Employer Associations Research Articles

Resilient or declining? An institutional analysis of employer associations and their implications for companies in the European Union

Institutional transformations in recent decades have limited the weight and power of collective actors. Notwithstanding this, literature on employer associations (EAs) has argued a resilient performance in terms of affiliation. In this paper, we use comparative institutional analysis to evaluate the actual scope of these associations in terms of membership and the share of workforce employed by their members. Moreover, by utilising a logistic regression approach we delve into the drivers of the choice to join these organisations. Our results show a general decline of EAs, and point to large manufacturing companies as the great reservoirs of affiliation. However, institutional variations across Europe cause significant differences between countries. We thus demonstrate how membership is strongly influenced by the institutional framework, the relevance of the variables related to the provision of collective goods as a counterbalance to trade union activity and adherence to collective bargaining schemes.

Employer associations, adaptive innovation and common goods: An integrated framework

AbstractThis article proposes a new theoretical framework of employer association (EA) adaptive innovation, a strategic organizational response to challenging environments facing EAs and/or relevant firms. Through adaptive innovation, EAs can enlarge their span of service offerings beyond collective, selective and elective goods, services typically explained by Olson‐inspired, market‐transactional theorizing. We identify, explain and conceptualize EA shifts into also offering common goods as community‐building, relational types of collective action. Territorial ecosystems are one prominent new domain for this type of strategic adaptive intervention. In our illustrative case, this involves collectively organizing an open innovation ecosystem beyond an EA's own walls. Ostrom's theorizing on the governance of the commons better explains these initiatives than Olson's. Our new framework, therefore, integrates Ostrom's with Olson's theories. In broadening the field's understanding of EA strategic opportunities, this article also opens prominent lines of inquiry for future EA research.

Empirical challenges in the study of employer associations and their representativeness

AbstractThe article examines the quality and appropriateness of the data available to measure firms' affiliation to employer associations (EAs). We find large discrepancies in affiliation rates obtained from the five different data sources available for France, leading us in particular to discard tax data. Focusing on survey data, we show that asking managers about affiliation to EAs in general or affiliation to a list of specific EAs can lead to large differences in affiliation rates, highlighting the importance of the framing of survey questions. We then provide methods to estimate an aggregate firm‐level affiliation rate from surveys covering workplaces with 11 or more employees. Exploiting (i) conflicting survey responses regarding EA affiliation between distinct establishments in the same firm and (ii) survey responses for firms that report paying contributions to EAs in their financial statements, we finally estimate the shares of employers that wrongly declare being or not being affiliated to EAs, and provide a rate of affiliation corrected for such errors. The implications for econometric analysis of the high observed error rates are discussed.

The decay and revival of sub-UK employer organisation: a response to Dr Ritson

ABSTRACT Dr Ritson published an article in this journal on Employer Associations (EAs) in the UK. He set out a case study of a sub-UK EA within the Engineering Employers’ Federation before criticising an article we published on countervailing power in the Human Resources Management Journal. Dr Ritson argues that we misunderstand the structures and roles of EAs, and that as a result our argument on countervailing power was misguided. We do not accept this critique, as he misread our empirical findings and misunderstood our arguments within the first period we examine, from the 1960s to 1979. Dr Ritson also criticized our arguments within our second period, from 1979 to 2016. But he does not have sufficient data to either substantiate his critique or develop an alternative argument. Such gaps prompt the question: what happened to sub-UK employer organisation after 1984? We argue that sub-UK EAs of the type analysed by Dr Ritson were marginalised by the decline of collective industrial relations. But a partial rejuvenation took place after 1999 as employers organised to countervail the power of devolved parliaments and assemblies, although revival was narrowly focussed and very different to the previous pattern.

