Employer responses to union organising: patterns and effects

This article presents original research on employer responses to trade union organising campaigns in the United Kingdom. The evidence indicates that there is no single response, with employers in some cases seeking to block and in others support union activity. These different patterns are strongly path dependent and reflect the prior degree of exposure to trade unionism of workplaces targeted for organising. Another finding is that employer responses co-vary with union approaches to organising, such that when the employer adopts adversarial tactics so does the union. The militancy of both parties, it seems, is mutually reinforcing. Finally, the evidence points to substantial influence of employer responses over the outcomes of organising. When employers are supportive then campaigns tend to be more successful, measured on a range of criteria. When the employer is hostile unions find it difficult to make progress and encounter particular difficulties in securing recognition.     

British employer resistance to trade union recognition

Following the introduction of a statutory mechanism by which trade unions can gain recognition from employers, this article examines employers' attempts in Britain to resist campaigns for union recognition and to undermine newly granted recognition agreements. Using an array of primary and secondary sources, the extent and nature of these employer activities are documented. The article develops a revised schema, following Roy (1980), to help understand and interpret these anti‐union activities. While of significance in deterring and undermining new recognition agreements, these activities are found to represent a minority current in the overall response of employers to campaigns for union recognition.     

Irish trade unions under social partnership: a Faustian bargain?

Since 1987 trade unions have been a key party to social partnership agreements in Ireland. Theoretical and empirical studies of corporatism point to positive outcomes for trade unions such as an increase in union density, ease of recognition, and increased employer support. However, apart from a modest increase in union membership numbers, none of these outcomes were realised. Union density levels have decreased significantly, union recognition is more problematic than ever, and employer opposition appears to have increased in scope and intensity. Decline in union density questions the capacity of unions to remain pivotal actors in the future. During the period of partnership union density in the private sector more than halved. It remains the paradox of partnership.     

Ireland's conundrum on union bargaining rights: assessing the Industrial Relations Amendment Act 2015

Anglophone countries address the question of workplace-level union bargaining rights via the mechanism of statutory recognition. Existing literature has evaluated such regimes as underpinned by several weaknesses. In contrast, Ireland presents an unusual case whereby the question of bargaining rights is resolved via collective dispute resolution procedures combining voluntary and statutory provisions. However, employer challenges and civil court rulings resulted in the weakening of these procedures from a trade union perspective. We assess the latest attempts to reform the Irish provisions via the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015, evaluating the implications for unions and their capacity to represent members' on pay and working conditions in comparison to Anglophone statutory recognition regimes.     

Employer opposition and union avoidance in the UK

This paper presents empirical evidence about the shape and pattern of non–union employer strategies to remain union free. The data are collected from seven case studies across different industrial sectors and organisational sizes in Britain. Following a brief critique of typologies of union avoidance, the evidence suggests the ‘configuration’ of anti–union approaches involves an uneven and at times contradictory interaction of context–specific variables. Three mutually inclusive factors that influence employer behaviour are identified: structural, ideological and cultural dimensions. It is argued that these represent a deeper understanding of employer hostility towards unions than existing employment relationship classifications. The utility of non–union typologies and the prospects for union mobilisation are considered in the light of these findings.     

The trade union response to agency labour in Britain

The growth of agency work in recent years has posed a challenge to trade unions, which must decide if they will accept agency workers as part of their constituency and accept employment agencies as legitimate labour‐market actors. This article analyses the reaction of British unions to agency work and identifies four main responses: exclusion, replacement, regulation and engagement. It concludes with an evaluation of union policies, which stresses the need for unions to secure broad regulation of the agency labour market either through multi‐employer bargaining or employment law.     

The union recognition dispute at McDonald's Moscow food‐processing factory

This article reports on the union recognition dispute that took place at the McDonald's food‐processing plant in Moscow. It examines this dispute in the context of McDonald's employment practices worldwide, the interventions made by international and local unions, and Russian government bodies. Despite these interventions it became impossible to either organise the workforce or establish a collective agreement. The case illustrates the difficulties facing both local unions and global union federations when confronted by intransigent multinational companies, especially in low‐skilled sectors in transitional economies.     

