Search

The role of labor unions is found to be insufficient in European Union countries.

Analysis of the tactics and management pattern of non-union employers to remain union free is given. Three factors that influence employer behavior are analyzed, structural, ideological, and cultural dimensions.

Analysis of the rise in Call center employment in the United Kingdom and the prospects of future union involvement in the sector is given. Call center survey results regarding trade unionism as well as union recruitment and organization possibilities in the sector.

An analysis of economic, political and legislative developments in European Union member states' social policy and industrial relations in 2000 is offered. Additional information on the impact of European Monetary Union on collective bargaining and industrial relations in various European countries in 2000 is included.

The reasons for union decline in the U.K. are assessed, and the U.K. Employment Relations Act of 1999 is analyzed in relation to findings on 143 voluntary sector employers for opportunitites for membership growth and new recognition agreements. The author reaches mixed conclusions because of uncertain attitudes of employers and unions.

An analysis of industrial relations in various organizations in Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic is offered. Additional information on the role of successor trade union organizations, independent labor unions and workplace councils in management of industrial relations is included.

The proposed UK labor law which allows statutory labor union certification was patterned after that of the US. However, the US record with regards to labor unions is dismal. After a rise in collective bargaining in the late 1930s and early 1950s, it has been experiencing a continuous downtrend. It is possible that certification is primary cause of the decline in the popularity of collective bargaining in the private sector.

The issue on the relationship between the stages of economic development and industrial relations systems was significantly assessed. Theassessment presents a thesis containing clear and positive associations between stages and types of industrialization. However, it was argued that the study failed to provide enough emphasis on on the contingencies of political economy.

There is a need to develop a more comprehensive theory regarding the relationships of industrialization and industrial relations. There should also be emphasis on the political dynamics and unions associated to the each process. However, it must also be realized that there is a need to focus economic issues relations. A better theory should include the combination of economic relations and industrial relations.

Multinational companies are increasingly emphasizing on their transnational industrial relations practices as a result of their quest for international expansion. Such a move has significantly affected international forms of management organizations, business divisions and global operations. On the other hand, employment and working conditions within these companies are continuously struggling to achieve improved flexibilty and quality.

Works councils in Europe are supported by legislations and national agreement that provide employees the right to consultation when management makes decisions which directly affect them. Because of these functions, European work councils (ECW) are considered a symbol of workplace democracy. However, ECWs have the tendency to be passive, instead of calling for restructuring and management-driven changes. They can also worsen the poor representation of key groups in the workforce such as the disabled and ethnic minorities.

There are two types of employee participatory outcome in the US workplace, namely, employer-organised participation and negotiated participation. The former is initiated by employers to increase productivity, flexibility, and product quality while the latter is driven by independent unions and work councils to reorganize production to compete in the world market. However, negotiated participation is found to provide a lasting and empowered employee participation as it represents the individual employee interest.

Financial participation schemes are a form of incentivisation and workplaces with financial participation tend to differ from workplaces without financial participation. Workplaces using cash and share schemes also differ from workplaces using share schemes only. Workplaces with cash schemes are more productive. There are also more information sharing mechanisms and greater employee participation and representation in workplaces with financial participation.

The efforts of Central and Eastern European governments to privatize public firms signal the development of a new labor relations structure due to the emergence of employers as a bargaining group. Since privatization also empower the workers in economic policy-making, employers and laborers should cooordinate in the formulation and implementation of said policies. However, labor conflicts may arise as a consequence of the reform.

Labor unions in Russia have acquired changes similar to those adopted by unions in industrialized market economies (IMEs), such as the regulation of employee-reward systems and the methods for collective organization. However, industrial relations in Russia are different from IMEs since the trend is from industrial to agricultural. Moreover, the Russian economy already had an existing network of labor unions and a large and educated labor force.

A study was conducted on the post-unification problems of trade unions in the former East Germany. Focus was on union expectations and experiences of membership of western-based unions. The influence of the eastern trade union on the German Co-Determination model of industrial relations was also analyzed.

The struggle between organized labor and capital in Sweden is analyzed. The Swedish Employers' Confederation (SAF) and trade union group, LO established a long standing agreement wherein the SAF recognized the LO and the LO acknowledged the 'right to manage' of employers. However, the LO has demanded laws to reduce management control over decision-making and the creation of Employee Investment Funds. Management, on the other hand, has continued to resist demands for reform.

The Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (WIRS) series provides imporant data on industrial relations (IR). Critics contend that WIRS does not provide useful data and supports a dangerous trend of using excessive survey research. However, the multivariate statistical analysis undertaken in WIRS has been proven to be robust and has provided valuable insights on collective bargaining, joint consultation and job evaluation.

