Bargaining for Skills: Trade Unions and Training at the Workplace

Training and development have featured as key issues on the 'new bargaining agenda' outlined by the TUC. Although evidence suggests that union successes in achieving a role in training decisions at the workplace have thus far been limited, few studies have sought to examine the impact of union involvement on training outcomes. Drawing on a survey of members and representatives from the Manufacturing Science and Finance union, this paper demonstrates that union involvement in training decisions is associated with relatively superior training activities and outcomes at the workplace.     

Trade Unions,Union Learning Representatives and Employer‐Provided Training in Britain

This article provides an empirical assessment of the relationship between trade union recognition, union density, union learning representatives (ULRs) and employer‐provided training in British workplaces using linked employer–employee data from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. The results suggest that the relationship between union recognition and training is, at best, weak. We find no consistent relationship between union density and training or between the presence of ULRs and training. We do, however, find some evidence of greater equality in the distribution of training in ULR workplaces than in other workplaces.     

Workplace Flexibilities,Job Satisfaction and Union Membership in the US Workforce

Using individual‐level data from the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce, we quantify how workers' job satisfaction levels correlate with five schedule‐based workplace flexibilities. The data permit us to control for numerous variables that might otherwise explain variation in the probability of job satisfaction, including, but not limited to, income, benefits, stress, depression, job control and individual preferences over flexibilities. Conditional on this control set, we find that workplace flexibilities correlate with an 8.1 per cent increase in job satisfaction. The relationship between job satisfaction and workplace flexibilities prevails through several sensitivity analyses, bias assessments and a propensity score matching analysis. We also explore how job satisfaction, union membership and workplace flexibilities intermix; we find that workplace flexibilities may function as a partial substitute for union membership.     

An Analysis of Workplace Representatives, Union Power and Democracy in Australia

The purpose of this article is to illuminate the views and experiences of workplace representatives in Australia in the context of falling union density, and to analyse factors that are most strongly associated with subjective union power at the workplace level, as perceived by delegates. The analysis relies on a large random survey of workplace delegates in eight significant Australian unions. The article describes the situation broadly facing delegates as shown by the survey and analyses a set of factors associated with the power of workers as perceived by delegates. We find that higher levels of reported activism among delegates are strongly associated with greater subjective union power. We also find that self-reported delegate confidence is also strongly associated with perceptions of higher union power, as is delegate's clarity about their roles. The data also show a strong association between perceptions of democracy within the union and union power. Support for delegates from the union office and organizers is also associated with higher levels of union power at the local level. The analysis provides some support for union renewal strategies associated with the 'organizing model' as applied in Australia and some other Anglo-Saxon countries that aim to increase the activism of workplace delegates through education, the provision of support for workplace delegates and more democratic union structures.     

Twin Tracks—Employee Representation at Eurotunnel Revisited

The introduction of the European Directive on Information and Consultation and the recent implementation of the Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations into United Kingdom (UK) law have increased the focus on workplace representation arrangements. This paper examines the interplay between nonunion and union representative arrangements at Eurotunnel (UK) and assesses their effectiveness in representing the needs of employees over a 5‐year period. Importantly, the paper also examines the opportunities and challenges of both nonunion representation (NER) and union voice arrangements. The findings show that the effectiveness of nonunion structures as bodies representing the interests of employees in filling the lack of representation is questionable. However, union recognition through an employer–union partnership agreement has also raised important issues regarding the effectiveness, impact, and legitimacy of unions at Eurotunnel. The main implication of this research is that the existence of a mechanism—union or nonunion—for communication between management and employees at the workplace may not be a sufficient condition for effective representation of employee interests. In addition, while trade unions may provide greater voice than nonunion arrangements (thus the reluctance of management to accept such voice arrangements), the strength of voice is dependent on the legitimacy and effectiveness of trade unions in representing employees’ interests at the workplace. And that in turn depends on the union being perceived by the workforce as both representative and able to act independently. If the union cannot, it will not meet the needs of either employees or management—and could run the risk of being supplanted under the provisions of the new EU Directive on Information and Consultation with tougher requirements for compliance in terms of procedures for consultation and information disclosure.     

Reconceptualizing Local Union Responses to Workplace Restructuring in North America

To date no clear consensus has emerged about how industrial relations scholars ought to conceptualize union responses to workplace restructuring. Yet, local union responses to management‐initiated workplace change can differ markedly and can have important implications for the outcomes of restructuring. This study examines the experiences of three local unions engaged in workplace restructuring in the North American steel industry and suggests a reconceptualization of local union responses, away from a simple 'militant'–'cooperative' dichotomy towards a conceptualization based on the process by which local unions engage with management over restructuring.     

