The effects of collective bargaining systems on the productivity function of firms: An analysis of bargaining structures and processes and the implications for policy making

Trade union revitalisation: Where are we now? Where to next?

Journal of Industrial Relations ◽

10.1177/0022185616677558 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 59 (2) ◽

pp. 170-191 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Christian Lyhne Ibsen ◽

Maite Tapia

Keyword(s):

Collective Bargaining ◽

Trade Unions ◽

Policy Making ◽

Political Action ◽

Value Chains ◽

Anglo Saxon ◽

Power Resources ◽

Institutional Frameworks ◽

Institutional Contexts

In this article, we review and assess research on the role of trade unions in labour markets and society, the current decline of unions and union revitalisation. The review shows three main trends. First, trade unions are converging into similar strategies of revitalisation. The ‘organising model’ has spread far beyond the Anglo-Saxon countries and is now commonplace for unions as a way to reach new worker constituencies. Thus, even in ‘institutionally secure’ countries like Germany and the Nordic countries, unions are employing organising strategies while at the same time trying to defend their traditional strongholds of collective bargaining and corporatist policy-making. Second, research has shown that used strategies are not a panacea for success for unions in countries that spearheaded revitalisation. This finding points to the importance of supportive institutional frameworks if unions are to regain power. Third, especially in Anglo-Saxon countries, unions are building external coalitions with other social movements, including across borders, to compensate for the loss of power resources that were tied to national collective bargaining and policy-making. Research has shown that unions, even in adverse institutional contexts, can be effective when they reinvent their repertoires of contention, through political action or campaigning along global value chains.

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Unions and collective bargaining in Australia in 2020

Journal of Industrial Relations ◽

10.1177/00221856211003597 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 002218562110035

Author(s):

Mark Bray ◽

Johanna Macneil ◽

Leslee Spiess

Keyword(s):

Collective Bargaining ◽

Policy Making ◽

Legislative Change ◽

Great Uncertainty ◽

Difficult Times

The sudden and dramatic lockdowns in Australia resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic brought great uncertainty and much change during 2020. This review concentrates on the impacts of these contextual changes on Australian unions and collective bargaining. Union efforts to cooperate with governments in policy-making and with employers at a workplace level were greeted with applause. But other arenas, as the crisis moderated, saw more traditional adversarialism. In particular, the failure of the parties to agree on legislative change meant that the government’s ‘omnibus’ bill, presented to parliament in December, would prove controversial and strongly contested in the new year. The structure and process of collective bargaining seemed to change remarkably little in 2020. A closer examination of the practice and outcomes of collective bargaining, however, suggests continued difficult times for workers and unions.

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