Employer associations: collective bargaining, services and power in historical perspective: the case of the EEF in the UK

ABSTRACT This paper makes two major contributions: firstly, following on recent research, it offers a more detailed critical analysis of the historical role and structure of Employers’ Associations (EAs), concentrating on a detailed analysis of the range of member services offered by a local Employers’ Association within the Engineering Employers Federation (the EEF) during the 1970s. This focus is in contrast to the literature which has concentrated on the EAs national or ‘central peak’ level. It secondly addresses the ‘countervailing power’ hypothesis, and in so doing it illustrates the key roles of the disputes procedure. The study, as a typical or representative case, uses a qualitative methodology of documentary research combined with triangulation interviews of former officials: evidence which has so far not been prominent in the literature. This paper is, therefore, a significant addition to our understanding of these institutions.

Genesis, development and importance of private security companies in the provision of public safety in Poland

<i>The author benefitted from the support of the private security sector as the Chief Officer of the City Police. When, after leaving the service, he was the President of the Polish Association of Employers Protection Branch “Małopolska”, one of the basic objectives of his activity was to ensure a high level of functioning of the private security sector as an important component of public security. Optimisation of the use of private security companies to ensure public security and order is one of the basic directions of his practical operation and research conducted by him. In the article, the author discusses the role of the private security sector and the tasks set for this sector. The genesis of security companies, their evolution and development in various countries of Europe and the world is covered. Much attention is devoted to the de-monopolisation of security in Poland, in which the security companies played a special role. The author outlines the most important objectives of private sector development in Poland as a specific type of economic activity. The basic concepts related to the functioning of security companies are explained, exposing their priority task, which is the protection of facilities, areas and equipment important for the functioning of the state. The author shows that the current level of terrorist threats implies the need for greater involvement of security companies in providing security to facilities constituting the critical infrastructure of the state. The role of specialist armed security formations in this area is highlighted. In the conducted research process, a positive answer to the main question is given, demonstrating that security companies are currently an important element of the public security system in Poland, and their use in this area should be constantly strengthened.</i>

Exploring the role of employer forums – the case of Business in the Community Wales

PurposeCollective employer representation in the UK has changed in fundamental ways in recent decades. Collective bargaining has declined and instead, the authors have seen the emergence of a significant new form of collective organisation, the employer forum (EF), which promotes good corporate behaviour and typically focusses on issues of equality and diversity, social policy and community engagement. The purpose of this paper is to examine this new form of collective action through a case study on Business in the Community (BITC) Wales. It also compares this EF with traditional employers’ associations (EAs) in order to establish what is significant and distinctive about EFs.Design/methodology/approachBITC Wales is a “typical case” (Patton, 2014; Seawright and Gerring, 2008) that shares key characteristics and functions with other EFs across key analytical dimensions, and therefore provides insights into the wider population of EFs in the UK. In addition, the paper compares EFs, examined through a qualitative case study of BITC Wales, and traditional EAs, introduced and discussed in the literature review, along the same analytical dimensions. The aim of contrasting EAs with the case study on BITC Wales is to establish what is distinctive and significant about EFs and to consider the implications for employment relations in the UK.FindingsThe paper argues that EFs and EAs support employers in dealing with the challenges of managing the employment relationship and threats to profitability in different political contexts. The organisation of employers in EAs was a response to increasing trade union power and labour costs. EFs are helping employers to deal with a different set of challenges, including declining social cohesion in communities in which employers operate, reputational and legal risks posed by new equality and diversity legislation and expectations of good corporate citizenship by consumers and their own employees. EFs address these challenges by engaging in social projects in local communities, by promoting good corporate behaviour through benchmarking and codes of conduct, and by boosting the reputation of employers through award schemes and promotion of corporate social responsibility activities of member companies.Originality/valuePrevious literature has not examined EFs and their role in employment relations. This paper considers EFs as a new actor in employment relations.

Protective gloves on manual sugar cane cutting are really effective?

Problems related to the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), specially the use of protective gloves for the manual sugar cane cutting, motivated this research, made possible by a tripartite negotiation involving the Ministry of Labor, the Union of Rural Workers and the Employer's Association of sugarcane agribusiness. The main objective was to evaluate, from an ergonomics perspective, the impact of use of the gloves during the manual cane sugar cutting, raising questions on safety, effectiveness and comfort. The research was carried in a sugarcane industry of São Paulo for two seasons involving 47 workers who made a qualitative analysis of acceptance of four models of protective gloves. The methodology included the use of semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and field observations and the experimental determination of the coefficient of static friction developed between the gloves and the surfaces of the machete handle. The main results indicate the general inadequacy of the gloves currently used forcing the employees to improvise. Workers found the glove of leather and nylon scraping the best reported for comfort in use. The overall results highlight the problem of detachment of test standards for the manufacture of PPE, ignoring users and the activity to be performed.

