tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/collective-bargaining-9125/articlesCollective bargaining – The Conversation2024-02-06T13:30:14Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2180282024-02-06T13:30:14Z2024-02-06T13:30:14ZDriving the best possible bargain now isn’t the best long-term strategy, according to game theory<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572022/original/file-20240129-15-8tbwf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C10%2C6669%2C4456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There is such a thing as a win-win deal.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/employee-people-at-modern-office-royalty-free-image/1302423098">nortonrsx/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Conventional wisdom says that you should never leave money on the table when negotiating. But research in my field suggests this could be exactly the wrong approach. </p>
<p>There’s <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/09/a-new-approach-to-contracts">mounting evidence</a> that a short-term win at the bargaining table can mean a loss in terms of overall trust and cooperation. That can leave everyone – including the “winner” – worse off.</p>
<p>As a former executive, I’ve managed large contracts as both a buyer and a seller. Now, as a <a href="https://haslam.utk.edu/people/profile/kate-vitasek">business professor</a>, I study these trading partner relationships, exploring what works in practice. My work supports what economic theorists and social scientists have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-493X.2008.00051.x">arguing for years</a>: The best results come when people collaborate to create long-term value instead of fighting for short-term wins.</p>
<h2>What game are you playing?</h2>
<p>Research into art, science and practice of collaborative approaches dates <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691130613/theory-of-games-and-economic-behavior">back to the 1940s</a> when the mathematician John von Neumann and economist Oskar Morgenstern used mathematical analysis to model competition and cooperation in living things. </p>
<p>Interest in collaborative approaches grew when researchers John Nash, John C. Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten won a <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1994/summary/">Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences</a> in 1994. Their work inspired academics around the world to delve deeper into what’s known as <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/game-theory/">game theory</a>.</p>
<p>Game theory is the study of the outcome of strategic interactions among decision makers. By using rigorous statistical methods, researchers can model what happens when people choose to cooperate or choose to take an aggressive, power-based approach to negotiation.</p>
<p>Many business leaders are taught strategies focusing on <a href="https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/shift-of-power-balance-in-business">using their power</a> and playing to win – often at the other party’s expense. In game theory, this is known as a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zero-sum">zero-sum game</a>, and it’s an easy trap to fall into.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Kate Vitasek lays out five rules for developing a value creation strategy.</span></figcaption>
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<p>But not every game has a clear winner or loser. In economics, a win-win game is called a nonzero-sum game. In this sort of situation, people aren’t fighting over whose slice of a pie will be larger. They’re working to grow the pie for everyone.</p>
<p>A second dimension of game theory is whether people are playing a one-shot or a repeated game. Think of a one-shot game as like going to the flea market: You probably won’t see your trading partner again, so if you’re a jerk to them, the risk of facing the consequences is low.</p>
<p>An interesting twist uncovered by studying repeated games is that when one party uses their power in a negotiation, it creates the urge for the other party to retaliate. </p>
<p>The University of Michigan’s Robert Axelrod, a mathematician turned game theorist, coined this a <a href="https://ee.stanford.edu/%7Ehellman/Breakthrough/book/pdfs/axelrod.pdf">“tit-for-tat” strategy</a>. His research, perhaps best known in the book “<a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/robert-axelrod/the-evolution-of-cooperation/9780465005642">The Evolution of Cooperation</a>,” uses statistics to show that when individuals cooperate, they come out better than when they don’t. </p>
<h2>The case for leaving money on the table</h2>
<p>Another Nobel laureate, American economist <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2009/williamson/facts/">Oliver Williamson</a>, has offered negotiating <a href="https://www.vestedway.com/unpacking-oliver/">advice</a> that most would call a paradigm shift – and some, a heresy. </p>
<p>That advice? Always leave money on the table – especially when you’ll be returning to the same “game” again. Why? According to Williamson, it sends a powerful signal of trustworthiness and credibility to one’s negotiating partner when someone consciously chooses to cooperate and build trust. </p>
<p>The opposite approach leads to lost trust and what the Nobel laureate economist Oliver Hart calls “shading.” This is <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/hart/files/contractsasreferencepointsqje.pdf">a retaliatory behavior</a> that happens when a party isn’t getting the outcome it expected from a deal and feels the other party is to blame. </p>
<p>Simply put, noncollaborative approaches cause distrust and create friction, which adds transaction costs and inefficiencies.</p>
<p>The million-dollar question is whether collaborative approaches work in practice. And from my vantage point as a scholar, the answer is yes. In fields as diverse as <a href="https://www.vestedway.com/island-health/">health care</a> to <a href="https://www.vestedway.com/intel/">high-tech</a>, I see growing real-world evidence backing up the insights of game theory.</p>
<p>The lessons are simple yet profound: Playing a game together to achieve mutual interests is better than playing exclusively with self-interest in mind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218028/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Vitasek works for the University of Tennessee where she studies and teaches organizations how to create win-win collaborative contracts. Her original research between 2003 and 2009 was funded by the United States Air Force.</span></em></p>‘Winning’ in negotiations isn’t always the best approach.Kate Vitasek, Professor of supply chain management, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2210952024-01-16T17:45:20Z2024-01-16T17:45:20ZSaskatchewan teacher strike: It’s about bargaining for the common good<p>For the first time in more than a decade and for only the <a href="https://leaderpost.com/news/saskatchewan/explainer-a-brief-history-of-teachers-strikes-in-saskatchewan">fourth time since 1973</a>, people in Saskatchewan are facing interruptions to schooling due to teacher labour unrest.</p>
<p>While a <a href="https://regina.ctvnews.ca/teachers-hit-the-picket-line-as-saskatchewan-deep-freeze-continues-1.6726764">Jan. 16 province-wide teachers’ strike</a> means only <a href="https://regina.ctvnews.ca/no-teacher-wanted-this-stf-president-says-5-day-strike-notice-was-about-giving-sask-parents-time-1.6723525">a single day</a> of job action, there is a real possibility strike actions could escalate over the next few weeks. </p>
<p>That’s particularly the case with 90 per cent of Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) members having participated in an October vote about job action against the government — and
<a href="https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/buckle-up-sask-teachers-union-votes-95-in-favour-of-potential-job-action-1.6619971">95 per cent of those voting teachers</a> backing job action. </p>
<p>The strike follows early December news that conciliation talks between the STF and the Government of Saskatchewan had broken off. </p>
