Trade Union Work Research Articles

دور النقابات العمالية في حماية حق العمل بالقطاع النفطي

The trade union right is one of the most important social and civil rights that the most constitutions seek to guarantee. Trade and professional unions have played a key role in protecting workers' rights by defending the rights and interests of workers who belonging to them, and trade unions have played an important role in providing a link between public authorities or administration on the one hand, and workers on the other, and trade unions' public position has been strengthened through its objectives that sought to achieve in promoting adequate guarantees for workers to exercise and enjoy their rights. It is not secret that oil unions have played an important role in protecting oil workers by attempting to communicate workers' voices in petroleum license round contracts and obtaining their rights from foreign companies working for them, as well as the oil and gas workers who work in the private sector. However, a lack of organization and coordination among them in efforts to protect oil workers has resulted in a clear weakness and fragmentation in the work of trade unions, and thus led to loss.

Covid‐19 and the work of trade unions: Adaptation, transition and renewal

AbstractTrade unions face long‐term challenges including declining memberships that threaten their influence. COVID‐19 created new challenges and possibilities for renewal. This article presents findings from a study conducted during the pandemic, comprising a large survey and interviews that investigated how unions adapted to the changes to working life they and their members faced. Evidence from UK unions shows unions rapidly changing how they worked, particularly in adopting and investing in new technologies. COVID‐19 became a trigger for adaptation for unions which helped to meet the challenges created by the pandemic and demonstrated unions' creative ability to adapt and maintain relevance. The article contributes new insights about union renewal and argues that renewal should be understood as a continuous and evolving process of adaptation and transition, shaped as much by internal strategy as external shocks. It argues that confidence within unions about their ability to reform is important for understanding renewal.

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.

Economic and Cultural Adaptation of the Rehabilitated Peoples of the North Caucasus in their Former Places of Residence

The article examines measures aimed at the economic and cultural adaptation of the repatriated North Caucasian peoples, which followed the well-known Decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 28 and July 16, 1956 on the removing restrictions on the special settlements of deported peoples, although without the right to return to their places of former residence. The measures taken by the state authorities aimed at legitimizing the spontaneous resettlement of representatives of the North Caucasian peoples from the places of special settlements are considered. Issues related to rehabilitation have repeatedly attracted the attention of Russian researchers, however, in their writings, much attention is paid to the fate of special settlers, but not to the state, which acted as a regulator of the process of rehabilitation and territorial reintegration of the North Caucasian peoples. This process expressed in the unification of titular groups within the national republics. Along with social actions, economic measures are being taken to support new territorial entities through the construction of industrial and household infrastructure facilities. The state paid great attention to public education, as well as to the training of the national intelligentsia from the representatives of the returned population. In the interests of further democratization and strengthening the role of working people in the political and economic life of the country, the work of local soviets, trade unions and other public organizations was reorganized, which included representatives of the rehabilitated peoples on an equal basis. The restoration of the economic potential in the foothill and mountainous regions of the KBASSR, KChASSR and ChIASSR, carried out at the expense of the federal budget, allows us to conclude that the state was interested in the speedy fulfillment of its obligations to the affected North Caucasian peoples. Of course, not all issues were resolved on time, but the beginning of the process of correcting mistakes made earlier by the state indicates a positive trend towards the democratization of the USSR.

Mobilising, Politicising and Serving: The Ambivalence of the ‘Revitalisation’ of Argentine Trade Unionism

Abstract Since the beginning of the 2000s, a significant literature has developed around the study of the “revitalisation” of trade unionism. These contributions often take up typologies that oppose the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ and thus tend to harden the contours of what would constitute a ‘trade union renewal’. From this perspective, this article re-examines the nature and limits of this process, in the light of the Argentine case. It is based on a field survey of two comisiones internas that are emblematic of the ‘bottom-up revitalisation’ of Argentinean trade unionism since the 2000s. The localized and in-depth study of these two collectives makes it possible to document the concrete conditions of trade union work, by relating them to the socialization trajectories of the delegates and the social contexts in which they evolve. In this way, the article shows the constraints that lead delegates to internalise a ‘sense of limits’ in their work of politicising trade union action, thus highlighting the articulations between militant practices and service practices that characterise their modes of action.

