Partnership and organizing: an empirical assessment of two contrasting approaches to union revitalization in the UK
Badigannavar, Vidu ; Kelly, John
Economic and Industrial Democracy
2011
32
1
February
5-27
labour relations ; public service ; trade union renewal
Labour relations
English
Bibliogr.
"The Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Britain has been advocating two contrasting approaches to union revitalization namely: ‘labour—management partnership' and ‘union organizing'. Using a case study of a public services union this article examines empirically the prospects of union revival offered by these two contrasting approaches. Public services with relatively high union density should offer better prospects for union revival through partnership. However, the authors' findings indicate that even in public services, partnership was not associated with management's support for union recruitment, better facility time provisions for union representatives, lower worker grievances or union membership gains. Rank-and-file organizing, on the other hand, was associated with lower worker grievances, greater worker satisfaction with the union, higher worker involvement in union activities and union membership gains. Overall, the findings question the ‘mutual gains' assertions of partnership advocates and lend support to the critics of partnership who propose an alternative organizing approach to union revitalization. "
Digital;Paper
The ETUI is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the ETUI.