<p>According to the teachers’ union, the <a href="https://www.stf.sk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/12-13-2023_STF-Message-to-Saskatchewan-Parents-and-Students.pdf">central issues</a> in this dispute are <a href="https://leaderpost.com/news/saskatchewan/teachers-union-frustrated-with-province-not-addressing-growing-class-sizes">class size</a>, “classroom complexity” (<a href="https://leaderpost.com/news/what-is-classroom-complexity-and-why-does-it-matter-to-the-stf">the diversity of student needs in any one classroom,</a>), <a href="https://leaderpost.com/news/saskatchewan/stf-bargaining-update">related support for students</a>, <a href="https://leaderpost.com/news/stf-says-job-action-virtually-inevitable-after-failed-talks-with-province">workplace violence</a>, meaningful actions to <a href="https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/sask-teachers-union-province-at-odds-on-key-issues-as-contract-talks-languish-1.6672626">reconciliation education</a> and other in-class issues. </p>
<p>For their part, teachers have not made their wage demands public, suggesting that for them, wages are not the central issue in this round of bargaining.</p>
<p>Both <a href="https://x.com/evanbrayshow/status/1735045295543669098?s=20">conservative commentators</a> <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10180136/saskatchewan-premier-scott-moe-state-of-education/">and the premier</a> have argued the bargaining table is not the place for teachers to negotiate concerns about classroom issues. </p>
<p>The province, focused on wages, has tabled an offer that keeps wages at below inflation <a href="https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2023/june/29/government-trustee-bargaining-committee-tables-fair-deal-for-teachers">levels for the next three years</a>. </p>
<p>In other provinces, teachers’ unions have successfully argued that classroom size is directly related to workload, which has always been a collective bargaining matter. </p>
<p>Although bargaining is sometimes interpreted narrowly as a discussion over wages and benefits it is not, by its nature, limited to that. Bargaining can — and has — acted as a democratic tool to expand public resources to areas beyond workplace compensation.</p>
<h2>Bargaining classroom size</h2>
<p>In Ontario, the <a href="https://www.pssbp.ca/wp-content/uploads/Teachers-Meshed-Agreement-2019-2022-FINAL-emailed-for-signatures-March-1-2021-PDF.pdf">Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario</a> has negotiated that the boards and government provide ongoing classroom size data to the union in order to determine future classroom ratios. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://osstftoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/HotLinked-2019-2022-OSSTF-Collective-Agreement-Finalised-with-All-Signatures-1.pdf">Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation</a> has language on class size in its collective agreements with specific classroom ratios. </p>
<p>Similar negotiations have occurred in Québec over <a href="https://cpn.gouv.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/03/CPNCA_APEQ_E5_CC-ang_consolide_2023-03-15_V2.pdf">workload issues</a>. </p>
<p>The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation won a <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/16241/index.do">dramatic ruling</a> before the Supreme Court of Canada in 2016. The court ruled the government’s decision to unilaterally prevent teachers <a href="https://canliiconnects.org/en/commentaries/44636">from bargaining classroom size and composition</a> was a violation of their constitutional rights to bargaining collectively. </p>
<p>The decision resulted in hiring hundreds of new teachers to address chronically underfunded classrooms in that province.</p>
<h2>Cuts to education</h2>
<p>The dispute in Saskatchewan did not come out of nowhere. </p>
<p>There has been a 10 per cent drop in <a href="https://www.stf.sk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Education-in-Saskatchewan-Facts-and-Statistics_11-Oct-2023.pdf">per-student funding since 2012-2013</a>. </p>
<p>In 2017, the Saskatchewan Party government <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/saskatchewan-government-decides-not-to-amalgamate-school-boards-1.4035499">cut funding to public education</a> by $22 million from the previous fiscal year. In the same period, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10027832/saskatoon-schools-enrolment-spikes/#">enrolments have risen to record numbers</a>. </p>
<p>These issues pushed teachers to a collective bargaining dispute in <a href="https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/top-stories-of-2020-teachers-strike-avoided-as-pandemic-surged-into-saskatchewan">2019, but it was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic</a>. </p>
<h2>Staffing crises</h2>
<p>Post-pandemic, teacher morale and turnover have reached crisis levels. </p>
<p>Samantha Becotte, the STF’s president, noted there has been a general crisis in <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9940451/canada-teacher-shortage">education across the country</a> evident in teacher shortages, with <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9848620/saskatchewan-teachers-contract-talks/#">an attrition rate of about 40 per cent among educators in the first five years of their careers</a>.</p>
<p>Becotte’s comments align with research showing attrition rates have hovered <a href="https://archipel.uqam.ca/12263/1/2013_Karsenti%2C%20T%20et%20Collin%2C%20S_Education.pdf">at close to 50 per cent</a> over about the last decade. </p>
<p>Government underfunding has also led to creeping <a href="https://leaderpost.com/opinion/heather-ganshorn-medeana-moussa-beware-privatization-creep-in-education-system">privatization</a>. </p>
<p>Squeezed board budgets have meant an increase in fees to some Saskatoon and Regina parents <a href="https://leaderpost.com/news/saskatchewan/upped-lunch-hour-supervision-fees-for-sask-parents-as-school-resumes">for lunch-time supervision</a>.</p>
<p>These cuts have also resulted in <a href="https://www.stf.sk.ca/about-stf/news/bargaining-impasse-declared-teachers-to-hold-sanctions-vote/#">dramatic declines in classroom supports</a>. Numbers have dropped for many educational roles, including for <a href="https://pubsaskdev.blob.core.windows.net/pubsask-prod/90049/2022-23%252BEducation%252BSector%252BStaffing%252BProfile%252B-%252Bprov.pdf">educational assistants, English as an additional language teachers, counsellors, librarians, psychologists and other pathologists</a>. </p>
<h2>‘Parents rights’ issues</h2>
<p>On top of this, the government called a special session of the legislature in September 2023 to bring in a hastily drafted bill to <a href="https://theconversation.com/saskatchewan-naming-and-pronoun-policy-the-best-interests-of-children-must-guide-provincial-parental-consent-rules-212431">restrict the ability of transgender and gender-diverse children from</a> being able to identify with their preferred pronouns at school. </p>
<p>The government said this was an issue <a href="https://regina.ctvnews.ca/parents-bill-of-rights-officially-introduced-in-sask-legislature-beginning-pronoun-policy-s-push-into-law-1.6598701">of parents’ rights</a>. Yet many others interpreted it as an attack on the ability of teachers to provide necessary support and guidance to kids in a safe and supportive environment. </p>
<p>For some, it speaks to a hostile position of the government towards teachers, since the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-name-pronoun-policy-new-school-year-1.6956559">STF has opposed the policy and pledged support for teachers who refuse to abide by it</a>.</p>
<h2>Bargaining as important tool</h2>
<p>Trying to prevent teachers from including issues surrounding unmet student needs in bargaining is to effectively leave the public in the dark on the conditions of our schools and render governments largely unaccountable. </p>
<p>The most important tool that all unionized workers have at their disposal is their ability to collectively bargain. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-teachers-union-activism-helped-shift-the-u-s-election-debate-on-education-147620">How teachers' union activism helped shift the U.S. election debate on education</a>