The Making of Post-Apartheid State Policies for Workers, Adult and Community Education and Training: Abandoned Possibilities

State policies regarding workers’ education and the education and training of adults and communities have been hugely influenced by the political and ideological perspectives and approaches that have informed such policies from the onset of the post-apartheid period. These approaches have had pervasively negative effects on especially workers’ education. Yet, there is a powerful and instructive legacy of theorisation and practice that suggests other possibilities towards the development of a progressive, even radical, agenda for workers’ education and its associated forms. These possibilities have been abandoned by the prevailing regime of policy and practice, which could have drawn on the work of trade unions, progressive social movements and organisations, including some of their negative practices. We consider these historical possibilities briefly with a view to opening up a discussion about the possibilities they represent for educational theory and practice.

Перестройка деятельности государственных органов власти и общественных организаций в годы Великой Отечественной войны: проблемы повседневной жизни населения (на примере Кабардино-Балкарии)

For the first time, based on new archival documents and other sources, the restructuring problem of the activities of state authorities and public organizations in wartime conditions on the materi-als of Kabardino-Balkaria is investigated, the features of the transformation of the state and polit-ical leadership of the country and in the field are revealed. The changes of the All-Union Com-munist Party (b) and the Kabardino-Balkarian regional party organization are analyzed. The expe-rience of an organizational work of party organizations and Soviet authorities of the republic in organizing military mobilization, providing the needs of the front with military products, food and industrial goods, is summarized. Tasks and content of the organizational work of trade unions, Komsomol organizations and the public in organizing fundraising for the National Defense Fund and helping evacuation hospitals, evacuated population, families of military personnel, disabled veterans of the Great Patriotic War, and orphans were studied. Analysis of the organization of dai-ly life of the population is carried out. Shortcomings and omissions in the work of state and public organizations to provide the population with food and industrial goods, fuel and cultural work have been identified. It is concluded that changes in the forms and methods of work of state bodies and public organizations during the war were a critical factor in the consolidation of power and society to protect the Fatherland.

Innovation of Trade Union Work in Colleges and Universities Based on Mathematical Modeling and Multivariable Optimal Design

The constant expansion of higher education has led to the continuous increase of the teaching staff and the complexity of the work in the modern era of education, forcing the traditional colleges and universities (it is abbreviated as CU in this article) to participate in trade union activities to open up the road of innovation. What kind of method can effectively and quickly optimize trade union work (TUW) and improve satisfaction has become one of the research topics that has attracted much attention. Aiming at this problem, it has great research significance for the field of CU to participate in trade union activities. With the in-depth research on the work of trade unions in CU, the research on multivariate optimal design in the work of trade unions in CU is gradually carried out, and its advantages are of great significance for solving problems in the work of trade unions in CU. The purpose of this paper is to study the innovation of TUW mode in CU based on multivariate optimization. Through the analysis and research of the multivariate optimization idea, it can be applied to the innovation of the construction of the labor union work model in CU, and the multiobjective linear weighting method is used to solve the objective function, so as to solve the problem of improving the evaluation of labor union work satisfaction in CU. This paper analyzed the TUW in CU (it is abbreviated as TUW in this article) and the multivariate optimization design, conducted an experimental analysis on the improved TUW mode in CU, and used relevant theoretical formulas to explain. The results have shown that the overall evaluation score of the college TUW method proposed in this paper is higher than the traditional college TUW method, and the difference between the two is 18.7%. It can be seen that the university TUW based on mathematical modeling and multivariable optimal design can meet the innovation needs of university TUW, and the satisfaction and work efficiency are greatly improved.

