Institutions and collective action in divided labour movements: Evidence from Indonesia.

 TINDAKAN KOLEKTIF

Abstract 

Under what conditions do trade unions in divided labour movements cooperate? Does cooperation in one domain increase the likelihood of cooperation in the other? Do institutions facilitate or discourage cooperation? We explore these questions through an examination of collective action across federation and confederation lines in post-Suharto Indonesia. Using a comparison of union cooperation in the policy and electoral domains, we demonstrate that tripartite wage-setting institutions have played a central role in facilitating collective action in the policy domain, encouraging unions to look beyond shop-level issues to policy issues identified by their respective national organizations as affecting workers. The relative absence of collective action across organizational divides in the electoral domain, meanwhile, can be explained by the institutional context, which creates higher barriers to unions working together.

Reference: Caraway, T., Ford, Michele, (2017). Institutions and collective action in divided labour movements: Evidence from Indonesia. Journal of Industrial Relations, 59(4), pp. 444- 464. Copyright © 2017 Copyright Clearance Centre, Inc. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022185617710046

The Future of Trade Unions in Australia

 TRADE UNION

The Australian union movement has been in decline for several decades. The social and economic factors which have led to the decline are briefly examined. Unions have spent many years developing strategies based on improved organising and recruitment methods, and academics have devoted research to analysing and assessing these. However, this paper argues that this concentration is misplaced, and that the legal framework in which unions operate is the central determinant of their limited success in recent years. Finally, a minimum legal framework, based on collective bargaining, is proposed as an example of what type of changes unions should prioritise if they are to recover.

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Alternative labour protection movements in the United States: Reshaping industrial relations?

 Trade Union 

The United States is one of the developed countries that have experienced the steepest declines of unionization and collective bargaining in recent decades. Its traditional industrial relations institutions, premised on the prevalence of “standard” employment relationships, have long been eroded by restrictive legislation and employer opposition. Meanwhile, precarious employment, sub‐standard conditions and marginalization have become widespread features of the labour market, leading to the spontaneous emergence of alternative, often community‐based initiatives to protect vulnerable workers using highly innovative strategies. “Worker centres”, in particular, have been very active to that end, often teaming up with formal trade unions to pursue their objectives.

Reference: Fine, J. 2015. “Alternative labour protection movements in the United States: Reshaping industrial relations?” in International Labour Review 154 (1): 15–26.

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Testing Collective Action Theory

 TRADE UNION 

The goal of this book is to attempt to extend, expand and test empirically the implications of the Collective Action Research Program. This set of rational theories began with Mancur Olson (Olson 1965). It broke with the prevailing theory of pluralism, which posited that groups would form around the interests of citizens. Yet, empirical research showed that, instead of knitting,bird-watching, and classic auto clubs, 90% of the organizations comprised only labor and management. Clearly, pluralism was wrong. Olson put his creative thinking toward the process of mobilization. In other words, how would one recruitmembers of an interest group to lobby Congress? Olson thought through the problem systematically: first, it would be necessary to have a public good, that is, some goal that could not diminish with use and would be available to everyone in a region. Economists call these nonrival or noncompetitive goods. Examples of such objectives are clean air, defense, clean water, lower taxes, or more tax subsidies. Given that this is the case, a second conclusion is necessary: no particular person would have to participate to receive the public good. Thus, he reasoned, most people would not participate.And indeed, 95% of people do not participate (Lichbach 1995). These non-participants are called free-riders. They gain the benefit of a new public policy, but do nothing toward its implementation. This conclusion created yet another problem: how would one be able to recruit members to lobby? Given that success would benefit everyone in a class, the incentive to participate would necessarily be larger for active members. Olson (Olson 1965) called these selective incentives, special payments in favors, goods or money to active members that were unavailable to free-riders. Suddenly the empirical world of labor and management groups and the absence of bird-watching groups made sense: pluralism was wrong, but collective action theory worked. And this theory differed from its predecessors in a fundamental way: it assumed that people think. Structural models force people to act by conditions, but Olson focused on individuals.

