Trade Union Power Research Articles

Finland: Political Developments and Data in 2023

AbstractParliamentary elections in 2023 brought in a discourse on debt. Power was passed from the Marin I to the Orpo I government. This was historically the most right‐wing government to date in Finland, whose formation also took historically long but finally united both the populist‐nativist right with the liberal right in the same coalition. The ministerial appointments raised questions among the opposition, and the issue of racism was discussed in connection to the coalition partners. The government's austerity policies sought to limit the power of trade unions, which in turn generated strong reactions. Proposals to limit strike action were faced with opposition. As the three largest parties shifted around, the political centre chose to remain in the opposition and also took issue with the underfunding of social services. The parliamentary polarisation formed a stark contrast to the consensual way in which Finland had approached North Atlantic Treaty Organisation membership, for which a compatible institutional setting was built.

Chinese investment in Central and Eastern Europe: Studying the evolution of industrial relations after the takeover of a Slovenian company

The article studies the approach Chinese investors apply to industrial relations at the company level in Central and Eastern Europe. The takeover of a home appliances producer in Slovenia by a Chinese state-owned enterprise and the trajectory of company-level industrial relations are analysed. Adopting a political economy approach, we examine the role played by market-related factors (especially FDI motivation), institutional context, trade union power resources and the Chinese state as an investor. The study contributes in two ways. First, it shows the inadequacy of market-based explanations as host institutions and actors modify transfer outcomes, blurring the ideal types, such as the ‘latecomer’ model and its apparent CEE counterpart. Second, the strategic interests of Chinese SOEs may unwillingly empower local actors struggling to influence transfer outcomes.

Differing industrial relations: The public and the private sector in Germany

AbstractThis article argues that industrial relations (IR) in the German public sector are not just a replica of private sector IR. It suggests that neither the structures, nor the outcomes can be sufficiently explained by derivation from private sector IR processes. Primarily, the specifics and developments of the public sector explain public sector IR. It is of fundamental importance whether trade unions operate in a profit‐driven market environment or a publicly financed environment that is under public control. Differences between the public and the private sector result not least in the distinct relevance and meanings of trade union power resources. This influences the ways in which industrial action in the private and the public sector works and is relevant for trade union strategies.

Labour laws in India: history, evolution and critical analysis

ABSTRACT This study carries out a comprehensive examination of the evolving landscape of labour laws in India, with a particular focus on the recent labour codes introduced in 2020. Through a historical analysis of labour regulations, we contextualize the present labour regulatory framework, emphasizing the influence of the Indian state on the shifting dynamics of labour relations. Our analysis reveals that over the years the government has significantly enhanced labour market flexibility through less conspicuous channels and backdoor policy adjustments, instead of outright amending the ‘protectionist’ labour legislations. We argue that the new labour codes are an addition to the series of ‘reforms by stealth’ carried out by the government, to enhance flexibility in the labour market in the guise of promoting employment generation and economic growth. The new codes continue to exclude the bulk of the workforce engaged in the unorganized sector and have limited applicability in the organized sector. They dilute the bargaining power of trade unions and ‘juridify’ industrial relations and the provisions for exemptions in the OSHWCC further subject workers to precarious and subpar working conditions.

The chimera of new forms of worker organisation: why trade unions matter in rebuilding national and global labour movements

The decline in union representation is occurring globally even as the working class has been growing, especially in the Global South. The decline in the global organised workforce contradicts expectations that trade unions would grow in response to growing levels of exploitation prevailing especially in poor countries integrated into global production chains. However, trade unions are not growing stronger but are weaker as industrial and service workers are growing in number. This article reprises the concept of new forms of worker organisation (NFWO), advocated and advanced over the past 25 years and rooted in independent labour entities, including worker centres, syndicalist organisations, and autonomous, unaffiliated unions, and even NGOs. The record of these entities thus far demonstrates that new forms of worker organisation are expanding in response to rank-and-file activism but are ineffective as a replacement for traditional union models in building and consolidating labour power to challenge the rise of precarious and contract labour. This article examines the mixed record of new labour organisations and their failure to confront neoliberal capitalism. To remedy this structural defect, this article contends that existing unions must engage in activism rooted in the precarious working class of the Global South to build trade union power.