THE ROLE OF TRADE UNIONS IN PREVENTING CHILD LABOR AND FORCED LABOR IN RENEWING UZBEKISTAN

This article analyzes the work of trade unions in the prevention of child labor and forced labor in Uzbekistan, which is updated using periodicals and the Internet. KEYWORDS: Trade unions, federations, public organizations, labor protection, child labor, International Labor Organization, labor law, development strategy.

The Front Paysan Collective: Films of Struggle and Trade Union Work in the 1970s

Les années 1970 sont marquées en France par une mobilisation originale d’une fraction du syndicalisme agricole qui, rompant avec la stratégie unanimiste du syndicat majoritaire, la FNSEA, s’engage dans une série de lutte pour dénoncer les effets dévastateurs de l’industrialisation de l’agriculture. Ces luttes portent notamment sur la question foncière, la perte de contrôle des marchés du vin et du lait, ou les dérives de l’agriculture intégrée. Cette période est aussi très originale par le rôle du cinéma militant dans la mobilisation et la conduite de luttes, analysées ici à travers 4 films du Front paysan. Des films qui sont à la fois des mises en image de luttes exemplaires et des outils de mobilisation syndicale et collective.

Fulfillment of the Rights of Women Workers to Association in Trade Union Organizations at Companies in Makassar City

This article departs from the author's analysis that the existence of a trade union law related to the position of women workers in trade union organizations is a great opportunity in fighting for the rights of women workers. This study describes the fulfillment of the rights of women workers in trade unions at companies in Makassar City, South Sulawesi. The scope of this research focuses on an empirical study of the rights of women workers in trade union organizations in three large companies that employ women workers a lot. The research method used is a qualitative method with an explanatory approach. Data collection is carried out through literature study and reviewing convention documents and legislation/labor laws. The data analysis technique used is descriptive qualitative analysis and data collection is carried out through questionnaires and interviews, then data presentation, data reduction and conclusions are drawn. The results show that the rights of women workers in trade union organizations have not been accommodated optimally, lack of access to trade union organizations, the interesting thing is that quantitatively women workers still face stigmatization that women workers are not appropriate to participation trade unions, and are still considered as women workers. weak human beings, besides the strong understanding of patriarchy in trade union organizations.

Interview: the global challenge for unions

Interview:the global challenge for unions Interview: IUR's Daniel Blackburn spoke with Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of Industriall Global Union. At the Fifth Congress of the ITUC in November this year current General Secretary Sharan Burrow will be stepping down. Kemal Özkan is out on the campaign trail as a candidate at that election and took some moments to speak with IUR Hello Kemal, how are you? Welcome to IUR journal, where this time we are talking about union renewal, new forms of work and organising, and changing labour law. I wanted to ask you a few questions about the international trade union movement, particularly about ideas of change and modernisation: about what needs to change for the future if unions are going to remain effective, relevant and important in the coming years. ■ Thank you very much Daniel for the opportunity to discuss our ideas and programme for strengthening the international trade union movement that we all believe in. ICTUR is a high-quality union publication. The magazine is in pride of place in our Industriall Global Union office, and ICTUR has supported countless campaigns and actions around the world. Congratulations to you and the ICTUR team. There are so many changes and challenges in the world today, I wonder if we need to re-assess what are the goals, demands and objectives of trade unions, internationally? Have we been setting the agenda or following it? Have we been focusing on the right things? ■ All working people must have the right to a good wage, stable employment, to be healthy and safe at work, and to a union. These rights are hard-won and must be constantly defended. The vast majority of the world's workers live in countries where unions are either not permitted, or barely tolerated. The priorities of workers, or rank and file union members, must always be the focus of the union movement. We must grow our strength, in the Global South and Global North. Legislation is moving in response to public demand for due diligence for multinational companies and their supply chains. We must take this opportunity to put unions at the centre of a new system of global industrial relations and cross-border social dialogue that responds to the concept of 'human rights due diligence' throughout companies' own operations and supply chains. Bad employers and governments seek to set the agenda and so do we. We have the numbers; we have the power. It is up to us to use it. We are in the run-up to the Fifth Congress of the ITUC, when current General Secretary Sharan Burrow will be stepping down, and I understand that you are now out on the campaign trail as a candidate for that election. If you are the next ITUC General Secretary, where will the focus of international trade union work lie? Going forward, what are the major concerns and issues as you see them? ■ Workers and their families are now bearing the brunt of war, pandemic, climate crisis, over-mighty capital, and an ineffective or compromised political class. Workers everywhere are facing increasingly emboldened anti-democratic forces. The ITUC is their vehicle for change, ensuring that workers' priorities are central to the political debate responding to these crises. We will battle for the right to strike, for regulation on global supply chains and platform work, will promote industrial policy and just transition, struggle against any form of precarious work, particularly formalisation of the informal economy and push policies against inequality at the ILO. You know, Daniel, an enormous part of ITUC's power comes from the inspirational women leaders throughout the movement. ITUC will increase its focus and energy in the global march for women's empowerment. Our youth are motivated to take up the flag of struggle. ITUC will strengthen its work with developing and enabling young union leaders. They are the promise of the future of our movement. I think I first met you when our organisation was working on the height of the crisis of anti-union violence in Colombia, in the 2000s, so I know that you have long been concerned by these kind of really serious situations of...

