Union Attitudes Research Articles

The precarity of Fluffy Ruffles: reading a Progressive Era comic strip in the age of #MeToo

When tenure-track and union positions are being replaced with adjuncting and the gig economy, job insecurity is the new norm. The word most often used to describe this contemporary state is precari...

The role of the courts in the application of consumer protection law: A comparative perspective

The vast majority of jurisdictions (in particular, the European Union and South Africa) conform to the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection, whereby governments are encouraged to establish and maintain legal and administrative measures to enable a consumer to obtain redress through both formal and informal procedures, with particular regard to the needs of vulnerable (low-income) consumers. The Guidelines for Consumer Protection encourage the resolution of consumer disputes in a manner that is not only fair and expeditious, but also includes the establishment of voluntary mechanisms and procedures. In this regard, the European Union and South Africa have established redress and enforcement of consumer protection mechanisms with a primary focus on consensual consumer dispute resolution and, more specifically, alternative dispute resolution. This does not, however, diminish the important role and responsibility that courts have in the effective enforcement of consumer protection law. This contribution aims to establish the role of the courts in this regard, not only for the advancement of consumer rights and consumer protection law, but also taking into account the ex officio role of the courts in relation to the effective (or ineffective) alternative dispute resolution mechanisms that are currently in place. The contribution analyses the comparative positions in the European Union and South Africa. In terms of the European Union position, focus is placed on the application of the relevant consumer directives within Member States, taking into account pre-existing national law and its interpretation by national courts. The primary focus, in terms of the South African position, is an analysis of the enforcement institutions and redress provisions contained in the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008, taking into account the interpretation of these provisions by the relevant institutions and the courts. This contribution highlights problematic issues with the current alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, resulting in ineffective consumer protection and the ex officio role of the courts to address these issues. It aims to confirm that the right to access to the courts is a constitutionally entrenched right and a balance between effective formal and informal enforcement should be the aim.

As Organizações Sindicais no Sistema Internacional de Cooperação para o Desenvolvimento

Este artigo trata da participação das organizações sindicais no Sistema Internacional de Cooperação para o Desenvolvimento (SICD). Identifica e analisa os atores e os processos envolvidos nas políticas solidárias sindicais (Norte-Sul e Sul-Sul) conhecidas como Cooperação Sindical para o Desenvolvimento (CSD). Trata, também, do papel e do posicionamento das organizações sindicais nos debates sobre a substância e a arquitetura do SICD. Realizamos um estudo qualitativo, distinguindo o nível de análise nacional – onde a CSD é uma política sindical vinculada, em maior ou menor medida, à política governamental de CooperaçãoInternacional para o Desenvolvimento (CID) – e o nível sistêmico, no qual a CSD opera como sub-regime do SICD. Utilizamos fontes documentais das próprias organizações sindicais, literatura secundária e, para o caso da cooperação da Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) brasileira, entrevistas com os responsáveis pelo Instituto de Cooperação (IC-CUT). No nível nacional, concluímos que, com exceções (entre elas a do Brasil), a CSD está bastante integrada às políticas nacionais de CID. No nível sistêmico, observamos que o movimentosindical internacional tem se esforçado para estabelecer diretrizes comuns para a CSD e para inserir suas demandas na agenda internacional sobre o desenvolvimento, em particular os Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS).

Union organising and Full‐time Officers: acquiescence and resistance

AbstractIn the mid‐1990s, the TUC relaunched itself with a strategy for renewal labelled ‘new unionism’. The strategy had two strands: partnership with employers and the promotion among affiliate unions of grassroots union organising. The latter, heavily influenced by US and Australian experience, saw possibilities for a more radical trade unionism in the UK. This article draws on a case study of Unison to analyse the organising strand of new unionism. It identifies how top‐down approaches to organising are distorted by union bureaucracy for the priority of recruitment, not only limiting the possibility of emerging union radicalisation but also restricting the ability of trade unions to represent their members. The article also identifies that the position of union Full‐time Officers is complex and not necessarily within a uniform union bureaucracy juxtaposed to and restraining a more radical union rank and file.