Why the New Deal Matters

Why the New Deal Matters

Multiple strategies but small gains: Trade union revitalization and power resources in Central Eastern Europe after 2008

This study comparatively examines the relationship between revitalization strategies and trade union power resources in Central Eastern Europe. It shows that the post-2008 weakening of union power resources in the region served as a catalyst for a wide range of revitalization strategies, many of which included elements not documented in the revitalization literature. In most cases, union revitalization strategies involved the mobilization of organizational and societal resources and were geared towards (re)building statutory rights for unions and (re)establishing legal guarantees for workers. This ‘institutional longing’, however, left many organizations oblivious to membership decline, which may threaten their long-term survival.

Е.К. Малиновская и балет

Elena Konstantinovna Malinovskaya (1875–1942) played a significant, albeit, at a first glance, not a particularly distinguishable role in the history of the Russian stage. After the revolution, she directed a number of Moscow State (which held the appellations of Academic starting from 1919) theaters until 1924, during the years 1930–1935 she was the director of the Bolshoi Theater. For eleven years, Malinovskaya's personality, artistic views and administrative tactics influenced in various degrees the development of one of the two largest ballet companies in the country. She was compelled to take into account the tastes of high-ranking “curators” of the theater (Anatoly Lunacharsky, Avel Enukidze et al.), to comply with the demands of a powerful trade union organization, adapt to Communist Party censorship, struggle against the desires of choreographers and dancers for tours abroad, which frequently turned into one–way trips. Malinovskaya had to deal with, and not unsuccessfully, not only management of theaters, and also provide for the living conditions of artists. On the basis of materials introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time (first of all, from Malinovskaya's extensive personal funds in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art and the A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theater Museum), this article examines the complex relationships of Elena Malinovskaya, the Bolshoi Theater Ballet Troupe and various public figures from the world of art and politics, involved in ballet in various degrees, during the years 1918–1935. Overall, Malinovskaya's artistic activities have been evaluated highly in the history of Russian ballet.

The impact of artificial intelligence on the digital transformation of Chinese trade unions

In the digital era of the 21st century, artificial intelligence, as a cutting-edge technology, is causing profound changes globally. China, as a populous country, is renowned worldwide for its rapid economic and social development and rapid technological progress. In this context, the digital transformation of Chinese trade unions, as an important bridge connecting the government, enterprises, and employees, has become an inevitable choice to enhance work efficiency and strengthen public service capabilities. Artificial intelligence has a positive impact on the digital empowerment of Chinese trade unions, including promoting the improvement of trade union work efficiency, enhancing the quality and scope of trade union services, meeting the diverse needs of employees, and strengthening the organizational power and influence of trade unions, promoting the sustainable development of the Chinese trade union cause. By utilizing artificial intelligence technology, the digital transformation of trade unions can be propelled, elevating the intelligence and precision level of trade union work. Trade unions should actively embrace artificial intelligence technology, continuously explore innovation to adapt to the development needs of the digital economy era.

Gains and pitfalls of coalitions: Societal resources as sources of trade union power in Croatia and Poland

This article explores the experiences of trade unions in Croatia and Poland with societal power resources as a source of trade union revitalisation in the post-2008 crisis period. In the context of limited structural, organisational and institutional power resources, Croatian and Polish trade unions attempted to build their societal power through the revitalisation strategies of coalition building and political action. The paper compares three similar, partially successful campaigns run in both countries, on pensions, Sunday trading and precarious work. Our findings show that gains in societal power alone cannot fully compensate for the erosion of conventional sources of trade union power. Such a configuration of power resources runs the danger of trade union demands being taken up by populist forces wanting to increase their own legitimacy, rather than furthering workers’ interests. Therefore, what starts as an attempt at union revitalisation based on the novel use of societal resources could easily end up as ‘captured innovation’ by populist forces.

Political colonization of a regulatory organization in a developing country: Implications for public accountability and organizational reform

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to investigate how politically based trade union power can determine the fate of a regulatory body's organizational reform and undermine public accountability in a purportedly democratic developing country (DC). A large regulatory organization in Bangladesh was examined as a case study to uncover how political actors and power were embedded in a World Bank (WB)‐led organizational reform designed to contribute to public accountability and democracy. Interviews and media (newspaper) were utilized to identify the contestation of powers at macro‐ and micro‐levels. The explanation of reform implementation was informed by New Institutional Theory and its derived concept of institutional logics. Finding that political recruitment of the organization's senior executives made it susceptible to the pressures of political agents, the study reveals how politically supported union actions interrupted a WB‐led organizational reform that was seeking to secure democracy and public accountability. It finds that the pre‐existing institutional arrangements resurfaced over time as the political agents secured more power to restore past practices that adversely impacted public accountability. The lack (absence) of accountability in a so‐called democratic regime facilitated political interference with the regulatory governance and reforms that undermined organizational accountability to external stakeholders. The case‐study organization's institutional environment, agents, and interests were unique situational conditioners that nonetheless may be relevant to other similar public accountability organizations in DCs. The findings of the paper have important implications for policymakers who design, implement, and evaluate public accountability reforms in DCs.