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<p>As researchers with the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers University have documented, unions across North America have leveraged broad public support to <a href="https://smlr.rutgers.edu/faculty-research-engagement/center-innovation-worker-organization-ciwo/bargaining-common-good">bargain for issues related to the common good</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://smlr.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/Documents/Centers/CIWO/ciwo_bcg-memo.pdf">Many of these campaigns</a> have been waged by teachers’ unions. Unions have bargained for many things, including linguistic and cultural resources for teachers, more diverse staffing, anti-racism education, green education — and importantly for teachers in Saskatchewan — smaller classroom sizes. </p>
<h2>Unions driving change</h2>
<p>Unions beyond the education sector <a href="https://archives.nupge.ca/sites/default/files/documents/New-Forms-of-Privatization-2016.pdf">in Canada</a> have <a href="https://cupe.ca/sites/cupe/files/bargaining_and_privatization_guide_en.pdf">made similar gains</a>. </p>
<p>For example, in 1981-1982, the <a href="http://www.justlabour.yorku.ca/volume19/pdfs/04_nichols_press.pdf">Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)</a> waged a strike to extend paid maternity leave benefits to workers. CUPW’s success encouraged other unions to take a similar position and today public maternity/paternity leave is a universal <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-maternity-parental.html">public program</a>. </p>
<p>Unions and their members have real power when they use the tools available to them to seek real workplace and community change.</p>
<h2>Bargaining about trade-offs</h2>
<p>To be sure, bargaining is about trade-offs. Prioritizing issues related to what unions identify as key “common good” themes might mean that other issues cannot be highlighted. </p>
<p>Workers might forego larger wage increases for smaller classroom sizes or for increased resources for issues like reconciliation with Indigenous nations.</p>
<p>But that is a choice workers will democratically make through their union. In the case of Saskatchewan teachers, the numbers do not lie. While salaries and benefits will always be an issue, there is overwhelming teacher support for existing bargaining proposals. </p>
<p>We believe this democratic mandate is significant — and one that could lead to safer and more just educational experiences for workers and students across the province.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221095/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Enoch is a member of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Chronically underfunded classrooms with fewer supports to meet student needs is a core issue for Saskatchewan teachers.Charles Smith, Associate Professor, Political Studies, University of SaskatchewanSimon Enoch, Adjunct professor, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of ReginaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2173412023-11-13T16:26:27Z2023-11-13T16:26:27ZLevelling the playing field: The case for a federal ‘anti-scab’ law<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/levelling-the-playing-field-the-case-for-a-federal-anti-scab-law" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The federal government has just <a href="https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-58/first-reading">introduced Bill C-58</a>, its much anticipated <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10081053/canada-anti-scab-legislation/">“anti-scab” legislation</a>. If adopted, the law will prohibit the use of replacement workers in the event of a strike or lockout in any federally regulated industry.</p>
<p>The legislation will also require the parties to negotiate a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/anti-scab-labour-federally-regulated-workplaces-1.7023020">maintenance of activities agreement</a> in advance of a labour dispute to allow for the undertaking of maintenance work to protect the integrity and safety of the workplace.</p>
<p>The bill, a product of the Liberal and NDP <a href="https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2022/03/22/delivering-canadians-now">confidence-and-supply agreement</a>, represents the first time a federal government has committed to an anti-scab law.</p>
<p><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8717920/ndp-unions-liberals-strikes-anti-scab-law/">Unions have long</a> <a href="https://canadianlabour.ca/canadas-unions-welcome-anti-scab-legislation/">advocated for a ban</a> on replacement workers, arguing their use unduly shifts power to employers and gives the boss an unfair advantage in collective bargaining. </p>
<p>In particular, union leaders justify the need for a ban by pointing to instances where employers chose to <a href="https://www.unifor.org/news/all-news/why-we-need-anti-scab-legislation">lock out</a> workers and “starve them out” while continuing to operate with scab labour. </p>
<p>Business organizations, on the other hand, frame their opposition to anti-scab laws by focusing on the potential for economic disruption. They argue that a ban on replacement workers would give unions <a href="https://torontosun.com/news/national/urgent-need-to-rethink-labour-laws-after-b-c-port-strike-cfib">too much power</a>, <a href="https://www.cfib-fcei.ca/en/media/a-ban-on-replacement-workers-is-a-threat-to-small-businesses-and-the-economy">threaten the survival of small businesses</a> and make Canada <a href="https://www.iedm.org/uploaded/pdf/janv05_en.pdf">less competitive</a>. </p>
<h2>Assessing the arguments</h2>
<p>Making sense of these competing perspectives can be tricky because there is no expert consensus on the economic effects of anti-scab laws. The studies that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-232X.1996.tb00405.x">do exist</a> offer contradictory evidence based on <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227383030_The_Laws_of_Unintended_Consequence_The_Effect_of_Labour_Legislation_on_Wages_and_Strikes">different statistical methods</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/cpp.35.1.99">assumptions, time spans</a> and the inclusion or exclusion of certain sectors of the economy. </p>
<p>Opponents of the legislation tend to selectively rely on <a href="https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/economic-effects-of-banning-temporary-replacement-workers.pdf">corporate-funded research</a> by right-wing think tanks to make the case that a ban on scab labour will drive away business and wreak havoc more generally. </p>
<p>For example, a <a href="https://medicinehatnews.com/commentary/opinions/2022/11/17/for-what-its-worth-anti-scab-legislation-gives-advantage-to-unions-they-shouldnt-have/">common argument</a> is that if employers can’t use replacement workers, businesses may not be able to operate during a labour dispute and will lose revenue as a result. This outcome would theoretically jeopardize the business and the future job security of the striking workers. </p>
<p>The reality, however, is that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/majority-of-liberal-mps-join-conservatives-to-vote-down-anti-scab-bill/article1072069/">no union leader</a> is interested in negotiating employers out of business or putting the jobs of their members at risk.</p>
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<p>Despite <a href="https://chamber.ca/news/statement-from-the-canadian-chamber-of-commerce-regarding-anti-replacement-worker-legislation/">corporate objections</a> to the contrary, anti-scab laws can play an integral role in improving union-management relations. At some point, almost all work stoppages end, and workers return to their jobs. </p>