Precarious Work, Young Workers, and Union-Related Attitudes: Distrust of Employers, Workplace Collective Efficacy, and Union Efficacy

This study examined the effects of precarious work characteristics on U.S. workers’ attitudes about three union-related issues using the 2009 Young Worker Survey. Union-related criteria included distrust in employers to treat employees fairly, collective efficacy (rather than individual) in solving workplace problems, and union efficacy in terms of whether union members are better off (or worse off) than nonunion workers. The results suggest that precarious work is much more a problem for younger workers (aged 18-34 years) than for older workers (aged 35 years and above). Consistent with prior studies, we find that young workers tend to hold more positive views of unions, although they are not uniformly more “pro-union” about all three union-related criteria. Further analysis indicates that what may be seen as youth effects on union attitudes are in part precarious work effects that can be confounded due to the strong relation between youth and precarious work.

A RESEARCH ON YOUNG PEOPLE’SPERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS TRADE UNIONS

Gençler genellikle düşük ücretli, düşük statülü ve güvencesiz işlerde çalışmakta ve işgücü piyasasındaki konumları giderek daha fazla istikrarsızlığa maruz kalmakta dolayısıyla sendikal destek ve korumaya daha fazla ihtiyaç duymaları beklenilmektedir. Fakat tüm dünyada olduğu gibi, Türkiye'de de son yıllarda genç sendikalaşma oranı yetişkinlerin oranından daha hızlı düşmektedir. Bu çalışmada genç işgücünün düşük sendika üyelik oranlarının nedenleri arasında yer alan gençlerin sendikaya yönelik tutum ve davranışlarına odaklanılmaktadır. Çalışmanın evreni tam zamanlı/yarı zamanlı, dönemsel veya geçici olarak iş piyasasında yer alan 15-29 yaş grubunda yer alan gençler oluşturmaktadır. Veriler yüz yüze yapılan anket yöntemi ile toplanmış ve verilerin analizinde frekans dağılımı ve tanımlayıcı istatistikler kullanılmıştır. Çalışmanın bulguları bize gençlerin sendikal tutum ve algılarının olumsuz olmasından ziyade sendika konusunda yeterli bilgiye sahip olmadıklarını, sendikaların da kendilerini anlatma ve tanıtma konusunda yetersiz ve işlevsiz kaldığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.

Social versus liberal collective skill formation systems? A comparative-historical analysis of the role of trade unions in German and Swiss VET

We distinguish between social and liberal collective skill formation systems and demonstrate that the German VET system is a social system with a strong (parity) role for trade unions in its governance. In contrast, unions play a considerably weaker role in the more liberal Swiss system, which privileges employers’ interests. We show that the different position of unions in VET systems has the expected consequences on a range of indicators. We further examine why unions are less important in Switzerland and show how, after the First World War, differences in the institutional environment and power resources of the union movements set Germany and Switzerland on different paths, which are still visible today.

De Europese vakbeweging en de vormgeving van sociaal beleid

The European project currently faces not only an economic crisis, but a moral one as well. The economic growth model of social justice combined with market-oriented policies, also referred to as the European social model has lost much of its meaning after ten years of austerity and financial calamities. In 2012 ECB President Draghi says in the Wall Street Journal that the European social model is “gone”, a thing of the past. While only a couple of years later the European Pillar of Social Rights is put in place. What is happening with ‘Social Europe’? And how do trade unions, as a historical motor of social policy in the member states, relate to the European social model, especially since the financial crisis. This article deals with the position of trade unions vis-a-vis European social policy and the European institutions. The European social model, economic governance and the collective bargaining system are discussed as examples of post-crisis European social policy. It will be argued that although the European Commission gives institutional space to social policy and to a role for trade unions, it has always been subordinate to economic integration. And moreover that the recent economic crisis is used at the European level to obtain almost complete control over social policy in the member states.