Strategic Position and Trade Union Power: An Analysis of Trade Union Strategies in the Automotive, Chemical and Edible Oil Sectors in Argentina, 2003-2015)

The aim of this paper is to analyse empirically the importance of union strategies as a moderating variable between unions’ structural and associational power and their bargaining and mobilisation power. To this end, we selected three unions, one from each of three strategic industrial sectors in the Argentinian national economy – automotive, chemical and edible oils – and analysed their dynamics of collective bargaining and labour conflict in the 2003–2015 period. The research is based on a review of secondary sources (collective bargaining agreements and conflict databases) as well as primary sources (semi-structured interviews with managers, trade union leaders, worker representatives and activists). Whereas workers in each of these sectors have a similarly high degree of structural power, we observed differences among the sectors in working, wage and organisational conditions. These differences are associated with three different union strategies for building union power, which we identify as partnership, confrontational and combative. KEYWORDS: strategic position; trade union power; union strategies; sectoral analysis; Argentina

Who Killed the Phillips Curve? A Murder Mystery

Is the Phillips curve dead? If so, who killed it? Conventional wisdom has it that the sound monetary policy since the 1980s not only conquered the Great Inflation, but also buried the Phillips curve itself. This paper provides an alternative explanation: labor market policies that have eroded worker bargaining power might have been the source of the demise of the Phillips curve. We develop what we call the "Kaleckian Phillips curve", the slope of which is determined by the bargaining power of trade unions. We show that a nearly 90 percent reduction in inflation volatility is possible even without any changes in monetary policy when the economy transitions from equal shares of power between workers and firms to a new balance in which firms dominate. In addition, we show that the decline of trade union power reduces the share of monopoly rents appropriated by workers, and thus helps explain the secular decline of labor share, and the rise of profit share. We provide time series and cross sectional evidence.

Trade unions facing a French industrial policy: The emergence of a medical imaging filière

The aim of this article is to analyze the power of trade unions to influence a French industrial policy. The study examines the case of the medical imaging industry, in which a trade union managed to convince both the firms and the government to invest in a new innovation center. Through a qualitative study, the author highlights step by step the power resources this trade union used to deploy multi-level ‘political work’. Through this lobbying process involving various actors, resources and institutions, the study examines participation of stakeholders in industrial policy formulation and implementation, questioning the possibilities for a trade union to be decisive in economic development. It is found that the lack of trade union structural power and institutional power (including investment capabilities) makes it difficult to successfully put an industrial project on the agenda and even more difficult to participate in the investment phase.

Whistleblower Rights and Protection in The Workplace: the Role of Trade Unions in Poland Selected Issues

The article discusses selected problems related to trade unions’ functions and their future role in the protection of whistleblowers. The author analyzes the current provisions of the Act on Trade Unions concerning the functioning of trade unions in protecting whistleblowers in the workplace, reporting irregularities (illegal, unethical or otherwise inappropriate activities) and the use of collective bargaining power of trade unions. Workers’ representatives have an express right to assist whistleblowers as defined by national law. The author states that the functions of trade unions under trade union law in Poland in reporting irregularities are often perceived as signaling and, consequently, limited.

The emergence of coercive federal Australian labour law, 1901–2020

Over the past two decades, industrial relations scholarship has observed a trend towards an increasingly punitive industrial environment along with the ‘re-regulation’ of labour law. Absent from much of this literature, however, has been an empirical and historical measurement or comparison of the scale and quality of this systemic change. By surveying coercive and penal federal industrial legislation over the period 1901–2020, this study shows empirically that over the last 40 years, there has been a steep increase in the amount of coercive federal labour legislation in Australia. It further measures and compares the volume of coercive labour legislation enacted specifically against ‘labour’ and ‘capital’ or both throughout the same period (1901–2020). Analysis reveals a correlation between a high volume of coercive labour legislation with low levels of trade union power and organisation. Argued here is that coercive labour legislation has been crucial to transitioning from a liberal conciliation and arbitration model of Australian industrial relations towards a neoliberal framework of employment legislation. In the former, regulation was more collective, informal and egalitarian (embodied by the sociological concept of ‘associative democracy’). Under a neoliberal framework, regulation is now more individualised, technical, punitive and rarely enforced, resulting in less equal material outcomes.