<p>The resentment caused by the use of scab labour lingers, however, poisoning labour relations and leading to <a href="https://www.hrreporter.com/news/hr-news/the-aftermath-of-replacement-workers-can-linger-long-after-the-strike-is-over/310485">lower workplace morale</a>. This is especially true in the case of contentious labour disputes where the use of replacement workers triggered <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/giant-mine-explosion">picket line violence</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/frustration-grows-as-videotron-strike-continues-in-quebec-1.312994">or vandalism</a>.</p>
<p>Such incidents are far <a href="https://www.unifor.org/sites/default/files/documents/fairness_on_the_line_final%20web.pdf">less likely</a> to occur if scab labour is taken out of the equation. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/striking-a-balance-how-the-law-regulates-picket-lines-213111">Striking a balance: How the law regulates picket lines</a>
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<h2>Negotiated settlements</h2>
<p>The other benefit of an anti-scab law is that it would force employers to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/point-counterpoint-anti-scab-smith-1.5531736">focus on reaching negotiated settlements</a> rather than strategizing over how to best undermine and antagonize union members exercising their right to strike. </p>
<p>This levels the playing field and brings the focus back to the bargaining table where deals are made.</p>
<p>The business lobby’s argument that a ban on replacement workers would <a href="https://www.simcoe.com/business/federal-private-member-s-bill-tips-the-scales-toward-unions-in-labour-negotiations-barrie-chamber/article_7312d7ab-1837-54fe-8a16-aed1e99228c4.html">render unions more difficult</a> in bargaining is belied by the fact that anti-scab legislation at the provincial level has not produced “strike-happy” unions. </p>
<p>Québec and British Columbia have had legislative bans on replacement workers in provincially regulated industries for decades. <a href="http://www.justlabour.yorku.ca/volume13/pdfs/02_savage_butovsky_press.pdf">Neither jurisdiction</a> experienced escalating wage demands, dramatic increases in strike activity, or economic collapse as a result. </p>
<p>Why then should we expect different outcomes as a result of a federal anti-scab law? </p>
<h2>Politics of labour law reform</h2>
<p>It’s worth remembering that corporations have <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/highlights-in-canadian-labour-history-1.850282">resisted virtually every single improvement</a> to workers’ rights since the 1800s. </p>
<p>This includes opposition to union recognition, the right to strike, the shorter work week and improved employment standards. Given this history, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the business lobby is keen to defeat or water down Bill C-58.</p>
<p>At a <a href="https://www.cpac.ca/episode?id=09e7f3fe-e565-449d-b458-d30d7d5795b4">recent news conference</a>, Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan indicated the law would not take effect until 18 months after receiving Royal Assent. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1722645425302249848"}"></div></p>
<p>That’s an eternity in politics and provides the business lobby with ample time to <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2023/11/13/Unions-Get-More-Power-Replacement-Worker-Ban/">change the government’s mind or pressure it to run out the clock</a> in advance of the next federal election. </p>
<p>In the meantime, unions and their allies are not sitting idle. We can expect unions to continue <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230918460175/en/Demonstration-With-the-NDP-and-CLC-in-Support-of-Anti-Scab-Legislation">organizing rallies</a> <a href="https://canadianlabour.ca/campaigns/we-need-pro-worker-legislation/">and actions</a> to pressure the government to deliver on its commitment.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.socialistproject.ca/relay/relay17_harden.pdf">Previous attempts</a> to win anti-scab legislation through opposition-led bills have usually faltered because Liberal MPs got cold feet and switched their votes on second or third reading under pressure from the business community. </p>
<p>The dynamics are different this time as a result of the confidence-and-supply agreement with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ndp-turns-60-its-never-truly-been-the-political-arm-of-organized-labour-161964">union-friendly NDP</a> and the government’s desire to use the legislation as a wedge issue to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-caucus-speech-canadians-hurting-1.6580001">undermine recent Conservative efforts</a> to gain support from blue-collar union members.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pierre-poilievre-is-popular-among-union-members-whats-it-really-all-about-201547">Pierre Poilievre is popular among union members. What's it really all about?</a>
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<p>Whether the legislation will serve that purpose remains an open question.</p>
<p>But that should not distract from the policy goal of reforming labour laws in ways that promote collective bargaining, protect workers’ rights and level the playing field between unions and employers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217341/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Larry Savage receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>Unions have long advocated for a ban on replacement workers, arguing their use unduly shifts power to employers and gives the boss an unfair advantage in collective bargaining.Larry Savage, Professor, Labour Studies, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2107792023-08-02T19:55:27Z2023-08-02T19:55:27ZB.C. labour dispute: It’s time for an industrial inquiry commission into ports and automation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540889/original/file-20230802-19-98ffbc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C379%2C6120%2C3940&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Striking International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada workers march to a rally as gantry cranes used to load and unload cargo containers from ships sit idle at port, in Vancouver, on July 6, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/bc-labour-dispute-its-time-for-an-industrial-inquiry-commission-into-ports-and-automation" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>A <a href="https://www.bcmeanegotiations.com/joint-ilwu-canada-and-bcmea-news-release/">new tentative agreement was reached</a> on July 30 between the two groups involved in a labour dispute affecting British Columbia ports with the help of the Industrial Relations Board.</p>
<p>At the beginning of July, about 7,400 port workers went on strike for 13 days <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-port-workers-resume-strike-1.6910572">over issues including automation</a>, outside contracting and the increasing cost of living.</p>
<p>This new deal — between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU) and the B.C. Maritime Employers Association — comes <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9866982/bc-port-strike-tentative-deal-oregan/">after union members rejected a previous deal on July 28</a>.</p>
<p>By initially rejecting the first contract, ILWU members implied that a generous wage and benefit package — which employers had agreed to pay — was not enough to address their concerns about potential job losses and workplace changes.</p>
<p>This isn’t a one-sided problem; under <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/atlantic-canada-opportunities/services/researchstudies2.html">current workplace arrangements and labour market pressures</a>, port operators are unlikely to attract and retain workers with the skills required to implement the coming automation.</p>
<p>With the prospect that the <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2023/02/16/Union-Fears-Robots-Will-Kill-Jobs-Port-Expansion/">new container terminal at Roberts Bank port</a>, south of Vancouver, will be the first fully automated terminal in B.C., this issue is more important than ever.</p>
<h2>Canada Labour Code</h2>
