Are Trade Unions Still Relevant?

Are Trade Unions Still Relevant?
Author: Dr Tom Turner
Publisher: Orpen Press
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2013-05-24
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1909895067

This edited collection examines the relevance of trade unions 100 years on from the 1913 Lockout in Dublin. The general argument underpinning the papers in this book is that trade unions are still relevant in the 21st century, since they provide an independent collective representation for workers and address the power imbalance between the worker and employer. All of the chapter authors are based at the Department of Personnel and Employment Relations, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick. The chapters are grouped under three broad headings: The demand for trade unions in the 21st century; partnership at work and the legal context of union recognition; and case studies dealing with union organising and recognition campaigns This book provides a focus on an area not covered in any detailed way by any comparable text book.It will be of interest to undergraduates and postgraduates in the area of employment relations and to practioners such as trade union officials and human resource managers.In addition it will be of interest to a wider body of academics internationally who wish to understand trade unions in Ireland for comparative purposes.

The Economics of Trade Unions

The Economics of Trade Unions
Author: Hristos Doucouliagos
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2017-02-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317498283

Richard B. Freeman and James L. Medoff’s now classic 1984 book What Do Unions Do? stimulated an enormous theoretical and empirical literature on the economic impact of trade unions. Trade unions continue to be a significant feature of many labor markets, particularly in developing countries, and issues of labor market regulations and labor institutions remain critically important to researchers and policy makers. The relations between unions and management can range between cooperation and conflict; unions have powerful offsetting wage and non-wage effects that economists and other social scientists have long debated. Do the benefits of unionism exceed the costs to the economy and society writ large, or do the costs exceed the benefits? The Economics of Trade Unions offers the first comprehensive review, analysis and evaluation of the empirical literature on the microeconomic effects of trade unions using the tools of meta-regression analysis to identify and quantify the economic impact of trade unions, as well as to correct research design faults, the effects of selection bias and model misspecification. This volume makes use of a unique dataset of hundreds of empirical studies and their reported estimates of the microeconomic impact of trade unions. Written by three authors who have been at the forefront of this research field (including the co-author of the original volume, What Do Unions Do?), this book offers an overview of a subject that is of huge importance to scholars of labor economics, industrial and employee relations, and human resource management, as well as those with an interest in meta-analysis.

What Unions No Longer Do

What Unions No Longer Do
Author: Jake Rosenfeld
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2014-02-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0674726219

From workers' wages to presidential elections, labor unions once exerted tremendous clout in American life. In the immediate post-World War II era, one in three workers belonged to a union. The fraction now is close to one in five, and just one in ten in the private sector. The only thing big about Big Labor today is the scope of its problems. While many studies have explained the causes of this decline, What Unions No Longer Do shows the broad repercussions of labor's collapse for the American economy and polity. Organized labor was not just a minor player during the middle decades of the twentieth century, Jake Rosenfeld asserts. For generations it was the core institution fighting for economic and political equality in the United States. Unions leveraged their bargaining power to deliver benefits to workers while shaping cultural understandings of fairness in the workplace. What Unions No Longer Do details the consequences of labor's decline, including poorer working conditions, less economic assimilation for immigrants, and wage stagnation among African-Americans. In short, unions are no longer instrumental in combating inequality in our economy and our politics, resulting in a sharp decline in the prospects of American workers and their families.

Organizing Matters

Organizing Matters
Author: Guy Mundlak
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2020-05-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1839104031

Organizing Matters demonstrates the interplay between two distinct logics of labour’s collective action: on the one hand, workers coming together, usually at their place of work, entrusting the union to represent their interests and, on the other hand, social bargaining in which the trade union constructs labour’s interests from the top down. The book investigates the tensions and potential complementarities between the two logics through the combination of a strong theoretical framework and an extensive qualitative case study of trade union organizing and recruitment in four countries – Austria, Germany, Israel and the Netherlands. These countries still utilize social-wide bargaining but find it necessary to draw and develop strategies transposed from Anglo-American countries in response to continuously declining membership.

Who Rules America Now?

Who Rules America Now?
Author: G. William Domhoff
Publisher: Touchstone
Total Pages: 244
Release: 1986
Genre: History
ISBN:

The author is convinced that there is a ruling class in America today. He examines the American power structure as it has developed in the 1980s. He presents systematic, empirical evidence that a fixed group of privileged people dominates the American economy and government. The book demonstrates that an upper class comprising only one-half of one percent of the population occupies key positions within the corporate community. It shows how leaders within this "power elite" reach government and dominate it through processes of special-interest lobbying, policy planning and candidate selection. It is written not to promote any political ideology, but to analyze our society with accuracy.

The Anthropology of Labor Unions

The Anthropology of Labor Unions
Author: E. Paul Durrenberger
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2012-05-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1607320436

The Anthropology of Labor Unions presents ethnographic data and analysis in eight case studies from several very diverse industries. It covers a wide range of topics, from the role of women and community in strikes to the importance of place in organization, and addresses global concerns with studies from Mexico and Malawu. Union-organized workplaces consistently afford workers higher wages and better pensions, benefits, and health coverage than their nonunion counterparts. In addition, women and minorities who belong to unions are more likely to receive higher wages and benefits than their nonunion peers. Given the economic advantages of union membership, one might expect to see higher rates of organization across industries, but labor affiliation is at an all-time low. What accounts for this discrepancy? The contributors in this volume provide a variety of perspectives on this paradox, including discussions of approaches to and findings on the histories, cultures, and practices of organized labor. They also address substantive issues such as race, class, gender, age, generation, ethnicity, health and safety concerns, corporate co-optation of unions, and the cultural context of union-management relationships. The first to bring together anthropological case studies of labor unions, this volume will appeal to cultural anthropologists, social scientists, sociologists, and those interested in labor studies and labor movements.

Trade Unions and Migrant Workers

Trade Unions and Migrant Workers
Author: Stefania Marino
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2017-12-29
Genre: Europe
ISBN: 1788114086

This timely book analyses the relationship between trade unions, immigration and migrant workers across eleven European countries in the period between the 1990s and 2015. It constitutes an extensive update of a previous comparative analysis – published by Rinus Penninx and Judith Roosblad in 2000 – that has become an important reference in the field. The book offers an overview of how trade unions manage issues of inclusion and solidarity in the current economic and political context, characterized by increasing challenges for labour organizations and rising hostility towards migrants.

The Future of European Social Democracy

The Future of European Social Democracy
Author: H. Meyer
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2011-11-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0230355048

European social democracy is in crisis. In the last decade it has ceased to be about either society or democracy. The authors explore its values, how it can be revived and what kind of political economy it requires to thrive. This book includes a foreword by the two leaders of the 'Building the Good Society' project, Andrea Nahles and Jon Cruddas.

Unequal Political Participation Worldwide

Unequal Political Participation Worldwide
Author: Aina Gallego
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2015
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 110702353X

This book describes the levels of unequal electoral participation in thirty-six countries worldwide, examines possible causes of this phenomenon, and discusses its consequences.

Working from Home

Working from Home
Author: INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE.
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021
Genre: COVID-19 (Disease)
ISBN: 9789220337103

With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, many in the world's workforce have shifted to homeworking, thereby joining the hundreds of millions of workers who have already been working from home for decades. This report seeks to improve understanding of home work as well as to offer policy guidance that can pave the way to decent work for homeworkers both old and new