PECULIARITIES OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND HARDINESS OF EMPLOYEES OF TRADE UNION ORGANIZATIONS

The article presents the results of research aimed at determining the characteristics of the relationships of personal and professional characteristics and professional hardiness of trade union workers. It is emphasized that due to the significant increase in stress on a person, the problem of ensuring its hardiness and, in particular, professional hardiness can be considered one of the leading for modern psychology. The study with the participation of 32 trade union workers in Kyiv found that to the greatest extent the indicators of their professional hardiness are interrelated with the level of satisfaction with their profession and work. This level is most closely correlated with professional acceptance of the challenge, emotional and professional components, as well as with the general level of professional hardiness. Quite noticeably, the level of professional self-efficacy of trade union workers is interrelated with indicators of professional hardiness. The connections with the indicators of professional motivation are expressed much weaker and ambiguous, which may serve as evidence of the expressed specificity, and maybe even - certain distortions in the professional-motivational sphere of trade union workers. Among the indicators of occupational burnout and deformity, with which the professional hardiness of trade union workers is mostly negative connections, there is a particularly negative correlation with emotional exhaustion, which can be considered as the most pronounced factor unfavorable to the professional hardiness of trade union workers. Prospects for further research are to develop on the basis of this results the practical technological approaches aimed at strengthening the professional hardiness of trade union workers. Keywords: hardiness, professional hardiness, trade union workers, job satisfaction, self-efficacy, professional motivation, professional "burnout".

Editorial

England's state education system is increasingly controlled from the centre while being highly fragmented. Elements within the system, and forces acting on it, lean towards privatisation. Public, preparatory and private schools endure. Grammar schools persist, vitiating fair educational opportunities in many localities and preventing the sustained development in practice of a better conception of education for all. At every age and stage, high-stakes summative assessment enforces a narrowed curriculum, straitjackets pedagogical approaches and drains the joy from teaching and learning. Labelling young people by so-called 'ability', and segregating cohorts into 'ability' sets, conspire to limit what is possible for individuals and groups. Assumptions about 'ability' or a specious 'ability-range' are yet to be eradicated. Nor have we yet shaped pedagogy commensurate with the conception of children as the people best trusted to know how they learn, as intrinsically driven to learn, and able when conditions are conducive always to go on learning. Nevertheless, the comprehensive ideal is alive, thanks to the dedication of practitioners and educationalists, the commitment of parents and carers, and the work of trade unions and activist groups campaigning for it on the ground. As a journal, FORUM will continue to be a platform from which to argue for comprehensive education. Selection, division, elitism and all that goes to make up a competitive mindset in education will be challenged in our pages. FORUM will spread news of the success of comprehensive education in this country and beyond. It will explore the implications and meet the many challenges of the comprehensive ideal, and so take it forward.

Діяльність факультету громадських професій Черкаського державного педагогічного інституту в 1970–1980-х рр.