<p>After the initial deal between the union and the employer’s association was rejected, Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2023/07/statement-by-minister-oregan0.html">asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board</a> whether a negotiated resolution was still possible, and to impose a new collective agreement or binding arbitration if it was not. </p>
<p>Despite <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9811240/alberta-minister-back-to-work-legislation-bc-port-strike/">many people demanding back-to-work legislation</a>, O'Regan followed the <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/l-2/">Canada Labour Code</a>, which encourages free collective bargaining and advocates for the constructive settlement of disputes.</p>
<p>In support of the idea that negotiated settlements are best, the code provides the minister with tools to prod, push or force parties in an industrial dispute to find a deal they can both live with.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black man in a blazer and newsboy cap speaks to a crowd of people waving flags and holding signs that say ILWU CANADA" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540525/original/file-20230801-15-z5grx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540525/original/file-20230801-15-z5grx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540525/original/file-20230801-15-z5grx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540525/original/file-20230801-15-z5grx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540525/original/file-20230801-15-z5grx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540525/original/file-20230801-15-z5grx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540525/original/file-20230801-15-z5grx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Willie Adams, International President of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, speaks at a strike rally in Vancouver, on July 9, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns</span></span>
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<p>Drawing on my <a href="http://www.sfu.ca/%7Epvhall/#seaports_logistics_and_port_cities">research on B.C. ports</a>, I’d encourage the minister to make use of one more tool provided in the code: appoint an industrial inquiry commission on port skills and automation.</p>
<h2>Dockworkers and new technologies</h2>
<p>To understand the current dispute, we need to overturn <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691170817/the-box">the myth that west coast unionized dockworkers</a> have refused to accept new cargo handling technologies.</p>
<p>Since the 1960s, ports on the west coast of North America have benefited enormously from mechanization and modernization agreements, <a href="https://www.bcmeanegotiations.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Collective-Agreement-April-1-2018-to-March-31-2023.pdf">now enshrined in various collective agreements</a>. </p>
<p>In exchange for giving employers the freedom to implement technological changes — which often displace labour — employees secured a share of the resulting productivity gains in some form of compensation.</p>
<p>In the United States, this takes the form of a <a href="https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/72012">minimum earnings guarantee</a>; in B.C. ports, full members <a href="https://summit.sfu.ca/_flysystem/fedora/sfu_migrate/3516/b14062914.pdf">receive a generous payout at retirement</a>.</p>
<p>But one result of a “jobs-for-income” agreement, in an industry where labour demand fluctuates, is a large pool of casual workers. As a result, <a href="https://www.bcmea.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/BCMEA_AR2018-Digital-v4FA.pdf">not everyone working in B.C. ports is a full union member</a>: roughly two-fifths are members, one-fifth are casuals with benefits and two-fifths are casuals without benefits.</p>
<p>The prospect of being a casual employee for several years is not particularly attractive, least of all to a tradesperson or computer programmer with employment options elsewhere. </p>
<h2>Commissions have helped before</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Cargo cranes seen at a port" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540529/original/file-20230801-28-txabzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540529/original/file-20230801-28-txabzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540529/original/file-20230801-28-txabzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540529/original/file-20230801-28-txabzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540529/original/file-20230801-28-txabzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540529/original/file-20230801-28-txabzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540529/original/file-20230801-28-txabzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Gantry cranes used to load and unload cargo ships sit idle at port in Vancouver, B.C., on July 4, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
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<p>Industrial commissions have helped management and union find a path out of an impasse before — even if not everyone likes what they recommend. </p>
<p>One of the original clauses in the 1963 Mechanization and Modernization Agreement stated that Vancouver-bound containers had to be filled and emptied by ILWU members. </p>
<p>Against the wishes of many union members, the container clause was eliminated on the recommendation of the <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/978222691">1987 Weiler Commission</a> and <a href="https://ilwu500.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Gainshare.pdf">replaced by a pension funding arrangement</a> to ensure ILWU members shared the resulting gains.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/in-the-matter-of-the-canada-labour-code-part-i-industrial-relations-report-of-the-industrial-inquiry-commission-into-industrial-relations-at-west-coast-ports/oclc/461336129?page=citation">1995 Jamieson and Greyell Commission</a> strongly rejected the notion that port workers be denied the right to strike — as requested by some agricultural and business interests — but it did recommend the 72-hour strike/lockout notification period now included in the Canada Labour Code.</p>
<h2>Industrial inquiry commission</h2>
<p>A commission on port automation can share information, promote understanding and make recommendations. It would examine trends in <a href="https://www.itf-oecd.org/container-port-automation-impacts-and-implications">container terminal automation</a>, as well as technology trends in non-containerized and commodity-exporting terminals.</p>
<p>It can determine the nature and extent of the skills shortage in B.C. ports and look into the adequacy of existing recruitment, retention and training systems. And it can learn from the experiences of port workers, especially casual workers and skilled tradespersons.</p>
<p>We need a new agreement between employers and employees in the B.C. ports that will allow both sides to continue to enjoy the benefits of new workplace technologies. </p>
<p>Employers will only benefit from automation if they can train, recruit for and retain the new skills that will be required. Employees will only support automation if they see a future for themselves, their families and communities in the industry. </p>