Do Unions Help or Hinder Women in Training? Apprenticeship Programs in the United States

Trade unions are frequently criticized for excluding women from skilled crafts by denying them training. This article examines this argument by eestimatin the retention and attrition probabilities of men and women in the joint union‐management and the unilateral employer‐sponsored apprenticeship programs. While men, on average, have higher retention and lower attrition rates than women, joint sponsorship raises women's graduation probability above (and lowers their quit probability below) those of men or women apprentices in unilateral programs.     

Union Presence, Union Service and Membership Participation

Much of the literature on the determinants of union activism has focused on biographical and attitudinal precursors or correlates of several measures of union participation. Although interactionist theory emphasizes the importance of social context, little attention has been paid to union presence. The argument of this paper is that union presence, defined by certain structural arrangements, and the quality of union service, influences measures of workplace and non-workplace union participation through the mediating influence of union orientation. The paper begins by reviewing the literature on union presence and participation, before presenting a model of the joint impact of union service and union presence on both on- and off-the job union participation. Data are drawn from a study of membership involvement within the Irish-based Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU). The main findings are that there are significant relationships between presence and service level variables and measures of union participation. In particular, service variables appear to affect workplace union participation largely through the mediating influence of union orientation. Presence variables, by contrast, have both direct and indirect influence on participation in union activities within and outside the workplace.     

Negotiating ‘Difference’: Representing Disabled Employees in the British Workplace

Drawing on qualitative interviews with disabled employees, union officers and disability‐related organizations, this article examines employee attempts to negotiate workplace adjustments and associated issues of workplace representation. UK employment law utilizes an individual medical model of disability, which conflicts with traditional collective approaches favoured by trade unions, which has implications for disabled employees and union representation. We explore the different strategies available to unions and conclude that, despite the role played by disability‐related organizations in supporting employees, unions are the only workplace actors who are capable of reconfiguring the ‘personal as political’ and integrating disability concerns into wider organizational agendas.     

The Collapse of Compulsory Unionism? Collective Organization in Highly Unionized British Companies, 1979–1991

This paper examines compulsory union membership in 50 highly unionized companies between 1979 and 1991. One hundred per cent membership has collapsed among non-manuals. Post-entry 100% membership remains in the majority of manual units, as does the pre-entry closed shop among craft workers. Fewer written union membership agreements, and more unwritten verbal agreements and unofficial understandings, were evident. This pattern is accounted for by the interplay of four factors: product market competition, managerial indulgency, workplace collective organization and labour turnover.     

Whither Hong Kong's Unions: Autonomous Trade Unionism or Classic Dualism?

This paper presents an evaluation of the ideologies and behaviour of the main union groupings in Hong Kong. The CTU's 'adversarial' line and 'inclusive' approach has threatened to break with the traditional industrial pacifism of Hong Kong's unions, while the FTU's recognition of its 'dual functioning' role has been balanced by the need to maintain credibility as an effective representative of workers' interests. The TUC has been passive in recent years, and the independent unions tend to be rather inward-looking. Unions remain weak, particularly at the workplace, and it is uncertain to what extent union autonomy can be sustained.     

An Attitudinal Revolution in Irish Industrial Relations: The End of ‘Them and Us’?

Intensified international competition and high unemployment have characterized many Western economies since 1980. A firm's survival in such an environment demands a flexible and co-operative work-force, a requirement incompatible with traditional adversarial industrial relations. Drawing on a survey of employees in nine unionized companies in the Irish manufacturing sector, this paper examines the effect of these changes in the economy and workplace in facilitating a significant reduction in 'them and us' attitudes and an associated weakening of union structure and influence in the workplace. We found no evidence of a reduction in 'them and us' attitudes, but a cohesive and influential union was associated with less intense 'them and us'.     

Integration and Dealignment in Public Enterprise Industrial Relations: A Study of British Rail

This paper considers whether a process of dealignment of workplace organizations from the national union and industrial relations system has occurred in British Rail. As a starting point, it is noted that workplace representatives have traditionally been closely integrated with other actors in the system. Integration has been based on the supply of bargaining resources by the national union and other bargaining institutions. If new management industrial relations policies have cut back the supply of these, it is possible that workplace organizations will dealign themselves from the national union. This hypothesis is considered using data obtained from a survey of train drivers' representatives. It is found that there is no evidence for dealignment and that in a significant minority of cases closer rather than weaker links are being forged.     