Workers' struggle against blacklisting

REPORT□ BLACKLISTING INTHE UK Workers' struggle against blacklisting I campaigners been New academics fall short regulations arguing a long of unions, what have way and for falla longway shortofwhat unions, academics and campaigners have been arguingfor DAVE SMITH, Lecturer In Trade Union Education and former construction worker who was blacklisted asaunion activist In watchdog, uncovered 2009,the the a secret UK Information government blacklist Commissioners oftrade data union protection Office memwatchdog , theInformation Commissioners Office uncovered a secret blacklist oftrade union membersintheconstruction industry. Thecovert database was run by an organisationcalled the Consulting Association that was usedby44 major multinationalbuilding contractorsincluding Carillion, Skanska, Kier, Bam,SirRobert McAlpine, VinciandLaingO'Rourke. Senior managers from thefirms forwarded information aboutunionactivists toa centralised recordingsystem and thedatawas sharedamongst the companies toremove workers from their projects. 3216individuals wereontheblacklist andgiven the sizeandinfluence oftheemployers involved, itis little wonder that many blacklisted workers suffered yearsofunemployment andrepeated dismissals. IURreported thescandalwhenitfirst brokein 2009 and thecampaigning beingundertaken to bring somekindofjustice for theblacklisted workerswhoseliveshadbeen ruined. After twoyears oflobbying, courtcases and changesin legislation ,isjustice anynearer? Following lobbying bytrade unions, lawyers and academicsone oftheverylastactsoftheprevious UK Labourgovernment was theintroduction ofTheEmployment Relations Act1999(Blacklists) Regulations 2010.The processhas been carried outrelatively quickly becausetheregulations were originally drafted in 1999butnotimplemented because oflobbying by employer's associations during the2003consultation processwhichmanagedtostoptheimplementation oftheregulations due to"lackofevidence". In summary, thenewBlacklist Regulations: ■ define a blacklist oftradeunionists and prohibit thecompilation, dissemination and use ofsuchblacklists; ■ makeitunlawful torefuse employment, to dismiss an employeeorotherwise cause detriment toa worker fora reasonrelated toa blacklist; ■ makeitunlawful foran employment agency torefuse a service toa worker fora reason related toa blacklist; ■ provide fortheemployment tribunal tohear complaints aboutallegedbreachesandwitha minimum£5,000 award Whilst thenewregulations area welcomestep forward, they fall a longwayshort ofwhatunions, academics andcampaigners havebeenarguing for. Criticism oftheregulations hasbeenwidespread, including: ■ failure tointroduce a "right" nottobe blacklisted ■ failing tomakeblacklisting a criminal offence ■ regulations beinglimited toonly"official" tradeunionactivity: so beingplacedon a blacklist becauseofa spontaneous walkout overa safety issueorenvironmental campaigning wouldnotbe protected with evena unanimous Motion beingpassedat TUCCongress 2010. Fortheworkerscaughtup in theConsulting Association scandaltheBlacklisting Regulations provide noretrospective compensation. Evenifthe Regulations hadbeeninplaceatthetime, thevast majority would stillhave not been protected becausethey worked for sub-contractors oremployment agencies(commonpractice intheconstructionindustry ) butthelegislation onlyappliesto direct "employees". Themultinational