Evaluation of clinical results and complications of internal fixation of intertrochanteric femur fracture with proximal femoral nail antirotation

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the theoretical advantages of the proximal femoral nail antirotation in cases of intertrochanteric fractures and also whether it actually alters the eventual functional outcome of the patient.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> The present study includes a total 30 patients with intertrochanteric femur fractures managed with proximal femoral nail antirotation between December 2014 to November 2016. In all patients similar standard physical rehabilitation therapy were followed. All complications including intra and postoperative were assessed and recorded. The patients were followed up for over 24 months. Functional outcome was assessed using the Harris hip score.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> All of 30 cases of intertrochanteric fracture got united with good anatomical position and average time of fracture union was 14 weeks. Postoperative complications included 2 degree varus deformity (n=1, 3%), calcification at tip of greater trochanter (n=4, 13%), sensitivity over TFL (n=2, 7%), medial thigh pain (n=3, 10%). 10 patients developed femoral shortness (mean=0.22 cm, range from 0-1 cm). Average harris hip score at the end of study showed mean value of 87, ranged from 65 to 94 with almost 22 (73%) patients showing excellent or good outcome.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Proximal femoral nail antirotation (PFNA) represents a significant treatment option in management of intertrochanteric fractures with low complication rate.</p>

Multipillarisation remodelled: the role of interest organizations in British and German pension reforms

ABSTRACTRecent reforms have responded to demographic ageing and fiscal challenges by shifting toward the multipillarisation of pensions to achieve financial sustainability. Reforms towards privatization and marketization of retirement income provision occurred in Britain and Germany with different pension system legacies. While public opinion supports largely the status quo, the stakeholders, in particular, organized capital and labour, have evolved in their positions towards pension reforms. The analysis seeks to draw out how organized interests have sought to influence mulitipillarisation but also adapted their strategies in the context of increasing financialisation in the two political economies. The position of trade unions, employers’ associations, social advocacy groups and the finance sector has increasingly embraced multipillarisation, earlier and more so in Britain than in Germany. A reversal of pension financialisation seems no longer possible but the inequalities and uncertainties need to be addressed in order to make multipillarisation politically sustainable.

Sindikati i tranzicija - jedna do kraja neispričana priča

In this paper, I begin with a broader understanding of transition as a process of moving from the national capitalism of the welfare state to globalized, disorganized, corporate capitalism, within which the transition of post-Communist societies is an important sequence that gives the process a planetary character (Vuletić, 2012). Structurally, the paper consists of three narrow thematic units within which I seek to adequately apply the three complementary methodological approaches. The first part is devoted to the global framework of change and is dominated by a system approach in which the crisis is considered through changes in the external framework and non-corresponding changes in the structure and functions of trade unions. Then, there is a discussion of transitional Serbia and the position of trade unions and the employees, in which I rely on an institutional approach, first of all, to analyze the transformed economic, work and social framework. The third part is devoted to the areas, opportunities and actors of change and the ideational approach appropriate for them, related to values - the vision and mission of unions, first and foremost. In methodical terms, the analysis of the Serbian transition and its peculiarities is a special case study within which, given the author's decades of research and practical involvement in trade unions, an action research is conducted, as one might call it, or a kind of participatory observation. The key thesis I am trying to argue is that employees and unions are one of the biggest transitional losers and that growing inequalities and power imbalances will not change without a thorough revision of the dominant NEO-liberal pattern by which globalization processes take place.

Women in the wake: expanding the legacy of Chico Mendes in Brazil’s environmental movement