Introduction. The process of «communist education» of students involved their active participation in the public life of the university and society as a whole. One of the forms of communist education of students and, in particular, increasing their public activity, were the faculties of public professions. In order to prepare students for future socially useful activities and their education in the communist spirit (for the society of useful people) in Cherkasy State Pedagogical Institute was created the Faculty of Public Professions (FPP), which after some time occupies a prominent place in vocational education and socially useful practices. In general, the FPP provided additional opportunities for the inclusion of young professionals in socio-political, socio-cultural and educational work. Purpose. Find out and highlight the activities of the Faculty of Public Professions at the Cherkasy State Pedagogical Institute named after the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia in the 1970s – 1980s. Results. As a result of the conducted research, it is substantiated that the faculty of public professions (FPP) occupied a rather noticeable place in the system of professional education of students of the Cherkasy State Pedagogical Institute in 1970–1980. He gave students the opportunity to acquire additional public specialties such as: organizer of komsomol and trade union work, organizer and performer of soviet rites, GPO instructor, librarian, senior pioneer, public photojournalist, instructor of military and patriotic education, guide, head of special circle, including technical (radio engineering, aircraft modeling, photo circle, automobile, tractor, etc.). Also at FPP students were trained to work at school: the editor of the old press, the specialist on work with parental collective, the head and the organizer of club of the international friendship, the organizer of extracurricular work at school. Graduates of the young lecturer school and FPP received additional opportunities for future employment and temporary employment in the summer. It is also substantiated that the main task of the Cherkasy State Pedagogical Institute was to maximize the involvement of its students in public activities in the second public profession, because the degree of student participation in this activity depended on increasing its social activity. Originality. The scientific novelty of this study is determined by the introduction into scientific circulation of unpublished archival materials of the State Archive of Cherkasy region and the archive of Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy, which are a representative source of this research and conclusions, made by the authors. Conclusion. A notable phenomenon in the life of the Cherkasy State Pedagogical Institute in the 1970s – 1980s was the Faculty of Public Professions. FPP created additional opportunities for the involvement of young professionals in socio-political, socio-cultural and educational work. The main task of the FPP was to provide students with the necessary knowledge and practical skills in organizing mass political, cultural, educational, sports and tourism activities, leading amateur art groups, technical and other groups, as well as involving students in the dissemination of political, scientific and technical knowledge among the population, the development of youth’s aesthetic views and tastes. The management of the institute created conditions for a significant part of FPP students to be involved in public activities and to be able to work for the benefit of society during the period of study at the university. Thus, the activities of the Faculty of Social Professions, which were intended to enrich its graduates with ideological and political, labor, aesthetic, physical and other education, fully met the threefold goal of comprehensive communist education of students who were to join the ranks of future «builders of communism».