companies whose seniormanagers suppliedtheoften malicious and inaccurate information to theblacklist haveescapedjustice becausethey didnotemploy theworkers directly. Individual blacklist files havebecomethekeyevidence in numerous Employment Tribunal claims for unfair dismissal, failure toappoint anddetriment claims (allrelated totrade union activity orfor health andsafety reasons). Overtwoyears sincethedocuments becameavailable, only three claimants have so farbeen successfulat Tribunal.The three claimants, Acheson, Willis andTattersall, wereawardedadditional "aggravated damages" from the employersbecauseoftheuse oftheblacklist (an award virtually unheard ofinUKTribunal system). Unfortunately, thevastmajority ofEmployment Tribunal claims havenotbeenso successful. Asthe incidents complained about often took placedecades earlier, most caseshavebeenruledas 'outoftime' before evenmaking ittocourt. A harsh interpretationofEmployment Tribunal ruleshasresulted in workers who submitted their claimsonlya few weeksafter receiving their blacklist file being denied accesstoanylegalredress. Evenwhere claimants havemanaged toovercome the time-limit hurdle,mosthave failedon the 'employee status' issueidentified above.Inthecase ofDooleyv Balfour Beatty, thecompany admitted removing Mr. Dooley(anex-bricklayer) from a buildingproject becauseofhisblacklist file(itwas the firm that supplied thefile as part oftheir bundleof evidence). Howeverthe companysuccessfully arguedthattheyhad notbrokenthelaw,as Mr. Dooleywas employed through a bricklaying subcontractor andonly direct employees areprotected byUKunfair dismissal legislation. In2009,Professor Keith Ewing oftheInstitute of Employment Rights produced theRuined Lives report on blacklisting and identified thattheConsulting Association conspiracy almost certainly breached a number ofInternational Labour Organisation standardsandHumanRights conventions. To date, any INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 24Volume 18Issue 3201 1 REPORT□ BLACKLISTING INTHE UK Blacklisted safety reps meet EU Commissioner Anders reference toUKHumanRights ActintheTribunal caseshashadlittle impact on thedecision making oftheTribunals. Instead, retired building workers havebeenforced towithdraw their claims infear that they might incur legalcostsbymultinational companies employing someofthemostexpensive lawyers inthecountry . Whoeversaidmoney doesn't influence justice? Ifthelegalcaseshaveseenlimited success, there appearstobe evenlessimpact on industrial relations practices onbuilding sites. TheLondon2012 Olympics isthemost high-profile construction projectintheworldbutblacklisting has againraised itsuglyheadafter twoelectricians havebeendismissed from the Olympics Media Centre. Management on theproject boastedofdismissing oneworker becausehisnamehadappeared onthe blacklist, thesecondwas sackedafter blowing the whistle aboutthis illegal practice. OnThursday June 302011,a delegation from the Blacklist Support Group heldprivate talks inBrussels with LászlóAndor, European UnionCommissioner withresponsibility forEmployment, SocialAffairs andInclusion todiscuss potential EUwidelegislationtooutlaw blacklisting. Theright tojoina tradeunionand notbe victimised becauseofitis enshrined inArticle 11 of the European Convention onHuman Rights butlack ofanyspecific EU widelegislation against blacklisting ofindividuals forsafety...

