Journal of Industrial Relations

In response to membership decline, trade unions have attempted a number of revitalization strategies. One of these is political campaigning. If used as a revitalization strategy, political campaigns are not just employed because the union desires a specific policy outcome but also as a way to convince new members to join the union. Drawing from the literature on both union revitalization and interest group strategies more in general, we seek to explain why some unions attempt this revitalization strategy where others do not. We use a controlled comparison of two trade union federations in the same country facing the same membership pressures to determine which factor or factors contribute to using this strategy. One trade union organized a campaign to increase the minimum wage specifically to boost its membership (the #Voor14 campaign), while the other did not. On the basis of interviews with key actors in both unions, we identify a key factor in determining union strategic choices: some groups risk their relations with the government and employers to gain more power at the negotiation table, while others believe that expanding membership is not worth risking the relations with the government and employers.

Union representatives were surveyed throughout Belgium between August and December 2021 through an online questionnaire (N = 469) to assess the relationship between trade union representatives’ perception of social dialogue quality and change in workers’ physical and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use a modified Poisson regression for binary outcomes controlling for company characteristics, pre-pandemic self-reported health and pandemic-related measures. A total of 30.1% of the sample reported the social dialogue quality has deteriorated during the pandemic. Relative risks (RRs) of poor physical and mental health when social dialogue has worsened are 1.49 (95%CI (95% confidence interval) = 1.03; 2.15) and 1.38 (95%CI = 1.09; 1.74). Controlling for pandemic-related measures slightly reduces the risk of both poor mental (RR = 1.25; 95%CI = 0.84; 1.87) and physical health (RR = 1.18; 95%CI = 0.94; 1.49). Although based on self-reported variables, the study shows an association between poor social dialogue quality and health and underlines the need to look at company-level collective negotiation.

Union leaders dedicate a significant amount of their time to unions, and in some cases, their entire life. Scholarly literature has made great progress in identifying the individual and mesolevel variables that explain how this type of union participation begins and continues. Yet it has paid little attention to the role played by the national industrial relations system in these processes. Drawing on the concept of “union career,” this article shows that the national regulations and the union power shape the characteristics and development of union leaders’ participation. Based on an in-depth interview program, a survey and a review of the press in Chile, it examines how neoliberal reforms implemented since 1979 changed the resources and opportunities available to workers to assume, manage, and maintain union positions.

This study analyses 17 care economies using 2016 Luxembourg Income Study data to contribute to extant debate regarding the ongoing utility of care regimes as a classificatory schema for cross-national comparison. Examining similarities and differences in the provision of low-status work in health, education, social work, and domestic services – the ‘care economy’ – the data reveal devaluation of the labour done by immigrant women care workers, net of national and regime-level variation. In addition, numerous similarities across liberal, corporatist, social democratic, and central and eastern European care regimes emerge, in terms of the overrepresentation of immigrant women in low status care work, and the disproportionate financial penalties these workers incur. Together, findings suggest that notwithstanding national and policy-specific differences, there has been considerable convergence across economies of care towards a ‘migrant in the market’ model of employment. Such large-scale evidence of this trend calls into question the ongoing efficacy of care regimes for national comparisons of migrant care work under conditions of neoliberal globalization.

As in many nations, New Zealand's (NZ) government has sought to implement workplace policies in public service agencies, including equity initiatives to accelerate diversity and inclusion. However, these processes have been disrupted by the labour market and wider effects of Covid-19 and austerity policies. This is significant for NZ-based Pacific women workers, who often face pronounced workplace inequities though scant knowledge exists about the role of Pacific employee networks in progressing equity. This study examined such networks in three NZ public service agencies, focussing on the ‘ambition’ of, and influences on progress with, their equity pursuits. Seventy-two semi-structured interviews with sector experts, agency managers and staff, including Pacific women and men whose voices are often muted in the formulation of workplace responses ( Maiava-Zajkowski, 2021) were conducted throughout 2020 and early 2021. Thematic content analysis revealed that agency networks vary in size, whom they support, their activities, and environmental dynamics. Using an equity approach typology, less ambitious equity goals were found to prevail, reflecting the networks’ fledgling status. Yet, despite facing austerity policies and pandemic challenges, the networks mitigated curbs on workplace equity activity by harnessing the agency of members, with the potential to push for intersectional and culturally informed equity initiatives.

Over the past few decades, policymakers have become increasingly intrigued by public procurement's potential to serve as a policy tool. In line with an increased prevalence of attempts to leverage public procurement for promoting employment-related goals, a growing body of research explores the linkages between public procurement and employment. Yet, while different aspects of the procurement process influence labour market outcomes and the linkages are multiple, current research focuses on individual aspects only. As a result, current understandings of the linkage between public procurement and its labour market effects remain fragmented. Considering choices between the initial identification of an object of purchase and the award and delivery of the contract, this article conceptualises the multi-faceted linkages between public procurement and labour market inequalities understood as issues of access to and (in)equality in employment. It argues that three key aspects (the design of the object, requirements set in the process of buying, and the type of provider) make distinct contributions to the overall impact that procurement processes have on labour market inequality and outlines a framework for analysing the implications of choices at these three core decision points.