Labor Unions Research Articles

Occupational safety and health and temporary agency work in multiemployer restaurants.

Current occupational safety and health (OSH) literature calls for sociotechnical, system-level approaches that increase understanding of the underlying reasons for insufficient OSH performance in nonstandard employment that is associated with lower labour and social security protection when compared with traditional forms of work. This study focused on temporary agency work (TAW) which is a central form of nonstandard employment. The objective was to explore OSH issues in temporary agency work (TAW) in small and medium-sized multiemployer restaurants in Finland and discuss the issues from the perspectives of the agency worker, user company and agency. A directed content analysis method was used to examine the data obtained from semi-structured interviews (n = 20) with agency workers, restaurant managers and experts representing the temporary work agencies, a pension insurer, and a labour union. The balanced work system theory was used as a framework for this qualitative analysis. A variety of OSH risks and hazards in TAW were identified. In addition, the complexity of OSH management was highlighted in this triangular employment relationship between the agency worker, the user company, and the agency. This study reveals problems related to OSH in TAW. Restaurants are entities separate from agencies, so establishing and adhering to a common process of OSH management is not simple.

“In God We Trust”—The Contribution of Christian Trade Unions in European Integration

Since World War II, the countries of Western Europe have gradually gone towards economic, social, and political integration. This was influenced by states, institutions, social partners, and churches. The Christian trade unions also contributed to that end. This contribution was the result of the interaction between the laborers’ religion and their desire to act collectively. Those unions followed the social doctrines of the Catholic Church and/or Protestant Churches while strongly disagreeing with socialist or communist unions. During the Interwar period, their members were subjected to the violent actions of the totalitarian governments in many European countries. Those governments eliminated Christian unions and, in some cases, persecuted their leaders. After the war, Christian unions embraced the “Peace Project”, advocating for European and global peace. They also cooperated with many political and social leaders during the formation of the EEC. Christian unions aimed at improving political systems in Western Europe, promoting freedom of religion, and defending the Communist threat. In this article, we describe the ways in which the Catholic and Protestant labor unions tried to promote political, economic, and social cooperation in Europe. To this end, we will examine their pertinent material and actions on the Old Continent. Finally, we will discuss the current challenges faced by the Christian unions and their stance towards neoliberal capitalism and globalization—these new developments in the long history of Christian Europe.

A Commonsian Reading on Brazilian Unionism

By systemizing a typology from John R. Commons and John B. Andrews’ discussion about collective bargaining and the attitudes of governments towards labor unions, we present in this article the use of this categorization to investigate the vicissitudes of unionism in Brazil. We do so by analyzing the interaction between the government and labor unions in two different inflection points in Brazil’s labor law history: (i) the Vargas Era (1930–1945) and (ii) the Labor Reform of 2017. Our conclusions relate these periods to the attitudes of “intervention” and “tolerance,” respectively, pointing now to aspects of increasing opposition towards collective action as the economic crisis and unemployment deepen, and new reforms take place.

Kemmerer Lives! The Evolution of the Composition of the Central Bank Boards of Five Latin American Countries

This study examines the evolution of the composition of the boards of the central banks from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru throughout the 20th century. Although the initial boards of those central banks were similar, they included representatives from different institutions, such as labor unions, bankers, business associations, and governments. Over eighty years, governments implemented several reforms that changed the composition of the boards , increasing the weight of business associations, while rapidly decreasing the participation of labor unions and bankers. In the 1960s and 1970s, government representatives took over the boards until the independence reforms of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Despite facing political turmoil and undergoing several restructurings, these five “Kemmerer” central banks evolved in parallel up to the new century.

Christian Democracy, Labor, and the Postwar Politics of Old-Age Pension Reform

AbstractChristian-democratic parties not only constituted the most successful political force in much of Western Europe during most of the twentieth century; their attitudes toward solidaristic welfare reform have arguably also been more diverse than have those of most other major political groupings during this period. Whereas existing studies have mostly attributed this variation to electoral or strategic considerations, this article emphasizes the importance of interest group involvement. It analyzes and compares postwar old-age pension reform in three important Christian-democratic-ruled societies, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, and shows how the very different attitudes of the main Christian-democratic parties toward solidaristic welfare reform in these countries related to the strength and unity of the Christian-democratic labor union movements there.

