Trade union revitalisation: Where are we now? Where to next? (original) (raw)

Conceptualizing Labour Union Revitalization

Varieties of Unionism, 2004

[Excerpt] Unions have engaged in revitalization efforts in all five country cases that form the basis of comparison of this book, though they differ in the strategies they have pursued and the level of success they have had. Some of the strategies have been promising or even successful in terms of their immediate outcomes; others are still waiting to be fully implemented; and still others have failed to live up to the original expectations. While in many countries union activists are eagerly developing strategies to turn their fate, they are also facing some doubt or even resistance by politicians and academics alike who question the need for a strong and unified representation of labour. Here, we set out to provide a conceptual framework to understand better these various efforts at revival of national union movements. The following section discusses existing analyses of union revitalization and argues that a comparative perspective is well suited to shed light on unions' revitalization efforts. We then introduce different analytical perspectives on the role of labour in the economy, politics, and society to help identify the significance of unions in an ever more global economy. The next section outlines the parameters of crisis for unions by tracing indicators of union strength over time. We then suggest a framework for conceptualizing union revitalization as a multidimensional process and argue that revitalization has different meanings depending on the specific national context.

Organising - A Strategic Option for Trade Union Renewal?

management revue. Socio-economic Studies, 2009

Against the background of a deep crisis in trade union representation, the authors seek to determine some possible starting points for a renewal of trade unions. The employees' organisations are seen as actors who have a strategic choice as to which power resources to tap. Though the specific national systems of industrial relations influence the unions' strategic options, there are nevertheless various opportunities for trans-national learning processes. This contribution analyses the potential for trade union renewal, drawing on several examples of organising approaches in the USA and Germany.

Organizing – A Strategic Option for Trade Union Renewal?

International Journal of Action …, 2008

Trade union renewal and ‘organizing from below’ in Germany: Institutional constraints, strategic dilemmas and organizational tensions

European Journal of Industrial Relations, 2018

Organizing is widely discussed as a remedy for continued union decline. Originating in the liberal market industrial relations systems of the Anglo-Saxon world, the ‘organizing’ strategy is increasingly discussed in countries like Germany, traditionally known for consensual industrial relations and multi-employer collective bargaining. To study whether and how ‘organizing’ is translated in union organizations operating in a different institutional context, we study the link between organizational transformation and institutions in IG Metall in Germany, which was been influenced by the American Service Employees International Union (SEIU). We find a German variety of organizing rather than a mere copying of ‘best practice’: the union’s approach is based on institutional and organizational structures as a resource and constraint.

Ever larger unions: organisational restructuring and its impact on union confederations

Industrial Relations Journal, 2003

Unions have responded to current membership decline and other organisational problems by restructuring via mergers, increasing union concentration within and across union confederations. A particular noted feature are amalgamations to form 'super-unions'. These conglomerate unions threaten to undermine the role played by confederations in respect of political voice, bargaining coordination, and service provision. Despite these mergers, union pluralism still prevails in many European countries with separate peak associations organised along employment/occupational status or political and religious lines. After comparing the recent merger waves and increased union concentration in western European countries, the consequences for union movements are discussed. Potential strategies for unions to overcome their structural problems have gained increasing attention in recent years. As part of such efforts towards labour movement 'revitalisation', the issues of mobilisation and restructuring are particularly relevant. Last year's annual review (Ebbinghaus, 2002b) concentrated on the challenge of deunionisation; this year, the analysis will be concerned with strategies for organisational change. In order to mobilise and retain members, unions have in some countries become increasingly dependent on 'union securities' provided by the welfare state such as sheltered public sector employment, statutory workplace access, union-run unemployment insurance, involvement in social concertation and the selfadministration of social insurance. Unions have had varying success in organising the new workplaces, innovative sectors, atypical employment groups, and the rising female labour force as well as young people. Some of the challenges facing unions are

Union Renewal and the Organizing Model in the United Kingdom

Labor Studies Journal, 2004

This paper summarizes research that focuses on the process of "union renewal" currently underway in many unions. The research is based on survey responses and interviews involving United Kingdom (U.K.) union officers and staff and uses information gathered dur ing late 2000 and early 2001. This paper also addresses the related issue of "organizing model" adoption in the United Kingdom. Most U.K. unionists see organizing the unorganized as a critical aspect of union renewal, but many are skeptical about the value of the organizing model as a guiding philosophy or model. Most of them are, however, optimistic about their unions' futures, especially when they see their leadership committed to organizing and union re newal. Conversely, where pessimism exists, leadership is often cited as a key problem. A final section of the paper considers the find ings in relation to alternative theoretical perspectives on unions.

Unions in crisis and beyond: Perspectives from six countries

Journal of Comparative Economics, 1988

The book contains six papers presented at the two working conferences jointly financed by the Council for European Studies, the Institut fur Raumordnung at the Wirtschaltsunivetsitat Wien, the Centro Ricerche Economia de1 Lavoro, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. These conferences were held in July 1984 in Sperlonga, Italy, and January 1985 in Vienna, Austria. According to the editors, the purpose of the conferences was to bring together outstanding European and American scholars to explore the dilemmas currently facing trade unions. This volume, a product of this collaborative process, attempts to analyze the situation and strategies of the labor movements in six countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Austria, and Sweden. At the outset, Richard Edwards presents an overview of various aspects of crisis in the six countries. After describing the crisis, Edwards identifies two recurring concepts in the six essays: (1) the notion of a framework of institutional relationships (which is variously termed: "the labor accord," "the Swedish Model," " the Social Partnership," etc.) that developed and jelled in the post WWII period and was later threatened by economic crisis; and (2) the degree of cohesiveness of the labor movement in each country in terms of whether it is unitary or pluralistic, centralized or decentralized, democratic or authoritarian, fragmented or unified. Richard Edwards and Michael Podgursky examine the current situation of the American union movement: the prevailing legal framework, collective bargaining practices, labor market settings, deregulation, import competition, the inability to organize the unorganized, employer's retreat from collective bargaining and union strategies for building new relationships with employers. One of the principal findings of this chapter is that the difficulties experienced by American unions derive more fundamentally from "a process of institutional decay and transition that is more general and long lived than would be suggested by focusing on high unemployment and industrial decline" (P. 1% Jill Rubery explores the currently available evidence for the United Kingdom on trends in trade union organization, action, and effectiveness. The trends are evaluated against the background of the changes that took place

Union revitalization through political action? Evidence from five countries

2003

Abstract Political action features as one of the most prevalent strategies unions in the United States, Britain, Germany, Spain, and Italy have pursued in their strife for revitalization. We examine six types of political action—links with political parties, voter mobilization, lobbying, social pacts, political strikes, and legal avenues—in five countries to understand better what drives unions' use of political action as well as the success of these actions across countries.

Trade union revitalisation: Where are we now? Where to next? (original) (raw)

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