<p>An industrial inquiry commission might help tackle this challenge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Hall receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, including funding to support research partnerships that involve the port union (<a href="http://www.sfu.ca/waterfront.html">http://www.sfu.ca/waterfront.html</a>) and shipping industry (<a href="https://greenshippingproject.com/">https://greenshippingproject.com/</a>).</span></em></p>We need a new agreement between employers and employees in the B.C. ports that will allow both sides to enjoy the benefits of new workplace technologies.Peter Hall, Professor of Urban Studies, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2045212023-05-24T13:40:38Z2023-05-24T13:40:38ZWhy profits, not pay, have caused the cost of living crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527752/original/file-20230523-29-w662k2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=178%2C95%2C7618%2C5130&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Budgeting for a rising cost of living.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mature-middleaged-couple-family-wife-husband-1994498774">Inside Creative House/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Bank of England accompanied its most recent UK interest rate hike – <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy-summary-and-minutes/2023/may-2023">the 12th in a row</a> – with a warning that UK price inflation is likely to be <a href="https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-england-lifts-interest-rates-110713037.html">higher for longer than expected</a> due to soaring food costs. The bank has been hiking rates since December 2021 to try to stop a sharp rise in the cost of living. And while the rate of inflation <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/24/uk-inflation-falls-cost-of-living-crisis">dropped significantly in April</a>, at 8.7% it remains well above the UK’s 2% target.</p>
<p>Many reasons have been given for recent price inflation: central banks have <a href="https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/news/2023/05/10/did-central-banks-cause-today-s-inflation-spiral/">“printed” too much money</a>, wars in other countries have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/21/energy-crisis-ukraine-war-uk-cost-gas">pushed up energy prices</a>. The <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/rishi-sunak-says-public-sector-pay-rises-will-fuel-inflation-economists-say-they-wont-12779761#:%7E:text=Rishi%20Sunak%20has%20said%20he,prices%20in%20a%20perpetual%20loop.">current government</a> and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/feb/04/bank-of-england-boss-calls-for-wage-restraint-to-help-control-inflation">governor of the Bank of England</a> believe that wage increases cause inflation. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3146-the-cost-of-living-crisis">my research</a>, with James Meadway of the Progressive Economy Forum and Doug Nicholls of the General Federation of Trade Unions, looks at how UK price rises are more likely to have been caused by high profits, falling wages and weak production over decades.</p>
<h2>Pay negotiations</h2>
<p>In the mid-to-late 1970s, trade unions were able to negotiate wages through nationally organised systems of collective bargaining. This is where groups of employees, typically represented by a union, discuss wages and conditions with their employer. The gap between the wealth of business and labour at that time was significantly less, and Britain was a <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7484/CBP-7484.pdf">more equal society in terms of income</a>.</p>
<p>A concerted assault on collective bargaining since then has greatly weakened workers’ ability to defend the value of their wages, at least by keeping pace with inflation. At the same time, income inequality has soared and is <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7484/CBP-7484.pdf">expected to reach a high by 2027</a>. <a href="https://www.bruegel.org/analysis/collective-bargaining-associated-lower-income-inequality">Research shows evidence</a> of an inverse relationship between the number of workers organised in trade unions and their ability to use collective bargaining, versus the wealth concentrated in the hands of the richest elite.</p>
<p>As workers today start to realise this, it might explain <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12115963/London-Underground-workers-vote-overwhelmingly-favour-strikes-RMT-union-announces.html">recent support for strike action</a> as unions try to maintain the value of wages in the face of persistent inflation.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/recent-pay-rises-suggest-that-collective-bargaining-may-be-on-the-way-back-199436">Recent pay rises suggest that collective bargaining may be on the way back</a>
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<p>But it’s also important to be aware of the deeper, historic and strategic factors that have led to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/dollar-hovers-near-2-month-high-debt-ceiling-angst-saps-risk-appetite-2023-05-24/">relatively high levels of inflation in Britain</a>. Addressing these issues will help get the UK out of the current cost of living crisis.</p>
<h2>A manufacturing powerhouse</h2>
<p>The first <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution">industrial revolution</a>, starting in the 18th century, made the UK a leading producer of manufactured products – the “<a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/workshop-world#:%7E:text=Workshop%20of%20the%20World%20informal,British%20manufacturing%20and%20industrial%20capacity.">workshop of the world</a>”. And it remained a major manufacturing power for more than a century, creating everything from cruise liners to <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/CW50-The-heyday-of-British-computing-How-the-Brits-ruled-IT">some of the first computer programs</a>.</p>
<p>But in the 1980s, Thatercherism undermined productive industry and skills development by shrinking entire sectors of the economy, such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/mar/30/steel-in-the-uk-a-timeline-of-decline">steel-making</a>, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308940455_Industrial_policy_and_the_British_automotive_industry_under_Margaret_Thatcher">car-making</a>, and <a href="https://www.history.co.uk/article/how-thatcher-broke-the-miners-strike-but-at-what-cost">coal production</a>. At the same time, the government <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bigbang.asp">loosened financial regulation</a> and removed controls on the flow of money out of the country, boosting the rule of finance.</p>
<p>This skewed the British economy away from its manufacturing heartlands, such as the Midlands, while inflating the political and economic power of banks and financial firms. Profits became less dependent on production.</p>
<p>Since 1960, British manufacturing has been in decline, both <a href="https://res.org.uk/mediabriefing/uk-industrial-performance-since-1960-does-the-failure-of-manufacturing-matter/">in terms of employment and output</a>, and in comparison to other similar countries. Low business investment over the decades has held the UK back versus the likes of the US, France and Germany, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/weak-investment-innovation-management-hamper-uk-productivity-2021-11-15/">leading to low productivity</a>.</p>
<p>This historic shock to the productive system of the UK meant that, when demand for goods grew post-COVID, there was little domestic capacity to produce them – so the country had to <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7851/">rely on imports to meet demand</a>. The costs of the most basic goods and services that we need – <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/articles/costofliving/latestinsights">food, energy and housing</a> – have since soared. These essentials, which should be a relatively low proportion of our spending, have become unaffordable for millions of people. </p>
<p>Of course, price controls could help to reduce this inflation. But the underlying weaknesses that facilitate inflation in the long run should also be addressed. This will require a new UK industrial policy, together with plans for skills development for the workforce.</p>
<p>Curbs on the flow of business and money out of the country by banks, investment funds and large enterprises will help strengthen domestic investment. New approaches to public financing via organisations such as the central bank would also reduce the reliance on private banks. Rather than its remit being linked to profit and controlling inflation, for example, the Bank of England should focus on supporting investment by directing funds toward particular sectors, especially manufacturing.</p>