El seguro de accidentes de trabajo en España: de la obligación al negocio (1900–1940)

The institutional changes which took place with the law of industrial accidents of 1900 and the later regulations caused substantial changes in the Spanish insurance market. A new insurance field was created in which both specialist Spanish companies and foreign insurance agencies operated. This article aims to analyse the evolution of this new field, industrial accident insurance, from its beginning to the 1940s, when it become the most important insurance category. For that purpose premiums and companies have been reconstructed. It is observed too how from the start some industrialists understood the necessity to participate in this business and therefore they sometimes allied with insurance businessmen to form specialist companies. The interest in industrial accidents insurance increased during the 2nd Republic due to government's obligatory insurance requirements, what originated an uprising competition between mutual employer's associations and insurance agencies.

THE ESTIMATED EFFECT OF MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT ON CHILDREN UNDER MANDATORY AND NON-MANDATORY EMPLOYMENT CIRCUMSTANCES

Maternal employment's association with young school-age children's academic and behavioural outcomes was examined in a sample of families currently or recently receiving welfare. The sample comprised 1,197 African-American mothers and their preschool-age children who were randomly assigned either to the ‘human capital development’ (HCD) programme, the ‘labor force attachment’ (LFA) programme or to the control group in the Atlanta site of the Child Outcomes Study, a substudy of the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS). Once observed selection effects were controlled, maternal employment — regardless of whether obtained under mandatory or non-mandatory circumstances — was largely unrelated to contemporaneous measures of five to seven year olds’ academic school readiness and behaviour. There was one exception: maternal employment secured through Atlanta's HCD programme significantly predicted fewer and/or less frequent antisocial behaviours even after observed selection factors were controlled. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.

The Effect of Bargaining Structure on Negotiated Wage Settlements

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of the structure of collective bargaining on union bargaining power. More specifically, its objective is to determine whether bargaining through employer's association, multi-employer, single (multi-plant) employer or single-plant negotiation units has had an effect on negotiated wage settlements (union wage changes) in the private sector in Canada.

Collective bargaining and state intervention in the Scandinavian countries

The role of the state in collective bargaining in the three Scandinavian countries is strongly rooted in compromises and traditions shaped long ago. While the state has always played a significant role in Denmark and Norway, a doctrine of freedom of the labour market from state intervention has dominated in Sweden. With different changes both in the bargaining structures and among the main labour market parties since the 1970s, the ability to solve coordination problems embedded in centralised collective bargaining now varies considerably. Procedural rules and routines, together with compulsory mediation and different forms of state intervention, have helped to maintain or restore a stable situation in Norway and Denmark. The Swedish development represents the deviant case, where a weak mediation institution, inter-union rivalry, and the withdrawal of the employer's association from bargaining, have led to a fragmented situation. Le rôle de l'Etat dans les négociations collectives menées dans les trois pays scandinaves est profondément ancré dans des compromis et des traditions façonnées depuis longtemps. Alors que l'Etat a toujours joué un rôle significatif au Danemark et en Norvège, la doctrine de la liberté du marché du travail par rapport à l'intervention de l'Etat a prédominé en Suède. Après des changements différents tant au niveau des structures de négociation qu'entre les principaux acteurs du marché du travail depuis les années soixante-dix, la capacité de résoudre des problèmes de coordination incrustés dans les négociations collectives varie actuellement de manière considérable. Les règles et les routines en matière de procédures, de même que la médiation obligatoire et les différentes formes d'intervention de l'Etat, ont contribué à maintenir ou rétablir une situation stable en Norvège et au Danemark. L'évolution suédoise représente le cas déviant où une institution de médiation faible, une rivalité intersyndicale et le retrait de la confédération patronale de la négociation ont conduit à une situation fragmentée. Die Rolle des Staates in den Tarifverhandlungen der drei skandinawischen Länder ist tief verwurzelt in Kompromisshaltungen und Traditionen, die sich schon vor langer Zeit herausbildeten. Während in Dänemark und Norwegen der Staat schon immer eine wichtige Rolle spielte, wurde die Situation in Schweden von einem Ansatz geprägt, der mehr auf Freiheit im Zusammenhang mit den industriellen Beziehungen setzte. Nach 1970 änderte sich allerdings hier die Situation sowohl, was die Tarifverhandlungsstrukturen als auch die Tarifpartner betraf. Dies hatte Auswirkungen auf die Fähigkeit, Koordinierungsprobleme im Rahmen von Tarifverhandlungen zu lösen. Verfahrensregeln und eine entsprechende Routine haben zusammen mit der Pflicht zu einem Vermittlungsverfahren und verschiedenen Formen der Staatsintervention dazu geführt, dass in Norwegen und Dänemark die Situation stabil blieb. In Schweden zeigt sich indessen der umgekehrte Fall, wo schwache Schiedsstrukturen, die Rivalität zwischen den Gewerkschaften und der Rückzug der Arbeitgeber aus den Tarifverhandlungen zu einer fragmentierten Situation geführt haben.