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Introduction: Causes, consequences and cures of union decline

 TRADE UNION

In 2000 the political leaders of the European Union declared that strong economic growth and advance towards a knowledge society, together with a high degree of social cohesion, would be the pre-eminent goals for the subsequent decade. 

A question never asked was what would happen, and what remedial action would be taken, should the conditions conducive to growth and the knowledge economy conflict with the political and institutional underpinnings of social cohesion. 

What if strong employment growth turned out to be founded on the destabilization of the standard employment contract, or if the advance towards a knowledge economy brought about a sharp rise in social inequality and polarization between skilled and unskilled workers and between those with and without stable jobs? 

Would trade unions be willing and able to counteract or attenuate such trends and bridge the differences between the new haves and have-nots? Or would they be marginalized, slowly but irreversibly, together with the stable employment relationships that characterized the mid-20th century?

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The use of new ICTs in trade union protests – five European cases

 TRADE UNION

Despite the interest in the use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) by trade unions, little is known about how new ICTs have changed trade union protest. In a period of austerity, in which new groups – including labour-related ones – have shown impressive mobilization using social media, we focus on a cross-country approach, looking at the impact of trade union strikes and protest in the public sector. Our findings show that new ICTs are being used at all stages of strike action and union protests in general, but do not allow us to assert that unions have changed the way they act in a fundamental way

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Identity and collective action via computer-mediated communication: A review and agenda for future research

 Trade Union 

Since the start of large-scale waves of mobilisation in 2011, the importance of identity in the study of collective action via computer-mediated communication (CMC) has been a source of contention. Hence, our research sets out to systematically review and synthesise empirical findings on identity and collective action via CMC from 2012 to 2016. We found that the literature on the topic is broad and diverse, with contributions from multiple disciplines and theoretical and methodological approaches. Based on our findings, we provide directions for future research and propose the adoption of an integrative approach that combines the study of identity and networks to advance our understanding of collective action via CMC. This review contributes to the crossroad of social movement, collective action, communication and media studies. Our results also have practical implications for the organisation of collective action in a society characterised by the pervasive influence of CMC.

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The Influence of Social Media on Collective Action in the Context of Digital Activism: An Affordance Approach

 Trade Union

This study examines how social media influence collective action in the context of digital activism. This is achieved by using the concept of media affordance as a theoretical lens and applying it to the collective purposes of network building and synthesis, as suggested by mobilization theory. Employing latent class logit regression, we tested the proposed hypotheses based on data from 384 digital activism events in 100 countries, classifying success in digital activism as either partial or complete success. The results show that when the purpose of digital activism is network building, media with greater affordances for promoting environmental shaping were positively related to the success of digital activism. Conversely, when the purpose of digital activism is synthesis, media with greater affordances for promoting contagion were positively related to the success of digital activism

Reference: click here

This study examines how social media influence

collective action in the context of digital activism. This

is achieved by using the concept of media affordance

as a theoretical lens and applying it to the collective

purposes of network building and synthesis, as

suggested by mobilization theory. Employing latent

class logit regression, we tested the proposed

hypotheses based on data from 384 digital activism

events in 100 countries, classifying success in digital

activism as either partial or complete success. The

results show that when the purpose of digital activism

is network building, media with greater affordances for

promoting environmental shaping were positively

related to the success of digital activism. Conversely,

when the purpose of digital activism is synthesis, media

with greater affordances for promoting contagion were

positively related to the success of digital activism.

This study examines how social media influence

collective action in the context of digital activism. This

is achieved by using the concept of media affordance

as a theoretical lens and applying it to the collective

purposes of network building and synthesis, as

suggested by mobilization theory. Employing latent

class logit regression, we tested the proposed

hypotheses based on data from 384 digital activism

events in 100 countries, classifying success in digital

activism as either partial or complete success. The

results show that when the purpose of digital activism

is network building, media with greater affordances for

promoting environmental shaping were positively

related to the success of digital activism. Conversely,

when the purpose of digital activism is synthesis, media

with greater affordances for promoting contagion were

positively related to the success of digital activism

This study examines how social media influence

collective action in the context of digital activism. This

is achieved by using the concept of media affordance

as a theoretical lens and applying it to the collective

purposes of network building and synthesis, as

suggested by mobilization theory. Employing latent

class logit regression, we tested the proposed

hypotheses based on data from 384 digital activism

events in 100 countries, classifying success in digital

activism as either partial or complete success. The

results show that when the purpose of digital activism

is network building, media with greater affordances for

promoting environmental shaping were positively

related to the success of digital activism. Conversely,

when the purpose of digital activism is synthesis, media

with greater affordances for promoting contagion were

positively related to the success of digital activism

Organizing on-demand: Representation,voice, and collective bargaining in the gig economy

