British Journal of Industrial Relations

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Latest documents

• Re‐union: How bold labor reforms can repair, revitalize, and reunite the United States By David Madland, Ithaca, NY: ILR Press. 2021. 240 pp. Price $29.95 (hbk). ISBN: 978‐1501755378.
• Trade unions in the European Union Edited by Jeremy Waddington, Torsten Müller and Kurt Vandaele. Bruxelles: Peter Lang, 2023. Price: Softcover Euro 66, PDF free download
• Menopause transitions and the workplace theorizing transitions, responsibilities and interventions Edited by Vanessa Beck and Jo Brewis. Bristol University Press, Jan 10, 2024, 186 pp., ISBN: 978–1529215700, Price GBP 79.99, h/b
• Union strategies in conflict: A comparative study of strike fund institutionalisation and infrastructural resources

  This article unveils the establishment or rejection of strike funds as a tangible organisational tool towards union renewal. Despite strike funds being a necessary and recurring instrument in the organisation of strikes, they have seldom been theorised as a distinct (infrastructural) power resource fundamental to understanding unions’ readiness and preparation for industrial conflict. Institutionalised strike funds, supported by union dues, provide economic support to strikers, reinforce their collective identity, legitimise a more confrontational position towards collective bargaining and may garner support from the broader community. Additionally, strike funds may serve as tools to attract members and shape narratives that can influence corporate positions and public opinion during labour disputes. Through a comparative analysis of 10 confederal unions in Spain, we illustrate the different strategic views that unions may hold with respect to them. Crucially, we find that the presence or absence of strike funds reflects the specific political position a union adopts concerning industrial conflict and how they may possibly articulate them with other power resources. Hence, the institutionalisation of strike funds involves a complex union renewal process, which is also influenced by a comparative learning process between unions. Finally, we also explain the flourishing of different strike funds during the last decades that derive from a spillover effect between counterpower and radical unions.

• Shaping contracts for work the normative influence of terms implied by law (Oxford Labour Law) By Gabrielle Golding, UK: Oxford University Press. 2023, 256 pp., ISBN 978–0–19–286782–7, Price $115.00
• Working women on screen: Paid labour and fourth wave feminism By Ellie Tomsett, Nathalie Weidhase and Poppy Wilde, Palgrave Macmillan, UK, 2024, 333 pp, ISBN 978‐3‐031‐49575‐5, Price EUR 119,99 (Hardcover book)
• Just reallocated? Robots displacement, and job quality

  Concerns over widespread technological unemployment are often dismissed with the argument that human labour is not destroyed by automation but rather reallocated to other tasks, occupations or sectors. When focusing on pure employment levels, the idea that workers are not permanently excluded but ‘just’ reallocated might be reassuring. However, while attention has been devoted to the impact of automation on employment levels, little has been said about the quality of new job matches for displaced workers. Using an administrative longitudinal panel covering a large sample of Spanish workers from 2001 to 2017, we investigate the short‐ and medium‐term re‐employment prospects of workers displaced from sectors with an increasing density of industrial robots. Furthermore, we examine the role of reallocation to other sectors or local labour markets as adjustment mechanisms. Our analysis suggests that exposed middle‐ and low‐skilled workers are more likely than non‐exposed workers to remain unemployed 6 months after displacement. Among those who find a new occupation, an additional robot per 1000 workers increases the probability of being re‐employed in a lower paying job by about 1.9 percentage points for middle‐ and low‐skilled workers, with significantly higher penalties for those who relocate to a different sector. Moreover, these workers tend to face a qualification downgrading in the new job and are more likely to be re‐employed through temporary employment agencies. High‐skilled workers are less negatively affected by exposure, although they can also incur a penalty when changing sectors.

• Work and social justice: Rethinking labour in society and the economy By Flora Gill, Bristol: Policy Press (Bristol University Press). 2023. pp. 183. £40.00. ISBN: 978‐1‐4473, 978‐1‐4473‐6994‐3, 978‐1‐4473‐6995‐0
• Works councils and workers’ party preferences in Germany

  Research on the consequences of works councils has been dominated by economic aspects. Our study provides evidence that works councils have non‐financial consequences for society that go beyond the boundaries of the workplace. Using panel data from a large sample of workers in Germany, we show that works councils have an influence on workers’ party preferences. Works council presence is negatively associated with preferences for extreme right‐wing parties and positively associated with preferences for the Social Democratic Party and The Left. These results hold in panel data estimations including a large set of controls and accounting for unobserved individual‐specific factors. Our findings fit the notion that workplace democracy increases workers’ solidarity and their awareness of social and political issues. However, the influence of works council representation on party preferences is gender‐specific. Asymmetric gender norms within society may entail a lower responsiveness of women's party preferences to workplace democracy.

• Union officers' turnaway: Push, pull, and values in Canada, Italy, and the United States

  We compare union officer occupational turnaway in Canada, Italy and the United States. We identify three forces that, in addition to industrial relations institutional settings, shape union officers’ individual decisions on turnaway: push, pull and values. We analysed 101 semi‐structured interviews with ex‐union officers. To shed light on the diversity of their turnaway, we propose a typology composed of six types, each of which is based on one force or the interplay of two or three. Our findings suggest occupational values misfit is central. Former officers experienced a gap between their values and the union's external mission and/or internal functioning, or even developed a root occupational values difference. In addition, contextual characteristics seem to shape turnaway, including industrial relations institutions and societal values. Implications for trade union organizational policies are discussed.

Featured documents

• The Union Avoidance Industry in the United States

  This paper analyses the development of the union avoidance industry in the United States during the past half‐century. Focusing on one leading example from each group, it examines the activities of the four main actors that constitute that industry: consultants, law firms, industry psychologists...

• Divergence in Part‐Time Work in New Zealand, the Netherlands and Denmark

  A comparison of developments in part‐time work in New Zealand, the Netherlands and Denmark shows three very different trends. The Dutch are moving towards a ‘part‐time economy’, the decline in Danish part‐time employment confounds the common expectation of rising atypical employment, while the New...

• What Women Want from Work: Gender and Occupational Choice in the 21st Century – By Ruth Woodfield
• Employers' Search and the Efficiency of Matching

  Unskilled workers in low productivity jobs typically experience higher labour turnover. This article shows how this finding is related to variation in the efficiency of the matching process across occupations. If employers find it less profitable to invest in search and screening activities when...

• Managerial Control of Employees Working at Home

  Places of work constitute processes of management by facilitating ‘visibility’ (the possibility for supervisors and others to observe workers) and ‘presence’ (the ability for workers to participate in relations with co‐workers and others). Working at home creates problems for both these aspects of...

• International Patterns of Union Membership

  This paper examines changes in unionization that have occurred over the last decade or so using individual level micro data on many countries, with particular emphasis on the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. I document an empirical regularity not hitherto identified, namely the...

• A NOTE ON AND A STUDY OF THE ‘FLOATING POPULATION’ EXPLANATION OF LABOUR TURNOVER
• THE ELECTORAL INFLUENCE OF THE OPPOSITION PARTY IN THE A.U.E.W. ENGINEERING SECTION 1960–75
• Transforming a Trade Union? An Assessment of the Introduction of an Organizing Initiative

  In 1995 Unison implemented a National Recruitment Plan, and, in 1997, a National Organizing and Recruitment Strategy, with the objective of reversing the decline in union density in the public sector. This article traces the development of these initiatives and assesses their results. The article...

• ‘COST OF LIVING’ INDEXATION AGREEMENTS IN POST‐WAR BRITISH COLLECTIVE BARGAINING