PERAN GERAKAN BURUH DALAM MEMPERJUANGKAN KESEJAHTERAAN UPAH DI INDONESIA

This paper analyzes the social movements carried out by workers in demanding wage welfare. Through the analysis of the movement carried out by the Association of independent labor unions together with other workers in demanding the right to fulfillment and an increase in work wages. The government on the rules that stipulate the minimum wage often sided with the employers which was usually followed by a strike by the workers or workers. The root of this problem, of course, is usually triggered by the regulation of setting minimum wages, which workers consider inappropriate and inappropriate in providing minimum wages and demanding welfare for workers. The minimum wage has the aim of providing protection for workers from a small minimum wage, so that the minimum wage promotes the creation of justice for workers and also does not harm employers to fulfill the daily needs of the workers. Employers and workers both have the continuity of life which will also have an impact on the progress of the company, the government has a function in regulating decent wages for workers. The purpose of this analysis is to analyze the influence of the GSBI movement in voicing aspirations with other workers. This analysis uses a descriptive qualitative approach with the analytical method

Types of Responses of the EU Labour Markets in the Early Covid-Pandemic Period

The dual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (simultaneous demand and supply shocks) was manifested by values of the economically important indicators, including measures applied to the labour market. The magnitude and scope of the response on the European Union labour markets were significantly country-specific parameters. The purpose of this article is to identify the types of responses of the EU labour markets in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the agglomeration clustering methods, namely the Ward approach, has been applied to create groups of the studied labour markets. The application of this method led to the identification of 4 clusters of economies, characterized by different types of response in terms of the direction and intensity of changes on the labour market during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Causal Factors of Enhancing Employee Loyalty towards Organization

The objectives of the study were 1) to study “casual” factors enhancing employee loyalty towards organization, and 2) to develop a structural equation model of factors enhancing employee loyalty towards organization. The quantitative and qualitative research methods were implemented in this study. The quantitative data were collected from the interviews of 500 industrial business executives. The findings indicated that the significance levels of employee loyalty towards organization were high in all aspects. The highest significance level of leadership was that the executives provided a work manual describing the structure of work. The highest significance level of labor union was that the organizations provided proper cost-of-living and fringe benefits for employees. The highest significance level of organizational commitment was that the employees always maintained their organizational values. The hypothesis testing revealed that the small, medium, and large enterprises differently focused on the enhancement of employee loyalty towards organization at statistical significance level of .05. The results of structural equation model analysis showed that it passed the evaluation criteria with empirical data congruence including Chi-square probability of 0.699, relative Chi-square of 0.940, index of item objective congruence of 0.970, and root mean square error of approximation of 0.000.

Analysis of the Role of the Union Generale Tunisienne du Travail (UTT) in the Democratization Transition in Tunisia

This research aims to analyze the position of the Union Generale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT) which is a combination of trade unions and labor unions in Tunisia in influencing the country's political stability during the time of the Arab revolution or what is known as the Arab Spring. This research analysis uses the concept of civil society to see the role of trade unions in Tunisia in building their political power. This research uses a qualitative method with library research (library research) which is classified and grouped based on several collections of written materials from various sources of books, scientific articles, and the internet. The results of the study show that the UGTT has two roles in achieving the goals of Tunisia's democratization, firstly as a power intermediary, where the UGTT functions in uniting the population and the government by chairing dialogue and guiding decision making during an unstable period. Second, the UGTT also plays a role as a key mediator in the democratization transition process by participating in the policy-making process, namely working with members of parliament in drafting a new constitution.

On the Relationship between a Student Association’s Endeavors to Foster a Social–Academic Climate on Campus, Students’ Self-Efficacy, and Academic Motivation

The current study is a case study examining a student association’s endeavors to foster a social–academic climate on campus, grant students a sense of self-efficacy, and even contribute to students’ motivation. The research literature lacks empirical knowledge on the activity of student associations and their contribution to institutions of higher education and their students. Moreover, academic institutions see student associations at times as a burden, a type of labor union to be placated by the faculty and the academic institution. The research sample consisted of 122 students from a university in Israel (38 men and 84 women; mean age 25). Several questionnaires were administered to the respondents: a questionnaire on the social–academic climate on the academic campus, a questionnaire on students’ academic motivation, a questionnaire on students’ self-efficacy, and a sociodemographic questionnaire. From the research findings, it is evident that the activities of the student associations on the academic campus play a meaningful role in fostering students’ academic motivation and self-efficacy. The research findings indicate that the scope of student association activities is positively related to the students’ academic motivation and self-efficacy. Moreover, students living in student dorms were found to evaluate the activities of the student association as higher than did students who were not living in student dorms. These findings constitute a preliminary foundation for future studies on the importance of student associations in academic institutions and their contribution to the students. Furthermore, these findings highlight the need to boost and increase student associations’ activities to provide students with adapted and efficient solutions to their challenges. The student association can be transformed from a burden to an asset for the academic institution.