 New unions and worker organizing

In many industrialized and post-industrial countries, union engagement with non-standard workers has focused on applying existing collective bargaining frameworks to new workers. Simultaneously, alternative organizing efforts are underway, including the formation of new independent unions emerging from non-standard workers. These examples are frequently rooted in community and worker empowerment, and are distinguished by their lack of collective agreements (Fine, 2015; Morris, 2005). There is also significant overlap between the emergence of ‘independent’ unions and revitalization efforts of established unions in the face of efforts to build a broad and inclusive labour movement

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Wage Differentials between Union and Non-Union Workers: An Econometric Analysis

Wage Differentials between Union and Non-Union Workers

It is increasingly recognized that institutional factors such as trade unions do play a dominant role in determining the levels of wages, standard of working conditions. This is more pronounced in the industrial sector of developing economies. The role of labor organizations in the labor market has been firmly identified especially in relation to wage bargaining with studies focussing mainly on the advanced industrial economies. In the Indian context, there exist a number of studies on the evolution of the structure; functions and aspects of trade unions; but the empirical analysis of the impact of trade union on wages are rather limited. In this backdrop, this paper attempts to analyze the impact of trade union on wages using a survey covering blue collar male workers employed in manufacturing industries in Chennai district of Tamil Nadu, in southern part of India. We have estimated earnings functions for union and non-union workers separately. The earnings functions are corrected for selectivity bias. Oaxaca, Cotton and Reimer’s decomposition method has been used to decompose the gross earnings differential between union and non-union workers into explained and unexplained differentials. The result shows that there exist significant wage differentials between workers in the union and non-union sector. The unexplained portion of the decomposition, which is around 47 percent (reduced to 42 percent after correcting for selectivity bias) can be attributed to unionism.

Reference: S.Madheswaran & K.R.Shanmugam. (2003). Econometric Society at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. During July 4-6, 2003.

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 Trade Union 

 Trade Union 

Tindakan Kolektif -1947

Menurut Saat (2010:81):

"Melalui akhbar-akhbar yang disebutkan sebelum ini, disebarkan propaganda mengenai penubuhan parti politik Melayu dan rancangan mogok yang akan diadakan. Liputan mengenai tindakan mogok disebarkan secara meluas dan sokongan padu dinyatakan melalui akhbar tempatan, misalnya pertubuhan buruh Malayan Rubber Workers, telah menyatakan pendirian tegas dan secara terbuka untuk melancarkan mogok di Johor, Pahang Barat, Negeri Sembilan, Perak dan Selangor pada 30 Ogos 1947

Bacaan Lanjut KLIK SINI

 Trade Union

Effect of Strike/ Industrial Action on Organizational Conflict

Strikes are the  most  significant  aspect  of  industrial conflict.  Strike  is  defined  as  the  temporary stoppage  of  work  in  the  pursuance of  grievance or demand. In practice however, it  has been  difficult  to separate  strike  from  other  forms  of  expression  of industrial dispute as employer lock out workers and workers themselves embark on strike action. It is more useful to view both phenomena as part and  parcel  of the conflict  situation,  not  as  opposite. Rarely  does a  strike  occur  over  a  single  issue  for  an  obvious cause may be linked with several other issues that not immediately apparent  to the observation that have caused  dissatisfaction because  solutions to  them have been  long in  coming.  The  actual  occurrence  of  strike depends  on  several  factors  including  prevailing circumstances (Adetiba, 2012)