The trade union cycle

The current economic crisis has shaken the positions of labour unions within the EU. The underlying trend of globalization that also weakens Western trade unions was reinforced by the recession.
 The power of trade unions typically tends to grow during eco-nomic booms and to fall during economic recessions. In order to explain this trend we first have to understand the phenomenon of the business cycle.1 Artificial booms are triggered by the credit expansion of the banking system. Artificially low interest rates induce entrepreneurs to start more and longer investment projects than cannot be sustained by the available amount of real savings. There is a distortion between the behaviour of savers and that of investors. Entrepreneurs start more projects than savers are willing to sustain. Particularly, capital-intensive sectors are expanded during the boom due to the artificially low interest rates.
 Resources are shifted into these expanding sectors. At some point it becomes obvious that the boom is only financed by newly created money and is not sustained by real savings. The erroneously started investment projects have to be liquidated or restructured. Factors of production have to be shifted into the sectors where consumers really want them.
 In the recent cycle there was an overexpansion of highly capital-intensive sectors such as the construction sector and the automotive sector that attracted factors of production including workers. Workers are employed in jobs that produce goods that consumers do not want as urgently as other goods. Thus, the workers must be transferred into sectors that are in line with consumer preferences for the economy to recover.
 In order to achieve this, it is of the utmost importance for factor markets to be flexible. If factor markets are not flexible, factors of production such as labour will remain unemployed. Thereby, consumption is reduced, harming other companies that have to reduce costs and release workers, making the recession longer and harder than necessary.

Union wage premia and wage inequality in South Africa

Rising inequality in the developed world over the last 40 years has been accompanied by declining trade union power. Unions have been found to raise the wages of their members but also to reduce overall wage inequality through the standardisation of wages in the union sector. In this paper we examine the extent to which unions raise wages and affect the extremely high levels of wage inequality in South Africa, using comparable household surveys from 1993 to 2019. We find that union wage premia are extremely high, and that union membership has become increasingly concentrated at the top of the wage distribution and in the public sector. As a result, variance decompositions show that unions increased inequality slightly in more recent periods. We also find that earnings imputation from 2010 onwards makes estimating the true impact of unionisation on wages impossible without unimputed earnings data.

Social Status and Class Identity of the Organized Working Class in Serbia

This article explores the relationship between the European identity of the organized working class and its class power in Serbian society. We understand the collective European identity of the organized working class in Serbia to primarily mean adherence to the European social model embodied in collective bargaining, that is, in a social dialogue among social partners: the trade unions, employers, and the state. The European identity of the organized working class in Serbia is also reflected in its support for the values of human rights, private property, the market economy, and multi-party parliamentary democracy. We understand “trade union power” to mean the extent of its capacity to achieve set goals. That is, how much the commitment and the efforts of the representative trade unions in Serbia: The Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia (SSSS/CATUS) and The Trade Union Confederation (UGS/TUC) “Nezavisnost” („Independence”) to join the European trade union movement and become members of the European Trade Union Confederation, the only representative European trade union organization and the recognized social partner at the level of the European Union, contributed to the more prominent role and a more remarkable power of these trade unions in Serbia. Our research is based on the critical discourse analysis (CDA) – discourse-historical approach (DHA), and economic history context.

Struggle over employees psychological well-being. The politization and depolitization of the debate on employee mental health in the Finnish insurance sector

ABSTRACT This article examines the emergence and evolution of the discourse on mental health problems as an occupational health risk in the professional debates among Finnish insurance workers from a historical perspective. Our findings indicate that the mental health discourse was influenced by organizational, cultural and political changes. We also found that the employee’s role and the power relations in the insurance sector influenced the way in which mental health problems were articulated in professional debates. The workplace democratization movement of the 1970s and the increasing power of trade unions paved the way for the recognition and manifestation of employees’ mental ill-health and vice versa, the increase of mental health problems legitimized the activity of the union. In the 1990s and 2000s, however, the individualization trend led to the view that employees themselves were responsible for maintaining and regulating their own mental health and competitiveness, once again limiting their opportunities to express their grievances at the workplace and undermining the solidarity between employees.