Topics model of overwork-related deaths in Korea and the implications of SDGs’ decent work perspective

ObjectiveThrough a text network analysis, this study examined major issues related to death from overwork reported in Korean media over the past ten years, focusing on essential workers, and examined the implications for Korean society from the perspective of decent work as described by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). MethodsWe retrieved 1,340 news articles from 52 media companies by searching for “death from overwork” as a keyword using the Big Kinds database operated by the Korea Press Foundation. A total of 4,627 nouns were extracted from news articles, and four topics were found by performing topic modeling using the NetMiner 4 program. We also examined the trend of topic ratios by year. ResultsBetween 2012 and 2015, 22–36 news articles were reported annually, and Topic 2 (recognition of death from overwork of public officials) was the most common. Between 2016 and 2019, 72–162 news articles were reported annually, and Topic 1 (postal workers’ extended working hours) was the most common. Between 2020 and 2021, 314–441 news articles were reported annually, and Topic 3 (measures against industrial accidents of courier workers) and Topic 4 (courier sorting and labor union consensus) were the most common. ConclusionIn Korea, postal workers, public officials, and courier workers are vulnerable to death from overwork. This can be resolved by considerably reducing working hours, recognizing industrial accidents, and improving the working environment. From the perspective of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) SDGs’ decent work concept, to sustain workers’ health and well-being, the State and companies should guarantee workers healthy working hours, choice of working hours, guarantee of decent and productive work, and maximum working hours cap system. The labor system and workplace culture should be improved to guarantee workers’ health and well-being.

Body as machine: Health vulnerability of women garment factory workers in India

Even though garment factory work has attracted women in large numbers in urban and peri-urban settings in low- and -middle income countries including India, there is relatively limited health system research on identifying and addressing the health vulnerability of this workforce. Drawing on data on life histories of women workers (n ​= ​16), semi-structured interviews with others including family members of deceased workers, health professionals, members of the labor union, factory management (n ​= ​15), focus group discussions with women garment workers (n ​= ​04) and observations (n ​= ​04) of workplaces including export as well as domestic factory units and women labor union activities, we discuss how women's talk on ‘health’ traverses through different layers and sites of silences. Women highlighted the narratives around menstruation (‘less’, ‘more’, ‘infrequent’, ‘irregular’ and related reproductive health consequences) as one of the important ways to talk about relationships between their body, work, and health. Predominantly for them, ‘bodily heat’ and ‘torture’ emerged as two important expressions that describe their everyday vulnerability to health. These narratives call for greater research and policy attention to the large women workforce in the garment factories who remain invisible to the health system. More importantly, it points towards the need for incorporating qualitative research methodologies in occupational health and safety discussions to foreground the perspectives and experiences of workers themselves.

Group Immortality and Transgenerational Meaning

Abstract Excessive boredom and the inevitability of experiencing a very bad event are two commonly cited objections to the desirability of individual immortality. It isn’t clear, however, that these objections hold weight in the context of group lives—like the lives of reading groups or labor unions. I argue that this intuition is correct: neither of the objections to an immortal individual life apply to the life of an immortal group. In the end, we may not be able to wish immortality for ourselves, but we can and often should desire that good group lives go on forever, both for the sake of the group and the individuals that constitute them. Indeed, participation in immortal (or very long-lasting) groups is one way to add meaning to life.

Burnout, mood disorders and socioeconomic consequences among civil servants: a protocol for a systematic review

Introduction: Literature shows the existence of a relationship between working conditions and alterations in mood. Civil servants have certain peculiarities in terms of job stability, which suggests that they should be less susceptible to mood disorders and burnout. It is common to find news in various media about higher rates of sickness absence and presenteeism. They have clinical and socio-economic aftermaths. The aim of this review is to know what intervention strategies have been applied for mood disorders and burnout syndrome among civil servants and what are the socioeconomic consequences Method: Searches will be performed on: MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, EconLit, Web of Science and The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews. Only peer reviewed papers and reviews written in English or Spanish will be included. Blind paper selections and data extraction will be performed by two independent researchers. In case of discrepancy, a third researcher will act as a tiebreaker. The review will follow the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Discussion: This systematic review will provide evidence to support decision makers from various stakeholder groups, including policymakers, business organisations, labor unions, clinical managers, and the academic community interested in analysing the clinical and socioeconomic consequences of mood disorders among public sector workers regarding issues related to these types of mental health issues. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42023410761

Accountability in University System in Nigeria: Challenges and Way Forward

This paper looked at Accountability in the University system in Nigeria and its Challenges. Secondary data were adopted for the paper. The secondary data were collected from online and print publications. The paper concluded that lack of political will, weak accountability culture, weak labour unions, weak participation of stakeholder, poor implementation of accountability policies, poor monitoring of universities by anti-corruption agencies and other regulatory institutions, political influence and lack of autonomy amongst others are the factors responsible for poor accountability in the university system in Nigeria. To address these challenges, the paper suggested that Federal and State Governments should develop the political will to ensure visitation panels are constituted every five years and the white paper released should be implemented as at when due, to promote accountability in the universities. University administrators and managers should be trained and retrained on the importance of ensuring and promoting the culture of accountability in the universities. The various labour unions in the universities should be proactive in ensuring accountability in the universities. Also, autonomy should be granted to the universities to eliminate political influence activities in the universities.