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WorkerVoice

Why modernization is necessary to raise wages and boost productivity

From the worker perspective, this structure means that although unions may care about a broad group of workers, the law pushes them to bargain for only the particular group of workers they represent rather than negotiating to improve conditions for all workers in an industry or a region.34 The ability of unions to represent a broad group of workers is further limited because the law prevents many kinds of workers from joining unions. Many workers in new business arrangements, such as the gig economy, cannot join unions because workers classified as independent contractors rather than employees are ruled out under the law, as are domestic workers and managers, among others.35 The exclusion of so many workers exacerbates the problem of fragmentation inherent in firm-level bargaining: The omission of many workers and firm-level bargaining mean that unions can negotiate for only a relatively narrow portion of the workforce and can be pushed away from advocating for the needs of all workers.

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Two faces of union voice in the public sector

 TRADE UNION

Summary and Concluding Observations

Employee voice through unions is manifest in various ways in the public sector including unionization itself, strikes, political activity, and challenging managerial prerogatives. In each of these areas there are two faces to voice just as there are two faces to unions. Voice can be used in a more influence-peddling and muscle-flexing bargaining fashion to enhance rent seeking and noncooperative behavior with negative effects on productivity, competitiveness, and resource allocation. Voice can also be used more positively by articulating preferences and trade-offs, improving communications, and involving employees and enhancing their commitment to the organization. In all likelihood both faces of voice apply to unions in the public sector just as they do in the private sector. In the private sector, however, the negative monopoly face of unions has been increasingly constrained by competitive market forces such as globalization and trade liberalization as well as by the industrial restructuring to services and the information economy. Rents are obviously harder to obtain when there are fewer rents on the bargaining table. There is little survival value to pricing yourself out of the market now that market forces are more prominent. In such a private sector environment, unions have generally declined, strikes have dissipated, and managerial prerogatives have been enhanced

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Why do people join trade unions? The impact of workplace union density on union recruitment

Trade Union

Against the background of the general decline in union membership in Western countries, this study analyses factors influencing an individual’s choice whether to join a trade union. The focus is on the effects of workplace union density and individual political attitudes. Micro data covering the entire Danish workforce combined with European Social Survey data enable for the first time the statistical analysis of the effect workplace union density has on union recruitment. Workplace union density is used to measure the power of social custom in workplace union membership, constituting an instrumental motive for joining the union. Self-placement on a political left-right scale measures political attitude which is assumed to constitute a value-rational motive. The statistical results indicate that workplace union density is the main predictor of whether or not an employee is going to join a union, even when other variables such as gender, occupation and industry worked in are taken into consideration. In addition, the results indicate that political attitude is also an important factor. 

Reference: Full text

My Union, My Voice.

 Trade Union

Yet these workers are often the most vulnerable, facing problems of low pay, poor access to decent training and apprenticeships, exploitative internships, and diffi culties in the housing market. Unions can help with all these issues.

Sometimes there is no union to join where young people are working. But many just don’t see the connection between the jobs they do, the problems they face, and the support a trade union can offer. So we must reach out to workers in sectors where union presence is limited; and where there is none we must demonstrate our relevance to young workers. That means showing a face of trade unionism to which young workers can relate.

Inspiring stories from young union reps. 

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The future of work: Trade unions in transformation

 trade union

The decline in unionization rates across the world

That unions need to revitalize themselves and reach out beyond their present constituency in order to stay relevant is beyond doubt. In both industrialized and developing countries, trade unions struggle to expand beyond the narrowing minority of workers in declining industries, large firms and the public sector. In the industrialized countries union membership is ageing; in low-income and developing countries trade unions have contracted with the decline in formal employment. Lacking or weak representation of young people, of workers with temporary employment contracts, of women in some countries, and of freelance and own-account workers, whether correctly or falsely classified like those in the gig economy, weakens the future growth of trade unions, narrows their agenda and erodes their legitimacy in collective bargaining and social dialogue.

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Informal economy:Future of trade union

 -Trade Union-

Presenting best practice and case studies from trade unions worldwide, Organizing Informal Economy Workers into Trade Unions seeks to improve the technical knowledge and skills of union leaders, educators, organizers and representatives of organizations of informal economy workers on the need for formalizing the informal economy.

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