Statutory union recognition in the UK: a work in progress

The 1999 scheme for statutory union recognition has been criticised for being too complex, and for leaving important matters unclear, for doing too little for workers and unions and for requiring too much from employers. The similarity to the US system has also been criticised. There were fears that attempts to achieve statutory union recognition would redirect the energy of trade unions in the UK to fruitless limbs, forcing unions and employers into antagonistic litigation. Although some of these criticisms are tenable, legislation seldom satisfies all parties affected by it, and all new legislation is haunted by the spectre of unintended consequences. Nevertheless, the system of statutory union recognition adopted in the UK strikes a reasonable balance between the interests of the rival parties and appears to function efficiently and, for the most part, fairly.     

The influence of trade union Disability Champions on employer disability policy and practice

Disability Champions are a new type of lay workplace trade union activist, whose role is to encourage employers to audit and improve disability policies and offer independent advice and guidance on disability issues to employees. Drawing on a survey of the population of Disability Champions, this article assesses Disability Champion influence on employer disability policy and practice. While the majority of Disability Champions report having had a positive impact, they report greater influence on employer willingness to conduct disability audits and to amend and improve employer equal opportunities practices with regard to disability than employer willingness to make reasonable adjustments. The analysis also identifies several factors that are likely to be important in improving Disability Champion effectiveness. Overall, the results suggest Disability Champions have the potential to enhance the ability of unions to represent disabled people and help manage disability issues within the workplace. The article makes a theoretical contribution to Disability Champion roles by further developing the ‘Activity‐Support‐Characteristic’ framework for the antecedents of new union representatives' effectiveness.     

Third time lucky for statutory union recognition in the UK?

A third statutory trade union recognition procedure was introduced in the UK in 2000. This paper explores the scope for increased recognition, employers’ willingness to concede recognition, unions’ response to the procedure and, finally, the use of it so far. The paper concludes that, while the procedure may be sustainable in the long run, its direct impact on union membership and recognition may be minimal. The indirect effect, through voluntary recognition will be greater. But any reversal in union decline will ultimately be dependent upon successful union recruitment well beyond their conventional territories.     

The gender representation gap: implications for workplace union effectiveness

This article investigates how the gender of workplace representatives has implications for three dimensions of union effectiveness: (i) responsiveness to members, (ii) opportunity to influence management and (iii) ability to bring about change. Utilising original analysis of the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study, we examine three core elements of workplace employment relations processes that cut across the three dimensions: (i) workplace representation processes and employer support for union activity; (ii) substantive areas of representative involvement and (iii) quality of relations between union representatives and management, and between union representatives and employees. Our analysis highlights significant gender differences embedded in all three processes. The conclusion considers the broader implications of these findings for the gender equality project of British trade unions, beyond the objective of merely seeking to increase the numbers of women representatives.     

The emergence of shop-floor trade union power in South Africa

This is the first of two papers dealing with the emergence of black shop floor union power and the changing structure of industrial relations in South Africa. This paper examines the evolution of black and white trade unions and their attitudes towards the officially sanctioned system of industrial relations. The observation is made that black unions are placing greater emphasis on shop-floor organization, leading to the development of an additional, but unofficial, tier in the negotiation structure in the form of work pi ace-level union recognition and bargaining.     

Are non‐union workers different to their union colleagues? Evidence from the public services

This article analyses workers’ attitudes to trade unions by comparing the survey responses of Unison members with public sector workers who have left or never joined a union. It examines whether differences between these groups can help to explain union‐joining behaviour and membership patterns. The findings demonstrate that there are few differences in attitudes between Unison members, ex‐unionists and never‐members on the issue of ‘union effectiveness’. However, ex‐unionists were more reluctant to re‐join unions than never‐members. The evidence concludes that if public service unions are to recruit new members, they need to adopt differentiated strategies and representatives have to target ex‐unionists and never‐members in the workplace.     

Choosing union representation: the role of attitudes and emotions

In the United States, most unions are recognised by a majority vote of employees through union representation elections administered by the government. Most empirical studies of individual voting behaviour during union representation elections use a rational choice model. Recently, however, some have posited that voting is often influenced by emotions. We evaluate competing hypotheses about the determinants of union voting behaviour by using data collected from a 2010 representation election at Delta Air Lines, a US‐based company. In addition to the older rational choice framework, multiple regression results provide support for an emotional choice model. Positive feelings toward the employer are statistically significantly related to voting ‘no’ in a representation election, while positive feelings toward the union are related to a ‘yes’ vote. Effect sizes for the emotion variables were generally larger than those for the rational choice variables, suggesting that emotions may play a key role in representation election outcomes.     