Power in a Union: How Unexpected Group Partnerships Form

While scholars have focused extensively on the consequences of partnerships between interest groups, less attention has been paid to the historical dynamics shaping when, how, and why such groups unite. This is especially true of “unexpected” partnerships, which unite groups with seemingly little in common. Such partnerships are important, as they can reshape to an unusual degree which actors, issues, and ideas “fit together” politically. We address the puzzle of how unexpected group partnerships form through case studies of previously non-existent alliances between labor unions and the gay/lesbian rights movement in the United States and United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s. Using these cases, we produce a theory arguing that unexpected partnerships are a product of a favorable political opportunity structure—present when each group experiences shared threats and mutual vulnerabilities—and the actions of entrepreneurial group leaders, who forge cross-group identities, accentuate shared ideological convictions, and build institutional ties.

The Current Situation And Development Trends Of The Ride-Hailing Industry In Vietnam In The Gig Economy

In recent years, along with the development trend of the Gig economy, app-based ride-hailing in Vietnam has been growing rapidly, especially in large cities. Related service activities such as passenger transportation, delivery of goods, food, payment, etc. have been expanding rapidly due to their convenience and specialization, which help save time and costs. App-based ride-hailing activities are becoming increasingly competitive with the participation of many major companies such as Grab, Gojek, Be, etc. with various policies and support to dominate the market share. The development of app-based ride-hailing is an inevitable trend as it creates a professionalization of the labor market, optimizing time, cost, and convenience for society. However, there are still some issues that need to be researched and improved for sustainable development of this field such as insurance policies, labor union activities, etc. for the participants.

Does air pollution decrease labor share? Evidence from China

Labor share is one of the most significant indicators for income distribution and social inequality. Many studies have documented its decline and provided explanations from various aspects in recent years. This study explores labor share decline through the lens of air pollution, which has been ignored in the literature. With the two-stage least square (2SLS) regression while using thermal inversion as an instrumental variable, we identify air pollution’s impact on firm-level labor share. The results show an increase of 1 μg/m3 PM2.5 concentration leads to a 0.17 percentage point decrease in firms’ labor share. We test two possible channels through which air pollution could influence labor share. The decreases in firms’ labor and production productivity, and average wage are the main channels from the intensive margin. For extensive margin, we mainly focus on the impact on employees, and capital usage and identify its different effects across different technology firms. We find no significant effects on capital usage. Meanwhile, low-tech firms hire more employment to offset production loss due to air pollution, whereas there is no significant effect on employment change in high-tech firms. For heterogeneity, the impact is larger for private firms, firms with lower education-level employees, firms without labor unions, and labor-intensive industries. Our results suggest that raising public awareness of air pollution could have contributed to reducing health damage and social inequality.

Labour unions and corporate pension policy

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of labour unions on corporate pension policies. Using firm-level labour union data, it examines whether organized labour mitigates the understatement of pension liabilities on the statement of financial position. Next, we examine whether union presence affects external corporate pension funding. We find that firms with labour unions tend to report smaller actuarial gains (or larger actuarial losses) associated with the remeasurement of pension liabilities, suggesting that labour unions play a monitoring role in the reporting of corporate pension liabilities and/or that firms try to enhance their bargaining power with the labour union by exaggerating their financial burden of corporate pension liabilities. We do not find that the pension funding level (the ratio of the fair value of plan assets to pension liabilities) is higher for firms with labour unions. Overall, our results indicate that labour unions constrain management incentives to understate pension liabilities, but they have limited influence on corporate pension funding decisions.

Does CEO overconfidence affect workplace safety?

We study the impact of CEO overconfidence on workplace safety. We provide robust evidence of a positive relation between CEO overconfidence and workplace injury rates, implying that CEO overconfidence impairs workplace safety. In cross-sectional analysis, we find that the documented effect is amplified among firms with greater concentration of decision rights in headquarters and higher employee turnover, while is mitigated among firms with stronger labor union presence and more effective corporate governance mechanisms. Additional analysis points to increased employee workload and poor corporate safety culture as the mechanisms behind the documented detrimental effect of CEO overconfidence on workplace safety.