Public Sector Unions Research Articles

Examining the Effectiveness of a Trade Union: Role of union strength and union leadership

This article aims to examine the influencing factors towards the effectiveness of the trade union from the perspectives of public sector union members. The present study used a quantitative research method involving a survey among 114 union members of Kesatuan Kakitangan Umum, Universiti Teknologi MARA (KKUUiTM). The findings revealed two important findings. First, the union members disclosed that their union was effective. Second, union strength and union leadership significantly influence trade union effectiveness. This research will help the union understand their strength and continuously improve its leadership to maintain its trade union effectiveness and contribute to greater union performance.

The Poverty of Bureaucracy: New Left Theory and Practice in the Canadian Labour Movement during the 1960s and 1970s

This essay examines the New Left’s impact on the Canadian labour movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Specifically, it argues that in large industrial unions such as the UAW, New Left ideas that were popular amongst the rank and file were stifled by the more conservative labour bureaucrats. However, in public sector unions and unions unaffiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress, New Left ideas were often able to flourish, and these more radical unions were sometimes able to obtain substantial gains for their members throughout the 1970s while also fostering a broader sense of class consciousness in Canadian society — culminating most notably in the Common Front’s general strikes in Quebec. Furthermore, this essay suggests that New Left ideas were more popular in public sector and independent unions because these unions had a larger proportion of women in comparison to other unions, and women at this time had a greater incentive to embrace transformative ideologies than men.

How a spending review of compensation spending changed government policy in South Africa

ABSTRACT This paper examines the influence of compensation spending reviews on government policy by analysing the case of South Africa, focusing on an extended review of the drivers of payroll costs. It addresses the decision by the government to renege on a wage agreement with public sector unions and the subsequent backlash from labour unions, and explains how spending reviews contributed to this. The paper outlines the methodology used for the analysis and summarises the key findings of the compensation spending reviews conducted between 2017 and 2020. It also discusses the implications of the decision and subsequent developments for compensation spending in South Africa.

The Role of Trade Unions in the Privatization of Auxiliary Jobs in the Croatian Public Sector

The aim of this article is to show the unconstitutional role of public sector trade unions in the restructuring of the Croatian public sector. The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia rejected all referendum proposals of the trade unions that blocked the process of restructuring the public sector, pointing out to them that such blanket bans may restrict or prevent changes without which there will be no progress in the implementation of the necessary economic, social, political and administrative reforms, and thus no progress of society itself. The public sector unions have proven to be major opponents of all market reforms that Croatian society and the state should implement. The paper also analyzes the importance of the new public administration that creates the conditions for the implementation of Article 49 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia: " Entrepreneurial and market freedom are the basis of the economic structure of the Republic of Croatia.". A SWOT analysis of the privatization of auxiliary technical professions is also presented.

Estimating public and private sectors' union wage effects in Ghana: is there a disparity?

PurposeThis study seeks to estimate union wage effect in the public and private sectors of Ghana, respectively. It also seeks to ascertain whether the union wage effect in the two sectors varies.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey 6 (GLSS 6, 2012/2013) and Ghana Labour Force Survey (GLFS, 2015). In terms of estimation technique, the authors employ the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition technique to estimate union wage effect in public and private sectors, respectively.FindingsThe findings indicate that union wage effect in the public sector is positive and higher relative to that of the private sector.Practical implicationsThe findings imply that strict enforcement of Section 82 of Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) will curb the political influence of public sector unions over their employer (Government).Originality/valueThis research paper has not been presented to any journal for publication and it is the authors' original work.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-01-2023-0045

The Rise of Public Sector Unions in the Twenty-First Century: A Theoretical, Mixed-Methods Approach with Evidence from Argentina

Public sector unions are increasingly becoming the hegemonic contemporary labor actor in terms of membership and militancy in both advanced and emerging economies. However, political economy lacks a unified theoretical approach to study mobilization by state unions. The analysis of public sector union politics has been largely separated by regional (United States vs. Europe vs. Global South) and disciplinary (American politics vs. comparative politics/political sociology) divides. We contend that though both public and private workers belong to the subaltern classes, public sector union politics and mobilization have different foundations than in the private sector. Unlike private unions, state labor mobilization is essentially driven by what we call the “reverse economic cycle” (militancy increases in bad—rather than good—economic times), by the legal enforcement of bargaining rights (which in contrast to the private sector substantially varies across and within democracies), and by the likelihood of a political exchange between labor and the government. Argentine teachers between 2006 and 2019 provide an ideal laboratory to test this argument through a multilevel (i.e., national and subnational), mixed-methods strategy, which includes comparative and statistical assessments.

