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.     

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.     

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.     

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'.     

Fighting for Life: South African HIV/AIDS Peer Educators as a New Industrial Relations Actor?

This article examines HIV/AIDS peer educators in South African workplaces, drawing on research in five companies with large peer educator programmes. The research indicates that peer educators are primarily focused on reducing new HIV infections and ‘normalizing’ the epidemic by promoting change in the behaviour of individuals — a feature that is not accounted for by theories of workplace mobilization based on collective action. Similarly, their role is inadequately explained by theories on the emergence of new workplace actors based on the changing nature of work, shifting identity salience in society, and the nexus between workplace and communities as opportunities for union regeneration. After outlining the profile and activities of workplace HIV/AIDS peer educators, attention is paid to their motivations and methods of action, their relationship to management and unions, and the way in which they straddle workplace and community. The implications of this and the possible trajectory of workplace peer educators as a new industrial relations actor are discussed.     

Union Involvement in Workplace Change: A Comparative Study of Local Unions in Canada and Mexico

This paper examines the sources of local union power to cope with workplace change. Are workplace unions active participants, merely passengers, outright opponents, or entirely excluded from the change process? Drawing on 18 case studies and a survey conducted in the auto and metalworking industries in Mexico and Canada, the results suggest that greater internal solidarity, stronger articulation with other levels of union and community activity and the pursuit of an autonomous agenda all provide the basis for enhanced local union bargaining power in the context of globalization. This general conclusion applies to Canadian as well as Mexican local unions and suggests analytical paths for understanding the construction and renewal of union power.     

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.     

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.     

Transnational Collective Agreements and the Development of New Spaces for Union Action: The Formal and Informal Uses of International and European Framework Agreements in the UK

Transnational collective agreements (TCAs) are an important development in the international dimension of industrial relations. This article compares four case studies of multinational companies in the UK covered by TCAs. Findings show that while the formal influence of TCAs was limited, they were invoked around particular disputes and could strengthen union influence in a context otherwise characterized by limited union rights. Such influence depended on the co‐ordination of workplace‐ and firm‐level industrial relations institutions, union access to management at headquarters level and union receptiveness to and outward engagement with transnational activity. The formal but also the informal dimensions of these dynamics played a significant role.     

Taiwan: An Exploration of Labour Relations in Transition

This paper explores the emerging relations between workers and employers in Taiwan. The lifting of martial law in 1987 and other reforms have set in motion a basic restructuring of the industrial relations system. A union movement dominated by the interests of employers and the ruling political party has given workers little leverage in the employment relationship. Constrained collective bargaining plus consultation with employers offers the best long-term prospect of providing a systematic basis for worker participation in the workplace and broader business and economic decision-making.     

Collective Consultation and Industrial Relations in China

Economic reform in China has seen the replacement of the administrative regulation of labour relations by their contractual regulation, with an increasing emphasis on the role of the collective contract system. Studies of the introduction of the system emphasized the determining role of the state. In this paper we examine the more recent development of the collective contract system and conclude that it is primarily the continued integration of the trade union into management at the workplace that prevents collective consultation from providing an adequate framework for the regulation of labour relations.     

The Rise of Experimentalism in German Collective Bargaining

This paper addresses the debate on union strategies by analysing industrial relations change in three of Germany's most internationalized sectors: chemicals, metalworking and construction. It characterizes two logics of change in German industrial relations: a battlefield logic and an experimentalist logic. It demonstrates historical trends towards centralization of wage bargaining in each sector before looking at recent pressures for decentralization and flexibility. In chemi‐cals, the social partners control decentralization. In metalworking increasing flexibility is characterized by a mismatch between the national‐level union and the district‐level employers. Finally, the construction union seeks to replace the centralized bargaining system with a state minimum wage.     