Since the death of Chico Mendes three decades ago, nearly half of the Amazon forest area has been conserved through the collective sacrifice and struggle of thousands of forest-reliant families in Brazil, twined with political will and dense scientific and technical capacity. The key position that once marginalized, rural women have played in this struggle, however, is often obscured. This paper describes the role of women, some eminent and others lesser known, in the conservation movement inspired by Chico Mendes in Brazil. Thirty years ago, women were not permitted to be union members; today, 40% of the National Council of Extractivist Populations (CNS) leadership is female, and 25% of conservation units are led by women. Brazilian women occupy positions across the full spectrum of politics from grassroots to crucial positions in government, unions and civil society organizations. As women have gained power, they have also become targets. Of the 818 assassinations recorded by the Comissão Pastoral da Terra” (CPT) between 1997 and 2017, 7% have been women. Their deaths have not been forgotten. During 2017’s March of the Margaridas, in support of women’s rights and in remembrance of those who have died for the cause, an estimated one hundred thousand women have participated. Since Mendes’ death, the movement to conserve forests and secure land for smallholders in Brazil has not abated, but grown and evolved through cross-sectoral collaborations, intergenerational exchange, strategic advocacy across vast geographic areas, and shared bonds born of struggle. The paper highlights the vital role of women in expanding and concretizing a globally significant forest conservation movement sparked by a man with a vision.

Performance Assessment Systems and the Transformation of the Academic Profession in Portugal

The introduction of a performance assessment model based upon the measurement of merit through explicit, standardized, and objective criteria of productivity has provoked significant changes in the academic profession within the public higher education in Portugal. Given that employment security was made contingent upon obtaining adequate positive scores and promotion upon achieving maximum scores, a new institutional culture framed by precariousness and competition seems to have emerged. Moreover, as a consequence of austerity and with it the freezing of the pay awards associated with a promotion, the positive effects of excellent performance have been suppressed, while punitive measures for inadequate performance have been maintained. Based on ongoing qualitative research consisting of analysis of union position statements, interviews with union representatives, and interviews with academic staff of a Portuguese higher education institution, this article advances the hypothesis that evolution has taken place from resistance to routinization and acceptance of assessment procedures.

A doçura da fruta e o fel do conflito laboral: sindicato dos trabalhadores da indústria de conservas de Pelotas (RS)

A indústria de conservas de frutas e hortaliças de Pelotas (RS) já foi a maior empregadora da cidade. Desde fins dos anos 1980 o setor vivenciou o encerramento da maior parte das empresas, como resultado do processo de racionalização tecnológica e gestorial. O desemprego no segmento acarretou numa maior vulnerabilidade econômica e fragilização política dos trabalhadores. Este artigo busca compreender de que maneira as transformações nessa indústria impactaram na atuação do sindicato dos trabalhadores da categoria, considerado um dos mais combativos da região. Trata-se de uma pesquisa realizada a partir de fontes documentais e junto aos trabalhadores, sindicalistas e empresários, com o propósito de entender as razões da intensificação dos conflitos do trabalho e a postura sindical frente aos novos desafios do mundo laboral.

Teacher Unions, Charter Schools, and the Public/Private Distinction in Education Law and Policy

Background Over the past decade, courts and administrative agencies increasingly have considered cases that involve clashes between charter school proponents and teacher unions. While these cases have focused on a range of education policy issues, some cases have focused on arguably the most important legal and policy distinction applicable to charter schools— whether a charter school should be considered public or private. Purpose This study examines the intersection of the public/private distinction in U.S. law and policy, and the shifting political positions of teacher unions and charter school proponents, in courts and agencies. We examine the history of the public/private distinction in U.S. law and policy and specifically in education, in addition to conducting an in-depth analysis of three recent decisions involving charter schools and teacher unions in which courts and agencies determined whether charter schools were public or private organizations. Research Design This article is a legal analysis and historical case study. Findings Three recent and high-profile education cases in agencies and courts reflect the continuing breakdown of the public/private distinction in law and policy. Courts and agencies have hinged their decisions about the applicability of federal and state collective bargaining laws on this distinction and have grounded decisions about the basic constitutionality of state charter school laws in this distinction as well. However, there is little consistency in how the public/ private distinction has been applied in legal clashes between teacher unions and charter schools. Conclusion Our analysis underscores the limitations of the current debate over the public/ private nature of charter schools and teacher unions, particularly in the institutional settings of courts and agencies, because this debate is largely untethered from issues of teaching and learning. However, our analysis also suggests that the public or private nature of charter schools still appears “up for grabs” in the legal arena. As such, courts and agencies might offer reformers a useful venue compared to the legislative arena for influencing how the public/private distinction applies to charter schools.