Public sector's efficiency as a reflection of governance quality, an European Union study.

The main objective of this paper is to assess the efficiency of the European Union's public sector from a quality of governance approach, employing a two-step methodology. In the first stage, EU states' efficiency scores are determined using Data Envelopment Analysis. Once quantifying public efficiency, the second step of the methodology examines the determinants of efficiency using a quantile regression estimation technique, with an emphasis on demographic features, corruption, economic freedom, and governmental digitalization. The novelty is provided by the assessment of the public sector's efficiency and efficacy from a broader approach in order to determine the efficiency scores of European Union countries, as well as the key factors that may impact the public sector's performance. The main findings, namely that governance quality can be considered an important resource in analysing public performance and that human resources, freedom, democracy, corruption, and digitalization have an impact on efficiency, are important considerations not only for policymakers but also for society, researchers, and the academic community. Reform measures should strive to improve both the technical and democratic components of public institutions in order to more effectively and transparently allocate public resources, while taking into consideration local and national peculiarities.

Do Governments Hide Resources from Unions? The Influence of Public Sector Unions on Reported Discretionary Fund Balance Ratios

ABSTRACTWe explore whether municipalities with public sector unions exploit aspects of governmental (or “fund”) accounting to obscure the availability of discretionary resources in fund balance accounts, relative to municipalities without public sector unions. We first investigate whether governments with unions report higher proportions of discretionary resources outside of the general fund, a primary measure of financial health, and instead within less prominent fund types. Second, we explore whether governments with unions report lower ratios within accessible general fund balance account categories – that is, report lower proportions of unreserved fund balance. Primary findings are consistent with both hypotheses. Although somewhat mixed, cross‐sectional analyses reveal that effects are magnified when unions have more bargaining power, as proxied by the ability to strike or the absence of state right‐to‐work laws. Further analysis corroborates cross‐sectional findings by examining difference‐in‐differences specifications surrounding the quasi‐exogenous shock of Wisconsin's 2011 weakening of state public sector union laws and Ohio's time‐varying union contract negotiations. Overall, the evidence suggests that governments with unions shelter resources to avoid the appearance of large discretionary amounts available.

Public Sector Unionization and Government Contracting: A Meta-analysis of Four Decades of Empirical Evidence

Within the large body of literature on government contracting, the effect of public sector unionization on contracting out is still unsettled even after decades of research. Previous literature proposes that unionization may both inhibit and motivate contracting out, making the net effect difficult to predict. Through a meta-analysis of 232 effects drawn from 49 existing studies spanning over four decades, we find that jurisdictions with higher levels of public sector unionization generally contract out more in public service delivery. Further metaregression analysis suggests that unionization has a weaker effect when governments engage in intergovernmental contracting but a stronger effect when governments contract out for technical services. Unionization also has a stronger effect on how much a government contracts out than on whether a government contracts out. Overall, unionization is a relevant, but not necessarily robust, factor in driving contracting out, and its exact effect may vary slightly by context.

“Sterilizing and Fertilizing the Plant at the Same Time”: The Class Formation of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association

AbstractThis article analyzes class formation of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA). In 2011, Wisconsin curtailed public-sector union collective bargaining, causing Wisconsin unions’ membership and political power to plummet. This article puts the 2011 collapse into historical perspective, by considering the development of Milwaukee teachers’ labor organizing over the course of the twentieth century. In part I, I chronicle the formation of the MTEA, including its early contest with the Milwaukee Teachers Union (MTU) and the gendered fault lines of the teachers’ collective vision. In part II, I discuss the consequences of teachers’ rhetorical contradictions, especially their lack of collaboration with the civil rights movement in Milwaukee. This article challenges the notion that class movements are preordained with unified interests and aims, and instead shows that unions themselves build and assemble people’s political ideas, either to expand solidarity or to narrow it.

Conditions for cross-professional union coalition-building: When enough is enough, but solidarity also has its limits!

Competition between unions whose membership has different skills and professionalization levels is a long-standing issue in the labour movement. This article investigates the conditions for why and how a unique cross-professional coalition of all Danish public-sector unions developed between 2017 and 2018. Operating in a favourable context, unions overcame professionalization differences when skilled brokers primed a common instrumental base as other unionists used a public interest frame to legitimate the coalition and its demands ideologically. However, once the common instrumental concern was met, the coalition collapsed. The article argues that union coalition-building depends on multiple factors comprising both contextual, and identity and relational conditions. The article further argues that adopting a framing that focuses on the public interest over professional self-interest helps to successfully overcome professional cleavages.