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<img alt="Bright blue sky behind Bank of England building with union flag flying." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527762/original/file-20230523-19-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527762/original/file-20230523-19-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527762/original/file-20230523-19-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527762/original/file-20230523-19-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527762/original/file-20230523-19-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527762/original/file-20230523-19-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527762/original/file-20230523-19-eaz6vt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Bank of England.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bank-england-your-travel-concept-704695771">aslysun/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Britain’s extreme unleashing of market forces in the 1980s involved unprecedented privatisation and selling of public assets, wholesale deindustrialisation, and deregulation of the finance sector. During the years that followed, it included the systematic introduction of anti-union legislation and the dismantling of collective bargaining, leading to continuous downward pressure on wages as workers have less power to stand up to employers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-strikes-how-margaret-thatcher-and-other-leaders-cut-trade-union-powers-over-centuries-186270">UK strikes: how Margaret Thatcher and other leaders cut trade union powers over centuries</a>
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<p>Corporate economic and political power was strengthened and, as a result, big businesses have been able to help themselves to extraordinary profits – often with <a href="https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/shortcomings-of-the-energy-oil-and-gas-profits-levy">additional government help</a>, including tax breaks and subsidies.</p>
<p>Unions have recently accused <a href="https://www.unitetheunion.org/media/5442/profiteering-across-the-economy-march-2023.pdf">big business of “profiteering”</a> amid this cost of living crisis, and some supermarkets have <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65531197">started to cut prices</a> in response to this criticism.</p>
<p>But no amount of windfall taxes or <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bills-support/energy-bills-support-factsheet-8-september-2022">household subsidies</a> will stop the current profit binge at the expense of wages. Major structural change is needed. If this is not done, the current toxic mix of weak investment, low productivity and high inflation is likely to be disastrous for our country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204521/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Costas Lapavitsas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>My research shows that UK price rises are likely to have been caused by high profits, falling wages and weak production over decadesCostas Lapavitsas, Professor of Economics, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994362023-03-01T11:02:41Z2023-03-01T11:02:41ZRecent pay rises suggest that collective bargaining may be on the way back<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512436/original/file-20230227-28-w04btt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=54%2C54%2C4429%2C2913&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Paramedics and ambulance staff striking for better pay in January 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bournemouth-uk-january-23-2023-striking-2259987759">Ajit Wick/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>London bus drivers working for transport company Abellio recently <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/london-bus-drivers-end-strike-action-and-accept-18-abellio-pay-increase-12810243">negotiated an 18% pay rise</a> following industrial action organised by the trade union Unite. Such success shows the impact that collective bargaining can have on the pay negotiation process. Other unions that have <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/nurses-strike-paused-after-ministers-agree-to-pay-talks-2163958">recently paused industrial action</a> to return to the negotiating table will be hoping for similar levels of success</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace-guidance/organising-and-bargaining/collective-bargaining">Collective bargaining</a> involves a group of employees – typically represented by a union – negotiating with an employer about wages and conditions. But the government’s use of pay review bodies (PRBs) since the 1970s to advise on public sector pay levels has created a wedge between employees and their employers – and ultimately the government – when it comes to discussing wages and conditions.</p>
<p>The current <a href="https://theconversation.com/winter-of-discontent-how-similar-is-todays-situation-195838">resurgence of industrial action</a> and questions about the credibility of PRBs could lead to a return to more traditional wage negotiations, however, in which unions engage in collective bargaining directly with employers. </p>
<p>Research shows that stronger unions and wider collective bargaining coverage not only improve fairness, they also <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ER-09-2018-0256/full/html">help to rebalance the economy</a> away from debt-led growth to a stable and healthier model of economic growth. But in recent decades collective bargaining has been in decline. </p>
<p>In 1996 36% of employees’ pay and conditions were directly affected by an agreement between their employer and a trade union. By 2021 the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/trade-union-statistics">figure was 26%</a>. The proportion of employees covered by these agreements in the public sector fell from 74% to 58% during this time and from 23% to 14% in the private sector. </p>
<p>This contraction in collective bargaining has led to a fall in how much of the national income is paid in wages and a rise in that paid to shareholders and companies in the form of profit, leading to greater income inequality. In the UK, <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ER-09-2018-0256/full/html">this wage share fell</a> from 70.6% of national income in 1975 to 66.6% in 2018. This was accompanied by a 47 percentage point fall in collective bargaining coverage and at the same time union density (the number of trade union members as a percentage of the total number of UK employees) decreased by 21.1 percentage points.</p>
<h2>Union benefits</h2>
<p><a href="https://labordoc.ilo.org/discovery/fulldisplay?vid=41ILO_INST:41ILO_V1&tab=Everything&docid=alma993875643402676&context=L&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&query=sub,exact,collective%20bargaining&sortby=date_d&mode=advanced&offset=40">Research shows</a> that high levels of bargaining coverage help make trade unions more effective. They enable unions to ensure equality in terms of income distribution and to hold successful wage negotiations, the results of which are shared by the wider workforce. Unions are likely to be more successful if they coordinate across both firms and entire industries.</p>
<p>But despite the overall fall in coverage, collective bargaining still sets pay for certain employees in some of the UK’s largest companies including <a href="https://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/content/news/rolls-royce-factory-workers-win-record-pay-increase">Rolls Royce</a>, <a href="https://www.cwu.org/press_release/new-bt-group-pay-agreement-reached-to-be-put-to-union-members/">BT Group</a> and <a href="https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/tesco-store-pay-usdaw/">Tesco</a>. It’s also used in rail, chemicals, oil refining and parts of the banking sector. The UK’s largest local labour market is <a href="https://www.heathrow.com/company/about-heathrow/heathrow-2-0-sustainability-strategy/community#:%7E:text=Heathrow%20currently%20employs%2076%2C000%20people,to%20work%20at%20the%20airport.">Heathrow, with 76,000 workers</a>, many of whom are unionised and collectively bargain to negotiate pay and conditions. </p>