Editorial: a changing post-pandemic world for labour

2 | International Union Rights | 28/2 EDITORIAL Editorial: a changing post-pandemic world for labour The latest edition of IUR focuses on changes taking place in and around the world of work. Our selection reveals labour law reforms but no consistent pattern, with progressive announcements in some countries and sweeping attacks in others. We open with welcome news from the US, where the Biden administration has quickly introduced much needed reforms. Lynn Rhinehart describes the so-called PRO-Act as ‘by far the most significant piece of labour law legislation in decades’ promising to stop employer interference in union elections, restore workers’ bargaining power, improve relief for illegally fired workers, and override ‘right to work’ laws. It seems the US could rapidly see very significant improvements for trade union rights. As David Bacon’s piece on union access to farm workers reveals, however, there remains strong opposition to even basic union rights for even low paid and temporary workers. Over in Ukraine it is a different picture. As in other former Soviet states, the aspects of trade union law that were the bedrock of a very strong framework of social protection are being identified by a modernising administration as archaic barriers to business. Rights and privileges such as union ownership of and provision of fitness and holiday institutions - which gave trade unions considerable powers within the workplace and indeed a strong social role generally – are also all under threat. In New Zealand there is also a sense of radical reform, albeit it a very positive and pro-union agenda, with the government promising a new sectoral bargaining framework. Many looking at the proposals see real possibilities, but if the government is so supportive of workers’ rights why has the country not ratified ILO Convention No. 87, and why are the nurses on strike again? The background to the recent violent repression of a strike at a power station in Banshkhali in Bangladesh is set out for us by Anupoma Joyeeta Joyee. Seven strikers were shot dead at Banshkhali, making it one of the most severe recent cases of strike repression, though one that has been largely overlooked by the global unions. ICTUR is further dismayed to record the killing of another migrant worker activist from one of Italy’s base unions, which appears also to have gone unmentioned by the ITUC. And Labourstart’s Eric Lee raises with us another recent case where he argues similarly that the global unions could and should have responded to the case of an arrested migrant rights activist. We turn then to the other aspect of change discussed in this edition of IUR, which concerns not labour law but the changing nature of work and new trade union strategies and practices. Associate Professor Huang Yu brings a warning from China that workers are so far failing to fight for ‘the robot dividend’, managing at best to sustain conditions. And the other dramatic transformation affecting trade union work over the past 18 months has been the struggle to adapt and continue trade union work under the conditions of the pandemic. Dr. Niall Cullianane and Gareth Murphy discuss how the Irish FSU union has adapted to online tools, celebrating some success, ‘the shift to online unionism enhanced some opportunities for officers and staff to share ideas more frequently’, but noting that ‘socially distanced’ outdoor meetings were still regarded as important, and that ‘exchanges with employers have been less than ideal’. Hazel Nolan discusses relating themes around online outreach and activism in a major dispute with British Gas, revealing unexpected potential for online trade unionism to have a dramatic impact and to generate an impressive level of activism and member involvement. We close this edition of IUR with thoughts from ICTUR President and Vice President Lord John Hendy QC and Professor Keith Ewing, who remind trade unionists of the importance of language with their warning against the pernicious phrase ‘the labour market’, which they argue is giving ‘legitimacy to a capitalist mythology in which buying and selling labour is a natural and unalterable part of the human condition’. Daniel Blackburn, Editor Next issue of IUR Articles between 850 and 1800 words should be sent by email (mail...

Legal Expertise: A Critical Resource for Trade Unionists? Insights into the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail

Abstract Based on in-depth qualitative research conducted in one of the major French trade unions (the CFDT), this article explores to what extent and under what conditions trade unions adopt different legal practices to further their members’ interests. In particular, it investigates how ‘legal framing’ has taken an increasingly pervasive place in trade union work, in increasingly decentralised industrial relations contexts, such as France. This article therefore argues that the use of the law has become a multifaceted and embedded repertoire of action for the CFDT in its attempt to consolidate its institutional power through various strategies, including collective redress and the use of legal expertise in collective bargaining and representation work.

Migration of labor: differential of income between rural and urban trade union workers in Brazil

PurposeThe objective of this work was to analyze the income differential of the rural–urban worker in relation to the rural–rural worker and in relation to the urban–urban worker in the Brazilian labor market. Two databases were used, the 2005 and 2015 PNADs (Pesquisa Nacional Por Amostra de Domicílios).Design/methodology/approachThe methodology is the decomposition approach proposed by Firpo et al. (2007, 2009). This method adopts estimates of unconditional quantile regressions, based on the concepts of influence function and recentered influence function (RIF).FindingsAmong the main results, income differentials were shown to benefit the urban–urban worker when compared to the rural–urban worker, and income differences to the benefit of the rural–urban workers, when these were compared to the rural–rural workers. The educational variable was relevant in explaining the income disparity and expressing increasing effects in the higher quantiles.Originality/valueThe methodology used in this work is considered recent in the literature as it is based on the RIF regression (Firpo et al., 2007, 2009). The main advantage of this method is the possibility of assigning a “composition effect” and a “wage structure effect” for each variable that determines the level of income at different points of the income distribution.