Determinants of Union Recognition and Employee Involvement: Evidence from London Docklands

This article examines the determinants of union recognition and of employee involvement structures in London Dockland's workplaces, by means of multivariate analysis. The authors found that the respective dependent variables are significantly associated both with each other and with certain enterprise and establishment-level characteristics. Significant independent variables include workplace size, ownership status, the presence of a personnel manager and the incidence of skill shortages.     

Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Declining Union Organization

New union members in the United States are typically gained through workplace elections. We find that the annual number of union elections fell by 50 per cent in the early 1980s. A formal model indicates that declining union election activity may be due to an unfavourable political climate which raises the costs of unionization, even though the union win–rate remains unaffected. We relate the timing of declining election activity to the air–traffic controllers' strike of 1981, and the appointment of the Reagan Labor Board in 1983. Empirical analysis shows that the fall in election activity preceded these developments.     

Ten Years of New Labour: Workplace Learning,Social Partnership and Union Revitalization in Britain

The establishment of a role in workplace learning has been perceived as one of the achievements of trade unions under New Labour. This article analyses the part the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has played in public policy since 1997. It examines its attempts to influence government and develop social partnership and statutory backing for vocational training. It assesses its degree of success and considers whether the TUC's role is best characterized in terms of social partnership or as a rediscovery of the unions' public administration function. It reviews the literature which suggests that involvement in learning stimulates union revitalization. The article concludes that the TUC has failed to attain significant influence over public policy. Rather it has delivered policy determined by government with priority accorded to employer predilections. A public administration role focused on the Union Learning Fund has provided the TUC with a new, secondary function, which provides some compensation for the failure of its primary agenda. Nonetheless, on the evidence, involvement in workplace learning appears an implausible path to union revitalization.     

Restructuring and Workplace Unionism at Manchester Airport

This paper provides evidence from empirical case-study research into the impact of compulsory competitive tendering on workplace union organization among the baggage-handling workforce at Manchester Airport. It documents the main processes of development within an historical context, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of workplace unionism during the 1980s, the recent challenge posed by managerial restructuring in the early 1990s, and the wider implications for debates about the 'state' of workplace unionism in Britain today.
Compared with the union resilience displayed by the baggage handlers during the 1980s, the nature of shop-stewards' organization appears to have changed drastically to managemenťs advantage during the last few years. However, continuing underlying tensions in worker-management relations suggest that this situation may not necessarily amount to a fundamental and irreversible transformation in the nature of workplace unionism in the manner in which those who use the vocabulary of the 'New Industrial Relations' would suggest.     

Renewing Union Narrative Resources: How Union Capabilities Make a Difference

This article explores the role of framing in mobilizing and transforming narrative resources. It draws on in‐depth studies of two different workplace unions within the same multinational company in Canada. We conducted interviews with managers and trade unionists at different levels over a number of years of observation. Each of these workplace unions mobilizes new repertoires of action to enhance its capacity to act. Yet they differ considerably in their capacity to renew their narrative resources. Whereas one of the workplace unions still relies on an exclusive and restrictive narrative, the other union has evolved towards a more encompassing and inclusive narrative. This article argues that strategic capabilities are a key variable in understanding the processes through which narrative resources change and are mobilized.     

Effects of Works Councils on Firm‐Provided Further Training in Germany

Unions are an important indicator of various measures of firm performance in Anglo‐Saxon countries. The same is true for the German analogue of the workplace union, the works council. Using German establishment data, I examine the impact of works councils on further training. I employ pooled logit and count‐data models to analyse the further training activity and intensity of German firms. Because the treatment variable may suffer from endogeneity, I also adopt linear and nonlinear instrumental variable techniques. The analysis reveals a positive impact of works councils on firm‐provided training and provides slightly weaker evidence for firm‐size differentials in workplace representation. I conclude that enhanced management–employee relations foster the training efforts of firms.     

Industrial Relations Climate and Union Commitment: An Evaluation of Workplace‐Level Effects

This paper examines the relationship between industrial relations (IR) climate and union commitment. Using a multi‐workplace sample from North East England, aggregation analysis provided support for treating IR climate as a workplace‐level variable, and workplace IR climate was negatively associated with union commitment. However, IR climate moderated none of the relationships between individual‐level antecedents and union commitment.