A New Working Class: The Legacies of Public-Sector Employment in the Civil Rights Movement

A New Working Class: The Legacies of Public-Sector Employment in the Civil Rights Movement

Cycles of labour protests: public and private sector unions' contentious actions

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the cycle of labour protests in Sweden, comparing the contentious actions of trade unions in public and private sectors over 40 years. Prior studies have focused on industrial conflicts or labour protests, but a long-term perspective on the broad protest repertoire across sectors is lacking. The goal is to test the argument of diversification of action repertoire and differences between the public and private sectors.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply the grievance and political opportunity theories of social movement research for explaining the cycles of labour protests and differences between sectors in Sweden over 40 years (1980–2020). The unique protest event data are combined with the official strike statistics. The research period includes the globalisation of the economy and two economic crises.FindingsAlthough unions in both sectors have decreased protest mobilisation over time, private sector unions have resigned the most, whereas public sector unions continue to mobilise a diverse set of protest actions. Swedish unions have not replaced strikes with other protest repertoires. The open opportunities have allowed them to use various protests as part of “routine” operations.Research limitations/implicationsProtest event data are derived from newspapers, leading to an over-representation of large events in the urban areas. Future studies should combine data from newspapers with data about online protests.Originality/valueBy thoroughly examining all protest events mobilised by all trade unions in different sectors over 40 years (1980–2020), the paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the cycles of labour protest. The findings should interest industrial relations and social movement scholars.

The estonian e-residency programme and its role beyond the country’s digital public sector ecosystem*

Estonia is known for its technological and regulatory/institutional innovation proposals and the development of one of the most efficient electronic government models in the world. Besides the "X-road" project (also known as the X-tee), benchmarking the state’s innovativeness and digital capabilities at the domestic level, the e-Residency could be said to be the most important flagship programme positioning the country internationally. This article will expand earlier contributions about the political significance of the programme to explain further and characterize the concept according to its legal and political grounds, practical uses and continued strategic benefits to the country. It will revisit some of the strengths and weaknesses of the initiative, and present scenarios suggesting that its relevance will increase with the evolution of the European Union (EU) public sector digital ecosystems, leading to efficiency gains in cross border cooperation among the EU Member States (MSs).

Beyond the New Deal Order: U.S. Politics from the Great Depression to the Great RecessionCapitalism Contested: The New Deal and Its Legacies

Beyond the New Deal Order: U.S. Politics from the Great Depression to the Great RecessionCapitalism Contested: The New Deal and Its Legacies

Public sector information in the European Union policy: The misbalance between economy and individuals

Algorithmic technologies and artificial intelligence are centred on data and generate new business models, known as the data-driven economy. In the European Union context, the development of such new business is accompanied by a regulatory and political framework. An important aspect of this regulatory framework regards the legal conditions that enable the data collection, availability, sharing, use and reuse. Within the larger context, this article analyses the development of the European Union regulatory framework governing the availability, sharing and reuse of public sector data, also referred to as Public Sector Information policy. Anchored in the analytical tools provided by Discursive Institutionalism and Critical Data Studies and after studying the evolution of this policy over 25 years, this article argues that economic considerations have been overwhelmingly decisive in the European Union Public Sector Information policy and much less attention has been paid to fundamental rights and democracy issues. It also shows how European Union Public Sector Information policy contributes to the data infrastructure, enabling a thriving data-driven economy. In doing so, this article argues that the possible problematic effects of this new data-driven economy are not only affordances of the technology itself but are also the result of political and regulatory choices. More globally, the article stresses the need for policymakers to inscribe each of the policies and regulations affecting the digital transformation in the framework of fundamental rights and democracy.

Divided Unions: The Wagner Act, Federalism, and Organized Labor

Divided Unions: The Wagner Act, Federalism, and Organized Labor

Richard L. Trumka: A Labor Leader in Troubled Times

Richard L. Trumka: A Labor Leader in Troubled Times

Labor and the Class Idea in the United States and Canada

Labor and the Class Idea in the United States and Canada

Industrial Relations, Social Dialogue and Pacification of Public Sector Unions in Zambia: Rethinking Trade Union Strategies

This article analyses the incorporation of social dialogue in industrial relations and its role in pacifying public sector unions in Zambia. A sample of 19 managers of public institutions and union leaders in Lusaka participated in the research. The research reveals that social dialogue is used to pacify trade unions as governments implement structural adjustment policies, which bring about poor employment conditions. Although the unions have responded to pacification by diversifying and servicing their membership, they are still weak. This finding is significant because it helps us to understand why unions in Southern Africa are weak in the post-independence era.