empirically, the article draws on primary and secondary sources as well as interview evidence with policy-making elites.

The Danish Labour Market Model

2020 ◽  
pp. 558-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laust Høgedahl
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Union Density ◽  
Market Model ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Labour Market Policy ◽  
Active Labour Market Policy ◽  
Market Policy ◽  
Active Labour

The Danish labour market model is renowned for combining a high degree of flexibility for employers and security for workers. In addition, the labour market parties (trade unions and employer organizations) have a long tradition of conducting collective bargaining to regulate key elements such as wages and working conditions. Since collective agreements cover important components of labour market regulation, Danish labour market policy has been focused on correcting imperfections in the labour market through an active labour market policy. However, since the new millennium, a number of policy changes have created a significant impact on the Danish labour market model, especially in terms of eroding the security elements of the model. Additional fundamental changes might also be linked to structural effects such as a decreasing trade union density and declining collective bargaining coverage in some parts of the private sector.

The Troubled Partnership: Trade Unions and Working-class Parties in Italy, 1948-78

1978 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 416-436
Author(s):  
Paolo Farneti
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Political Market

The problem of ‘tutelage’ of trade unions by political parties in italy must be seen against a background of: the structural conditions of the labour market (where trade unions are active) and those of the ‘political market’ (where parties are active) as masses for manoeuvre used to attain certain aims; the characteristics of the leadership of the trade unions and those of the political parties; the ‘styles of leadership’ (including the conduct of conflict) by trade union and party leaders.

Transforming the unemployed: trade union benefits and the advent of state policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noel Whiteside
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
State Policy ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
National Insurance ◽  
Local Branch ◽  
The Unemployed

The introduction of state insurance for the unemployed, under the 1911 National Insurance Act, forced the trade unions to make adjustments to their visions of how they treated the unemployed. Before the 1911 Act there was immense diversity and variation in how the trade unions supported their members and controlled the labour market through providing benefits for the unemployed. However, the 1911 Act, imposed a rigidity on unemployment, defining it by imposing a limit of benefits for 15 weeks per year, with those falling out of benefit being unfortunate rather than long-term unemployed. Since many unions ran the new state scheme it was their previous flexibility in providing benefits to a more liberally defined unemployed, and allowing local branch variation, was replaced by the state’s insistence on uniformity and centralisation.

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.

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