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Unions and Workers (What do unions do Purpose and diversity (Wide variety…
Unions and Workers
What do unions do
Purpose and diversity
Wide variety of economic & social roles
Economic Roles
wages
working conditions
information
recognition of qualifications
Socio-political roles
assistance
employment security
profesionnal identities
promotion of democracy
Tools
negotiation & collective bargaining
job regulation
collective action
Competing views about what they do
Traditional view: union = bad (Hicks)
labour market in two segments : unionized & non-unionized
raise wages in unionized market = decrese of employment
consequence : non-unionized increase labour supllu = wages down
Contemporary research (Laroche & Salesina)
do not necessarily raise wages : not universal
bargaining power is key : capacity to wield power
institutional context plays role : influence rules of ER/bargaining
reduce wage inequality : example for non-unionized settings
Unions and collective voice (Freeman & Medoff)
Voice
exit : partial & indirect information
voice : information but costly if not collective
loyalty : no information
Two-face model of union behaviour
act as monopoly : increase capital intensity (bargaining power) + adopt more restrictive work rules (shock effect)
collective voice chanel : protect from adversarial effects + information about workers' preferences to management
What is a union?
Unions & their general purpose
Unions seek to protect & improve workers' rights
general purpose: represent, protect and improve rights
Three definitions
Thousand words
organise
Generalization
legally authorised organisations
protect workers' rights
Legal definition
étude et défenses et droits & intérêts
personnes visées par leurs statuts
Union can mean a lot of different things
organisations with varietyof organizational structures
Union structure: general model
hierarchical structure : members, representatives, local, sector-level, national-level confederation, international
example: bureaucratic CGT
variation in the degree of autonomy
risk of diverging objectives & strategies
Alternative structures : "flat" structure
network of sector-level
each federation is autonomous
detrimental to capacity to grow or influence
example : Solidaires
From workers' interests to collective action
individual to collective actions
Unionization for variety of reasons
workers, their interests & unions
Paradox of collective action (Olson)
public goods : lack of incentive
no rational reason to unionize
Individual incentives to unionization (Olson)
utilitarian membership : individual protection & information
belief-related membership : ideological reasons, good cause
pressure-related membership : direct/indirect social pressure because the job only accessible through union (closed shop)
Mobilization theory (Kelly)
sense of injustice & grievance
grievance to be collective
Interests
injustice
against an other
social identification "us" vs "them"
Organization
communication & decision-making structure
quality of the structures
Opportunity structure
balance of power
cost of repression
external support
Mobilization
leadership
cost-benefit estimations
social interactions and peer pressure
Collective action is a difficult process to carry out
collective action does not emerge
Threats to unions
membership deline
men > women
older > younger
public > private
standard employment contract
bigger companies > small companies