Institutional and legal approach to eldercare versus sustainable work concept in selected European Union countries

Motivation: European societies face the problem of ageing populations and shrinking labour force. One of the ways to tackle this issue is the development of sustainable approach towards work. Sustainable work means creating such living and working conditions that they enable people to remain in employment throughout their extended working life. It requires gaining adequate skills, adjusting working conditions for elder workers’ needs as well as helping them balance work and life. Family obligations are not only related to childcare but also to eldercare given to parents, step-parents or spouses. The balance between work and care might be supported both at the enterprise and the institutional level. Aim: The article aims to examine the legal and institutional approach to care for the elderly in the selected EU countries (Germany, the UK, Finland and Poland) and to answer the question to what extent these institutions and laws support the concept of sustainable work. Results: The extent to which national institutions and laws support sustainable work concept differ between countries, depending on the welfare model they represent. Finland represents Nordic welfare model in which publicly organised and financed eldercare is very generous, so sustainable work model is easy to put in practice. German welfare state also has its social policy well developed, and care systems are supported by the universal long-term care insurance. The UK is an example of a more liberal regime, in which sustainable work concept is more market-driven. Polish efforts to follow the German model with reference to social insurance are still under public debate. However, we doubt whether German solutions are possible to be introduced in Polish conditions due to the different position of trade unions in this country, less importance of employee participation in company management than in Germany, and definitely less than in Germany the regulation of the labor market. In Poland, informal institutions, such as family and cultural customs, play a much greater role in organizing help in the care of an elderly person. Formal institutions play a smaller role in the organization of this care. We propose to take some solutions at the national and enterprise level to raise awareness of the need to take steps to address the issue of support for employees caring for an elderly person.

When Similarities are More Important than Differences: “Politically Black” Union Members’ Experiences of Racism and Participation in Union Leadership

AbstractEmploying survey data from the largest (known) sample of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic staff in British higher and further education, I respond to King's call to examine minority leadership within trade unions. Drawing on theoretical insights from the psychology of social movements, I examine how perceptions/experiences of racism, exclusion, bullying, and barriers to promotion impact on minority union leadership through different types of union involvement (e.g., attending local meetings, seeking union help, etc.) The findings suggest that perceptions of racism and experiences of bullying have a positive indirect effect on minorities taking up union leadership through attending union meetings and raising issues of racism with the union, but not through other forms of union involvement. In line with theory, this pattern of results suggests that union efforts to increase attendance and positive contact at local group meetings, along with efforts to build trust in the union's position on racism, may be important for increasing the representativeness of union leadership. As an ancillary goal (not explicitly stated in King's call), I test various intersectional accounts of experiences of racism across ethnicity and gender and find commonality across difference. Employing appropriate (Bayesian) methods offers intersectional researchers with the opportunity to examine such similarities across social categories that may form the basis for action against common systems of oppression–echoing King's own practice of intersectional solidarity.

The Coal Mine Mafia of India: A Mirror of Corporate Power

AbstractAn investigation of the source of power of mafia‐type organizations may reveal how other non‐state actors can operate as if they are independent of the state. This study of the coal mafia in Dhanbad, India shows that power often derives from socially hierarchical relationships involving debt and/or caste. It also demonstrates how state policies that are thoughtlessly implemented may solidify existing hierarchies. By analogy, modern corporations gain some of their power by behaving as if they were semi‐sovereign institutions that draw their strength informally from social networks and other extralegal relationships.The mafia in the Dhanbad coalfields emerged through a series of institutional changes. Labor shortages were initially resolved by labor intermediaries, who eventually controlled the labor through linkages associated with debt, caste, and social obligations. These intermediaries eventually assumed official positions in labor unions, which gave them a platform for electoral politics. When the coal industry was nationalized, the union leaders further solidified their position in the nationalized corporation. In this way, private labor intermediaries became local political leaders who controlled the state apparatus to some extent.Corporations follow similar patterns. Both mafias and corporations exploit weak governments, collude with them, and often operate with a high degree of independence. Like mafias, corporations often derive their power from socially embedded networks that they craft in local communities and populations. Because the roots of their influence are embedded in social networks, simple legal and regulatory changes are often insufficient to limit their power. Transnational corporations engaged in extraction of natural resources share with mafias the ability to leverage monopoly power in one domain into control of other domains. As a result, this case study of the coal mafia in India offers a unique entry point to understand corporate sovereignty.