British Labour Leader Aneurin Bevan (1897–1960). A political portrait

The article examines the biography of the famous British labour politician Anurin Bevan. The author focuses on the early years of Bevan's life associated with his trade union work in South Wales, traces the transformation of his views from the support for syndicalism in his younger years to the transition to political, parliamentary struggle after the defeat of the General strike of 1926. The author pays attention to the early years of Bevan’s life, connected with his trade union work in South Wales, traces the transformation of his views from the support of syndicalism in his early years to the backing of political, parliamentary struggle after the defeat of 1926 General strike. Much attention is paid to the 1930s, when Bevan became an active supporter of the United Front and the Popular Front against the threat of fascism, that caused his temporary exclusion from the Labour Party. As a member of the British Parliament Bevan was one of the severe critics of W. Churchill’s policy of delaying the opening of the Second Front in Europe. The article traces Bevan’s successful activities as a member of the team of Labour reformers, aimed at the creation a “welfare state” after the war. In the Attlee ministry, which was formed in 1945, Bevan took over as the Health Secretary. In that capacity he was responsible for two directions of reforms – housing and the creation of the free National Health Service. The last project came into force in 1948 and is rightly considered Bevan’s main achievement Health Secretary. In the 1950s Bevan was the main inspiration behind the left wing of the Labour Party (the Bevanites) in their struggle for the continuation of reforms and also the harsh opponent of the official Labour line on several military and international questions. The main among them were the discussions about the British Rearmament programme in 1952, the struggle against the rearmament of Western Germany which the Bevanites regarded as the resurgence of German nationalism, and also a growing debate about the threat of the H-Bomb in 1955.

Stéttarfélagsaðild á Íslandi

Fáar rannsóknir hafa verið gerðar á stéttarfélagsaðild hér á landi en nokkrar um stéttarfélög. Mikil umræða hefur verið í Evrópu síðustu 20 ár um minnkandi stéttarfélagsaðild en þar hefur dregið nokkuð úr aðild. Ýmsar ástæður hafa verið nefndar til sögunnar sem hafa haft áhrif á þessa fækkun, svo sem almenn efnahagsleg velsæld frá lokum seinni heimsstyrjaldarinnar, tilskipanir og reglur frá Evrópusambandinu um aukin réttindi og vernd starfsmanna, áhersla á samþættingu vinnu og einkalífs, aukinn hagvöxtur, hærra atvinnustig, formgerðarbreyting á vinnumarkaði og nýjar stjórnunaraðferðir sem leggja áherslu á að starfsmenn standi utan stéttarfélaga. Enn fremur hefur verið bent á sem mögulega skýringaþætti, alþjóðavæðinguna, harðnandi samkeppni fyrirtækja á alþjóðlegum mörkuðum, meiri áherslu á sveigjanleika í ráðningarformi, útvistun starfa og að erfiðlega hefur gengur að fá vel menntaða sérfræðinga til að vera í stéttarfélögum. Þróun stéttarfélagsaðildar hér á landi hefur verið með öðrum hætti, en síðustu 20 ár hefur stéttarfélagsaðild hér á landi haldist nokkuð stöðug. Í þessari grein er rakin þróun stéttarfélagsaðildar hér á landi frá árunum 1994- 2016. Settar eru fram nokkrar yrðingar (proposition) sem skýrt geta háa stéttarfélagsaðild hér á landi að mati höfunda. Þær eru; (1) forgangsréttarákvæði kjarasamninga, (2) skylda atvinnurekenda til að innheimta félagsgjöld starfsmanna, (3) fjöldi opinberra starfsmanna á íslenskum vinnumarkaði, (4) markviss vinna stéttarfélaga að gera aðild að stéttarfélögum aðlaðandi með fjölbreyttri þjónustu, (5) sérstök áhersla stéttarfélaga til að ná til ungs fólks á vinnumarkaði, (6) tenging félagsaðildar við lífeyrissjóðakerfið á sínum tíma og (7) „Ghent kerfið” sem byggði á því að atvinnuleysisbætur tengdust stéttarfélagsaðild.