Abstract
This article adopts a mobilization framework to examine the crucial actions of workplace activists in overcoming fear of employer reprisal during union organizing campaigns in hostile environments. The article explores fear as part of the organizing process in two ways; first, we examine how fear can act as a stimulus for workplace activists to take action in an attempt to overcome the source of that fear. Second, we examine fear as an inhibiting factor in organizing, whereby the presence of fear hinders individuals from taking action. Using qualitative data from interviews conducted with workplace activists across a variety of campaigns in Ireland, this article examines the process through which workplace activists conquer their own sense of fear and undertake the task of mobilizing colleagues toward collective action in pursuit of union representation amid fear of employer reprisal.
Highlights
Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is. —German ProverbEmployees seek representation to defend their interests, overcome workplace problems, and in some instances collectivize in response to a perceived threat to their conditions or livelihood
The financial crisis in Europe at least has had the effect of weakening such institutional support
We have shown how fear of employer retribution during the organizing process can act as an inhibitor to the individual decision to organize as it raises the costs associated with such action
Summary
Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is. —German ProverbEmployees seek representation to defend their interests, overcome workplace problems, and in some instances collectivize in response to a perceived threat to their conditions or livelihood. Representation at work, while espoused as a basic constitutional right in Ireland, is not readily attainable for all employees, making the right alone inadequate. The availability of a union in one’s workplace is fundamental in giving workers an opportunity to fulfill this desire for union joining. This is evidenced by the far higher levels of union density among public sector workers where union availability is generally not an issue as employer hostility toward union presence is largely absent. Many unions have adopted a more active organizing approach in an attempt to stem the tide of union decline and address the worker representation gap
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