Intangible resources and competetive position of Polish credit unions

Intangible resources and competetive position of Polish credit unions

Focus: Trade unions and democracy in Egypt

10 | International Union Rights | 25/2 FOCUS | TRADE UNION RIGHTS IN THE MENA COUNTRIES The Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) was established in 1957. It is the largest trade union centre in the Arab world, and throughout most of its existence the ETUF enjoyed a legally prescribed monopoly single trade union structure, under which all unions were required to belong to it. This was compounded by a deep integration between the ETUF and the ruling party, such that in the early 1980s the Ministry of Manpower was simultaneously the president of the ETUF, and critics complained of a ‘revolving door’ between the union and the Ministry. But the government and the ETUF always defended this arrangement, and argued that the monopoly status the ETUF enjoyed appropriately reflected the historical unity of the Egyptian trade union movement. Of course, suppression of labour organising outside of the ETUF was not merely driven by a desire to deter left and liberal activists from pursuing their programmes, but also by the State’s preoccupation with controlling the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the fear that it would was organise itself within such institutions. However, individuals associated with the Muslim Brotherhood did manage to win support for election to some local union positions, even within ETUF unions, and to higher-level leadership positions in the professional associations maintained by doctors, lawyers, and journalists. The Egyptian Government was even more closed off than the ETUF. The Presidency was not democratically contested at all from the liberation period of the 1950s until 2005, and only limited participation in parliamentary elections was possible from the 1970s. During this period the National Democratic Party (NDP), with support from the military, ossified into an unchallenged monolithic control network that pervaded every organ of State. Religious-based political parties - in particular - were banned for decades. Despite the ban, members of the Muslim Brotherhood ran for parliament as independent candidates, and unofficially constituted the largest opposition bloc from the 2000s. Created within this context, in which no organised political dissent or choice was possible, the ETUF has never been a particularly democratic organisation. Its critics have long claimed that it controlled the list of those permitted to compete in its electoral processes, excluding true opponents. The ETUF last held elections to its own executive body in 2006, in an election that was declared null and void. The Government subsequently issued ministerial decrees simply extending the term of the executive, a situation that persisted for more than a decade, until May this year, when a new union election process finally got underway. The build up to 2011: In the years leading up to the Arab Spring, the Egyptian NGO sector was ‘flooded’ with foreign donors, touting ‘vast’ sums of funding for ‘democracy assistance’1. This must be understood in the context of the enormous overall spending by the US in particular on Egypt’s military, which are far larger. The sums involved could either be characterised as propping up a dictator, or undermining one, depending on one’s point of view, and which budget lines were examined. Frankly, the US seems to have funded both approaches, perhaps even at the same time. In any case, this period saw an upsurge in the work of campaigners, human rights organisations, and labour rights work. It was also significant that a new form of campaigner was also emerging at this time, who was intrinsically linked to a US-backed ‘democracy’ agenda, and who would become incredibly important in the Egyptian revolution: the ‘Facebook’ campaigner. The same period (the six years or so before the revolution) was also a critical time for the independent labour movement (which barely existed a few years earlier). This was also a time of greatly increased labour militancy. A number of strikes and demonstrations provided the background for some of the most important organising that occurred in the sector, and the Facebook activists promoted and documented these protests. The overlap of grievances and organising power across sectors, with independent labour and the Facebook activists beginning to acquire some of the organisational strength that had previously been held in country only by the State, the army, and the Muslim Brotherhood. Some of...