Union effects on pay levels in Britain

The contraction of union representation in Britain raises the question of whether or not unions still achieve a wage premium. Analysis of matched employer–employee data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey shows that there is now no demonstrable premium for private sector workers in general. However, unions do achieve a wage premium of around 9% for about half of employees covered by collective bargaining arrangements. The effect of union bargaining spills over to other employees in the same workplaces. The paper identifies circumstances where union effects are strongest—employer endorsement of union membership, high collective bargaining coverage and multi-unionism.     

Victimisation and agency: the social construction of union women’s leadership

This article interrogates the notion that women union leaders lead differently. Despite significant variation in the union movements in Australia, Canada, Sweden, the UK and the USA, similar discourses on women’s union leadership emerge in all five countries. Based on a materialist social construction approach which supports a recognition of difference without reference to essentialist ideas about women’s nature, this article seeks to identify what may be common across these countries to explain this phenomenon. The article argues that the fact that women face discrimination in unions, on the one hand, and organise as a constituency and have access to women‐only education, on the other, supports the development of transformational leadership among women unionists, even across diverse contexts and cultures. Unpacking union women’s leadership practices in this way reveals a dialectic of victimisation and agency.     

“Glorified Messengers for Management” or “Legitimate Unionism”? An Analysis of Local Independent Unions in the Post-Company Union Era

Local independent unions (LIUs), which have represented a sizable minority of union members, largely emerged from company unions once they had been declared illegal upon the upholding of the National Labor Relations Act. This paper constructs and analyzes three distinct patterns of the organizational transformation of company unions into LIUs to determine if these LIUs became autonomous and independent of management or remained controlled by the employer. It was discovered that, in a majority of the cases, these LIUs were legitimate unions that operated independently of employer domination.     

Obstacles to transnational trade union cooperation in Europe—results from a European survey

This article analyses obstacles to transnational union cooperation within Europe. It is based on a survey of unions in 14 European countries and all members of the European Trade Union Confederation. The result shows that ‘hard’ industrial relations factors are generally more important obstacles to transnational cooperation than ‘softer’ factors such as cultural, linguistic, ideological and religious differences and that there are sectoral differences in experiences of obstacles to transnational union cooperation: unions in the manufacturing sector tend to emphasise differences in industrial relations and a lack of organisational resources for transnational union cooperation, whereas low organisational priorities are held to be of more importance in the services sector and for unions for professional workers.     

So what’s the news? Management strategies towards non–union employee representation at News International

In an environment of what would appear to be a widening ‘representation gap’ developing in many organisations, there has been considerable discussion on the effectiveness of non–union employee representation (NER) structures as communication devices and mechanisms for employee involvement, or as a substitute for unions in the collective bargaining process. The underlying debate centres on whether NER forms make trade unions unnecessary, or whether NER forms have a role different from, but complementary to, that of unions at the workplace. The findings of this study suggest that a ‘substitute’ or union avoidance strategy as used at News International Newspapers could have limitations. The implications of not recognising these limitations could result in greater indirect union influence in workplace issues and greater employee dissatisfaction at the workplace.     

Trade union membership trends in seven Western European countries 1950—1968

Post-War trade union membership developments have received relatively little academic attention, in view of the importance attributed to trades union organization in the collective bargaining system, in the social, political and economic fields, in the relationships between organized labour and governments and, in particular, in the efforts to devise institutional arrangements suitable for dealing with wage-price inflation. Union membership levels, the effective power of central federations and some of their individual affiliates, shifts in membership and the often concomitant changes in the political status of a union or unions and the degree of organization of a nation's labour force—are all important aspects of the potential role of trade union movements within the socio-economic and political life of a nation. The objects of this paper are to examine membership levels and changes, density of organization, membership concentration and the membership experiences of the six largest unions within the trades union movements of Austria, Denmark, Germany (Federal Republic), Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom over the postwar period.