Strategy and Trade Union Effectiveness in a Neo-liberal Environment

In the absence of state sponsorship, unions must become more effective in the workplace or suffer the inevitable consequences. The analysis of union strategy and effectiveness, however, presents special difficulties. We adopt a strategic choice perspective, defining strategy as a framework of critical, enacted choices about the ends and means of an organization. For unions in a neo-liberal context, this means that strategy can be described in terms of the nexus between two complex dimensions: union-worker relations and union-employer relations. On this basis, we identify four broad patterns of union strategic choice in the New Zealand environment: classic, paper tiger, consultancy, and partnership unionism. Those patterns in which union-worker relations rely on 'servicing' are seen as fatally flawed at worst, and strategically vulnerable at best. On the other hand, those patterns in which union-worker relations are more securely based on servicing complemented with robust forms of organization also contain strategic tensions. These must be managed carefully if unions are to become more effective. While illustrated with New Zealand case studies, this framework provides lines of analysis for the strategic review of unions in neo-liberal contexts more generally.     

Unions and Workplace Closure in Britain, 1990–1998

This paper assesses union effects on workplace closure in the private sector in Britain between 1990 and 1998 using panel data from the 1990–98 Workplace Employee Relations Survey. On average, unions raised the chances of workplace closure in Britain in the 1990s, in contrast to the 1980s. However, the size and statistical significance of union effects differ across dimensions of unionization and type of workplace. Furthermore, the results are sensitive to the definition of workplace closure.     

Organizing the Next Generation: Influences on Young Workers' Willingness to Join Unions in Canada

This paper argues that union attitudes and behaviour are important but neglected features of the school–work transition process. Using longitudinal panel data from a study of high school and university graduates in three Canadian cities, we examine how young people's previous union membership, attitudes and educational, labour market and workplace experiences shape their willingness to join unions. This paper establishes that views about unions are emergent during youth, solidifying with age and experience. The implications of these findings for industrial relations, school–work transitions research and labour movement organizing are discussed.     

Trade Unions and Political Participation in the European Union: Still Providing a Democratic Dividend?

Decline in electoral participation is a feature of many Western democracies. In this paper, we focus on the relationship between trade union membership and political participation. Workplace authority structures, trade union membership and union presence have been identified as important influences on electoral participation. Based on a survey of employees in 15 member states of the European Union, we test for a relationship between political participation, union membership and union workplace presence. The independent effect of trade union membership on political participation was found to be both significant and positive and is associated with higher levels of political activism and electoral participation. Furthermore, an institutional context that facilitates high levels of union density seems likely to have an overall positive effect on citizen participation.     

The New Unionism and the New Bargaining Agenda: UNISON–Employer Partnerships on Workplace Learning in Britain

A model of new unionism has been developed which is characterized by features such as the servicing of members as customers and a shift to co‐operative industrial relations. The UNISON–employer partnerships in workplace learning in the UK initially appear to fit such a model. This paper outlines the model of new unionism and cautions against interpreting these partnerships as evidence of its development. The paper concludes that this initiative is organized within a collective framework and may provide a basis for the development of workplace trade union activism rather than being indicative of its decline.     

Justice and Union Participation: An Extension and Test of Mobilization Theory

Heeding John Kelly's call to reorient the field of industrial relations towards the study of injustice, we employ mobilization, social exchange and organizational justice theories to specify and test a model of union participation. Using individual‐level survey data from public‐sector union members to test our model, we find that differences in worker perceptions of workplace injustice and union justice explain slightly more variation in members’ union participation than more traditional measures of job satisfaction and union instrumentality perceptions. The implications of our analysis for researchers and union practitioners are also discussed.     

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.     

Industrial Relations Climate, Attendance Behaviour and the Role of Trade Unions

In recent years there has been a growing interest in the impact of co-operative union–management relations on firm performance and organizational outcomes such as employee turnover and absenteeism. This paper seeks to identify the factors that affect the development of a co-operative industrial relations climate and analyses the effects of that climate on organizational and union allegiance and on employee attendance behaviour. The data are drawn from a study of a large automotive manufacturer in Australia. The results indicate that a positive union–management relationship is associated with higher levels of work attendance. Moreover, this outcome is consistent with the presence of strong and effective unionism at the workplace.