南アフリカ産業政策の展望

Democratized South Africa was born about 2 years ago with high expectation both domestically and internationally. The Government of National Unity (GNU), however, has been faced with serious dilemmas such as high unemployment, high income inequality, and low competitiveness.This paper attempts to evaluate the past industrial policies and to examine the direction of new policies in South Africa as a way of describing a solution for the urgent unemployment problem. It would be said that the South African government has actively intervened in her manufacturing sector with high political motivations. In particular, the industrial decentralization policy had been promoted to justify segregated racial development since apartheid was introduced as a constitutional model in 1948. The manufacturing sector has achieved development under the import substitution policy since the 1920's. Moreover, it has tried to increase exports under the export promotion policy since the 1970's.But new South Africa must reduce the level of protection and terminate export subsidies under the GATT/WTO agreement. According to one estimation, trade liberalization would cause a negative impact on employment in South Africa's manufacturing sector. Hence, the direction of trade policy reforms was one of the hottest issues among the former government, the ANC, the private sector and the World Bank in the early 1990's. The development of small businesses has also been a focus for job creation.In order to increase exports and to compete against import goods, the improvement of competitiveness would be crucial in South Africa. Thus the government, trade unions and employer's associations should make for cooperation to create more jobs with international competitiveness, especially concerning the wage policy; maintaining the wage rate within the rate of increasing labor productivity and providing a flexible wage level in the former homeland. Furthermore, the government should offer training incentives for manufacturers as well as encourage them to invest more into human resource development.

Wage Bargaining and Norms of Fairness - a Theoretical Framework for Analysing the Norwegian Wage Formation

The focus of this article is on wage formation in Norway in the seventies and eighties Our main question is whether the institutional frames for wage negotiations in Norway are compatible with the new factors and topics which have become increasingly important during the last two decades The new situation is partly due to a more complex structure concerning the character and number of unions taking part in the negotiations But most important is the change in the arguments which are used to legitimate wage claims. None of the traditional economic approaches towards wage bargaining directly take into account the significance of wage comparisons between employees at different plants or among different groups of employees, and here we are at the core of the argument in this article The development during the last years indicates that a theory about what is actually going on in wage negotiations has to take into account the question of wage inequalities and their legitimacy, i e the question of a fair wage distribution The wage level and wage growth for other groups or in other firms today has quite a different impact on the outcome of the negotiations than is assumed in traditional bargaining theory. The significance of norms of fairness is not limited to the study of local bargaining processes With increasing strength the normative perspective also becomes necessary to our understanding of negotiations at the macro level, i.e the central negotiations This seems to be the case especially where, as in Norway, the state authorities play an active role in the negotiations, along with the unions and the employer's associations Although the main problems discussed in this article are related to the Norwegian wage formation, the arguments put forward are of a more general type They are assumed to be of importance in relation to the Situation in countries with an institutional structure similar to that in Norway concerning wage bargaining and wage policy

THE INCORPORATION OF THE COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT INTO THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT

In an article entitled “Collective Bargaining — a theoretical analysis” A. Flanders defined collective bargaining as an “…institution for the joint regulation of labour management and labour markets.” The collective agreement, the result of the collective bargain, is normally an uninforceable contract and is a very different legal notion from that of the contract of employment. The function of the collective agreement is to regulate relations between the collective parties, that is between the employer's association or an individual employer, and a union or unions. Such relations are known as relations of a collective nature. They could include procedure agreements between the collective parties in relation to no‐strikes or other industrial action before the disputes procedure has been exhausted; matters to do with the structure of negotiations between the parties; the constitution of the bodies set up for collective bargaining purposes; procedures on re‐ negotiation of the collective agreement; and so on. The collective agreement has however another function, the individual function, which regulates relations between employer and employee. Terms and conditions of employment are usually regulated by the collective agreement. Thus pay scales, hours of work, holidays, wages during illness, overtime work, any matters relating to training, re‐training, apprenticeship, are some from among the numerous subjects to be found in conditions of employment. Procedures which relate to the individual employee, such as grievance and disciplinary procedures, may equally feature as part of the terms and conditions of employment which emanate from the collective agreement. Indeed statute requires that the employer gives his employee particulars of this latter's major terms and conditions of employment.

The Ideology of the Federation of German Employer's Associations

The Ideology of the Federation of German Employer's Associations