Trade union responses to workplace restructuring: exploring union orientations and actions

Abstract

In this article we identify four distinct types of union responses to workplace restructuring on the basis of different combinations of ideological orientations and actions in collective bargaining. Four union branches are described, each making one of these different types of response when required to negotiate the introduction of teamworking in two steel plants. We report a wide variation in the subsequent outcomes from teamworking for management and workers in each department according to union response. However, no single type of response optimized all types of outcomes, suggesting union strategies involve important and purposeful trade-offs in outcomes.