British Telecommunications PLC (BT) undertook major changes in the structure and mechanics of corporate joint consultations in 1990 as part of its Project Sovereign cultural-change program. The company explained that it wanted to improve employee participation and employ new communication strategies. However, observers noted that BT's efforts also limited union activity and influence, particularly in collective bargaining.

European trade unions are internationalizing their activities, a trend being influenced by the political and economic integration occurring in their region. International trade union development will be affected by three factors, namely conflictual, institutional and political power. Political power will be the main determinant of EC regulations covering industrial relations, although such a power will be dependent on the ability of unions to manage conflictual power.

External influences of both an economic and political kind have had a significant impact on recent developments in industrial relations in the UK and Germany. These external influences include conjunctural forces, ideological shifts, a sectoral shift from the manufacturing to the service sector and changes resulting from the adoption of a new production policy in manufacturing. The German system has been able to withstand these external challenges better compared with the British system owing to the lesser severity of these influences and partly to its structural characteristics.

Huw Beynon's 'Working for Ford' was published in 1973 but it remains as one of the most important materials focusing on workplace industrial relations and shop-floor trade unionism. Workplace trade unionism in the Ford Halewood car plant on Merseyside, UK, has shown definite elements of continuity since the publication of Beynon's book. The emergence of bureaucratization of relations between stewards and members during the 1980s and 1990s can be partly attributed to the weakness of shop-floor resistance towards management. However, this does not mean that bureaucratization will become permanent.

The harmonization of labor market conditions and the adoption of new models of employment and production have both contributed to the development of European employment systems despite the presence of contradictory factors. Different systems are not necessarily in a state of convergence even though they seem to be undergoing similar influences or shared experiences. Generic innovations in labor markets within an EC-wide framework of basic terms of employment do not indicate convergence.

Multinational corporations (MNCs) are adopting human resource management (HRM) techniques and assertive ways of organizational change. These HRM practices may weaken the independent nature of European labor representation via the trade union. The recession may make it easier for MNCs to implement HRM practices but they must still assess various internal and external conditions prior to implementation. A less 'formalistic' approach to change within industrial relations is suggested.

Labor relations models in countries such as Bulgaria, the Czech and Sloval Republics, Hungary and Poland during the communist regimes were characterized by state ownership of enterprises, party political control and central planning. However, the fall of communism in these countries has transformed labor relations, especially in areas such as trade unions, tripartism, collective bargaining and participation.

A 1992 study on Japanese manufacturing companies in Wales, England showed a historical presentation of the emergence of a specialized type of industrial relations in these firms. Managers from 23 firms were interviewed and the contents of 18 collective agreements were analyzed. Results showed that Japanese manufacturers gave considerable importance to communications and consultations in industrial relations which focus on single union agreements.

Legal and cultural factors do not explain the flexibility of Italian industrial relations. This flexibility can be attributed to the political and strategic failure of the labor leaders to protect the members. The recession and restructuring of workers' attitudes also played significant roles in the emergence of this flexibility. The emergence of the Cobas and the drop in trade union membership are two of the pressing problems of Italian labor.

This article investigates the relationship between worker voice practices, employee perceptions of managerial responsiveness and labour productivity. It argues that managerial responsiveness is a critical but under-investigated variable in the study of the relationship between worker voice, human resource management and performance. Our results suggest that managerial responsiveness to worker voice does lead to superior labour productivity. However, this relationship is only found in non-union workplaces and there is little relationship between formal voice regime and productivity. One important implication of this finding is that more responsive management will result in improved productivity, so policy interventions should focus on how to motivate managers to become more responsive to their employees.

The academic debate on partnerships has so far mainly focused on whether there are mutual gains for both unions and employers and whether they support or undermine branch organisation. This debate is here assessed in relation to learning partnerships, which are considered to be a distinctive form of partnership and represent a process of institution-building.

This article considers issues of workplace union strategy in a study of a National Health Service hospital trust in which the focus of the investigation is the 'employee voice' gains, or losses, arising from partnership and worker participation. The impact of government policy on local management and, in turn, employees' opportunities to participate in organisational decision making is therefore the main theme explored in this analysis.

ISTC, the UK union most commonly associated with organizing unions set up t he first non-union s ite at Fullarton Computer Industries Ltd. in Gourock, Scotland. The case study is analyzed.

Benchwarming encompasses the comparison of perforamance data with strategic exercises that examine how best companies are run. The Open method of coordination designed by the EU for companies in Europe may succeed but there are those who say it lead to the slow death of the community method in industrial relations.