Representing Workers: Trade Union Recognition and Membership in Britain (Future of Trade Unions in Modern Britain)

209 Pages·2003·0.802 MB·English

by  Howard Gospel

Representing Workers
Employment relations are at a crossroad. Worker representation has his-
torically been dominated by trade union channels in the advanced
economies, but with the decline in union membership other forms of
representation are increasingly significant.
Representing Workersis the result of significant research addressing key
issues underlying these developments. A group of internationally renowned
employment relations specialists, under the Leverhulme Foundation Future
of Trade Unionism Programme, consider issues such as
• trends in trade union membership;
• factors behind the decline of union membership;
• young workers and trade unionism;
• the law and union recognition;
• European influences on worker representation;
• non-union representation;
• trade unionism in the context of new forms of representation;
• enhancing the appeal of unions.
This timely study of worker representation presents powerful analysis of
such issues. Representing Workers is one of the most broad-ranging
studies of representation, and is essential reading for anyone studying or
working in employment relations.
Howard Gospel is Professor of Management at King’s College, London,
Research Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance, London School
of Economics, and Fellow at Said Business School, University of Oxford.
Stephen Woodis Research Professor and Deputy Director of the Institute of
Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield, and Research Associate at
the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics. He is
also co-director for the ESRC Centre for Organization and Innovation, and
Chief Editor of the British JournalofIndustrial Relations.
The future of trade unions in Britain
The Centre for Economic Performance
This groundbreaking new series on trade unions and employment relations
is the result of the largest research grant ever awarded by the Leverhulme
Trust, and the three series titles both analyse and evaluate the nature of
unionization in Britain. With a multidisciplinary approach, the series
brings together experts in the field of employment relations to offer three
of the most informed, broad-ranging and up-to-date studies available.
Essential reading for anyone studying or working professionally within
employment relations in Britain.
Representing Workers
Trade union recognition and membership in Britain
Edited by Howard Gospel and Stephen Wood
Representing Workers
Trade union recognition and
membership in Britain
Edited by Howard Gospel
and Stephen Wood
First published 2003 by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
© 2003 Howard Gospel and Stephen Wood for selection and
editorial matter; individual chapters, the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Representing workers: trade union recognition and membership
in Britain / edited by Howard Gospel and Stephen Wood.
p. cm. – (The future of trade unions in Britain; 1)
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Labor unions–Great Britain. 2. Industrial relations–Great
Britain. I. Gospel, Howard F. II. Wood, Stephen, 1948–
III. Series.
HD6664 .R46 2003
331.88(cid:1)0941–dc21
2002152698
ISBN 0-203-45136-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-45771-4 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–28727–8 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–28728–6 (pbk)
Contents
List of illustrations vii
List of tables viii
Contributors x
Foreword xiii
Acknowledgements xv
1 Representing workers in modern Britain 1
HOWARD GOSPEL AND STEPHEN WOOD
2 Trade union decline, new workplaces and new workers 15
STEPHEN MACHIN
3 Young workers and trade unions 29
RICHARD FREEMAN AND WAYNE DIAMOND
4 Willingness to unionize amongst non-union workers 51
ANDY CHARLWOOD
5 Buying into union membership 72
ALEX BRYSON AND RAFAEL GOMEZ
6 What do unions do for women? 92
HELEN BEWLEY AND SUE FERNIE
7 The impact of the trade union recognition procedure
under the Employment Relations Act, 2000–2 119
STEPHEN WOOD, SIAN MOORE AND KEITH EWING
8 Dilemmas in worker representation: information,
consultation and negotiation 144
HOWARD GOSPEL AND PAUL WILLMAN
vi Contents
9 A US perspective on the future of trade unions in
Britain 166
THOMAS A. KOCHAN
Bibliography 178
Index 188
Illustrations
Figures
3.1 Union membership of employees by age, 1983–2001 (BSAS) 32
3.2 Union membership of employees by age, 1992–2001 (LFS) 33
4.1 Two models of the determinants of propensity to unionize 55
5.1 Union membership rates in Britain, Canada and the USA,
1900–2001 72
5.2 The rise of never-membership, 1983–2001 73
5.3 The consumer choice framework and union membership 78
5.4 Unionization as an experience good for workers 82
7.1 Progress chart of applications to the CAC for recognition:
June2000–May 2002 125
7.2 Completed recognition cases, 1975–2001 139
Boxes
2.1 Individual case study of union decline 16
3.1 The UNISON–National Union of Students
www.troubleatwork.org.uk website to provide information
and advice to student workers having problems at work 46
3.2 UNIFI’s improved participation project: developing a
young workers’ rep. 47
4.1 Targets for recruitment 66–7
5.1 The case of never-membership in Britain 73
6.1 A working woman 92–3
7.1 Recognition for the Transport and General Workers
Union at The Snack Factory 126–8
8.1 The European Steel Industry 155–6
Tables
2.1 Trade union recognition in Britain: 1980–98 18
2.2 Individual union membership and worker age: 1975–2001 21
2.3 Industry rankings of individual union membership for all
workersand workers aged greater than 30 in 2001 24
2.4 Industry-level regressions of union recognition on age of
workerandage of workplace 26
3.1 Union membership of employees by age in 2001 29
3.2 The proportion of employed 16–25-year-olds living at home
inunions, by parental union status, and the implicit
equilibriumrateof unionization: 1990 and 2001 34
3.3 Attitudes of young persons towards unions 36
3.4 Attitudes of employees towards trade unions by age 38
3.5 Logistic regression estimates of the effect of youth on union
membership among British employees 42
3.6 Workers with union at their workplace, by age 43
3.7 Employee views of alternative forms of workplace
representation 49
4.1 Willingness to join a union in 1998 and 2001 52
4.2 Key variables used in analysis of willingness to unionize 59
4.3 Determinants of willingness to unionize 62
4.4 The impact of information and consultation committees on
willingness to unionize 64
5.1 Evidence for the experience-good model of trade union
membership 76–7
6.1 Characteristics of the five largest unions 99
6.2 Union recognition and the incidence of equal opportunities
policiesand family-friendly working for non-managerial
workers 103
Tables ix
6.3 Association between use of equal opportunities policies and
unionrecognition or HRM practices 106–7
6.4 Association between availability of family-friendly practices
andunion recognition or HRM practices 108–9
6.5 Association between equal opportunities or family-friendly
outcomesand union recognition or HRM practices 110–11
6.6 Equal opportunities and family-friendly policies and
outcomesfortypical workplaces 113
7.1 Cases where the CAC has determined the bargaining unit 130
7.2 Voluntary recognitions: 1995–2001 138
8.1 The scope of negotiation, consultation and information
provisionbytype of worker representatives: 1998 150
8.2 Union presence, density, and recognition, collective
bargaining,andjoint consultative arrangements: 1980–98 151
8.3 Preferences of employees for dealing with workplace issues 158
8.4 Employees’ perceptions of the effects of having trade unions
andworks councils in their workplace 159
8.5 Employees’ perceptions of how well they are informed on
keyworkplace matters 161