<p>And there is a lot of evidence that organisational collective bargaining has firm benefits for workers in terms of pay, job quality, working hours and work-life balance. My <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-09-2018-0256">research includes details of cases</a> where collective bargaining has been restored by the firms themselves, suggesting that employers also recognise the benefits. Agreeing pay with unions helps reduce costs because terms and conditions of employment are standardised across the company.</p>
<h2>The role of pay review bodies</h2>
<p>Recent news of public sector worker strikes has been peppered with references to Pay Review Bodies (PRBs). Established in the UK in the 1970s – <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9302.00378">often in response to industrial action</a> – there are eight independent panels that provide the government with evidence, advice and recommendations on public sector pay and conditions. Separate PRBs cover industries including the armed forces, doctors dentists, nurses, teachers, and the senior salaries group in the civil service. </p>
<p>While technically defined in government statistics as collective bargaining, <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8037/">nearly half (45%) of public sector workers</a> have their pay and conditions determined by these bodies. </p>
<p>Yet, since the 2008 financial crisis, PRBs have presided over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/17/real-terms-uk-pay-fell-fastest-20-years">a real terms fall in public sector earnings</a>, with some <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/nurses-are-working-the-equivalent-of-one-day-a-week-for-free-research-says-12731952">nurses’ pay declining by 20%</a> over the past decade. This dramatic drop, alongside spiralling inflation in 2022, provides the context for the current wave of industrial action. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/strikes-why-refusing-public-sector-pay-rises-wont-help-reduce-inflation-198333">Strikes: why refusing public sector pay rises won't help reduce inflation</a>
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<p>This situation was driven by <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8037/CBP-8037.pdf">government policies</a> dictating a two-year public sector pay freeze in 2010, followed by a 1% average pay cap on public sector pay awards, which was removed in 2017. Between 2018 and 2020 average pay awards were above 2%, but a further pay freeze (excluding NHS staff and workers earning below £24,000) was introduced in 2021. Such restrictions undermine PRB claims of independence. </p>
<p>Plus, the government sets guidelines for the PRBs on affordability, departmental spending plans and even inflation targets. These issues around PRB recommendations have been compounded by a failure to address the public sector staff shortages and retention issues that are also contributing to industrial action.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bournemouth, UK-February 07 2023: General secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, Pat Cullen visiting the picket line of striking nurses at Royal Bournemouth Hospital" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512435/original/file-20230227-775-kep09i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512435/original/file-20230227-775-kep09i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512435/original/file-20230227-775-kep09i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512435/original/file-20230227-775-kep09i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512435/original/file-20230227-775-kep09i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512435/original/file-20230227-775-kep09i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512435/original/file-20230227-775-kep09i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, Pat Cullen, being interviewed on a picket line of striking nurses at Royal Bournemouth Hospital, England.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bournemouth-ukfebruary-07-2023-general-secretary-2263728691">Ajit Wick/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The government has been accused by some commentators of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/14/england-nhs-crisis-government-strikes-guardian-report#:%7E:text=In%20every%20interview%20ministers%20hide%20behind%20the%20sanctity%20of%20the%20%E2%80%9Cindependent%E2%80%9D%20pay%20review%20bodies%2C%20claiming%20they%20set%20public%20pay.">hiding behind the PRBs</a> in the current disputes. Alastair Hatchett, a visiting research fellow at the University of Greenwich and former head of pay research at Incomes Data Services (a private company that publishes information on pay bargaining and pay data), believes the independence of the PRB system <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/18/ministers-can-and-must-give-nurses-a-fair-pay-rise">has been undermined</a> by a reliance on Treasury forecasts that have turned out to be incorrect. He said in December 2022 that the government should be “forced to reopen pay bargaining” for the public sector’s 2022 pay awards. </p>
<p>Some public sector unions have already started to question PRBs and are considering <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/0953587e-6a20-40d4-8459-d4d7a2aa4d27">withdrawing their participation</a> from the process. This could herald a return to more traditional pay setting in the public sector with unions engaging in collective bargaining directly with employers.</p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bjir.12188">Previous research</a> has found that when unions are more active, more people join. Indeed, reports suggest the National Education Union has <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/teacher-strikes-parents-in-limbo-as-union-keeps-schools-in-the-dark-fcffqsmmk">added 40,000 members</a> since it balloted for its current strike action. So it’s not hard to believe that successful industrial action could boost union membership and confidence further. This could build pressure for stronger collective bargaining over pay and conditions, which in turn could help to tackle UK income inequality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199436/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sian Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Concerns about the credibility of pay review bodies could boost collective bargaining on worker pay.Sian Moore, Professor in Employment Relations and Human Resource Management, University of GreenwichLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2003352023-02-24T13:12:31Z2023-02-24T13:12:31ZHistoric UAW election is bringing profound union leadership changes – and chances of more strikes and higher car prices<p>Ballot counting is underway in a runoff election to decide who will lead the powerful United Auto Workers union as its president. But the <a href="https://uaw.org/2022iebelections/">historic election</a> is already transforming the union’s leadership in ways that could bring an end to decades of declining blue-collar compensation in this key sector of the economy.</p>
<p>This was the first direct leadership election in the UAW’s 88-year history, following a series of corruption scandals that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/26/business/uaw-gary-jones-investigation.html">sent two former presidents to prison</a>. With most of the other leadership races already determined, it’s clear that <a href="https://uaw.org/newly-elected-uaw-international-executive-board-members/">the union’s leadership</a> will be closely divided between the old guard and the challengers.</p>
<p>This transformation of how the UAW is governed sets up what is widely expected to be a more adversarial relationship between the union and <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bigthree.asp">the Big Three</a> domestic car producers. Regardless of who wins the presidency, a more combative stance with automakers is likely to result in <a href="https://uaw.org/uaw-statement-increasing-strike-pay-500-per-week/">more strikes</a>, higher car prices and also greater competitive pressure on domestic companies to outsource or challenge unionization at new plants opening to make electric vehicles and their components.</p>
<p>I have written about trade unions in the United States and Europe for over three decades. My latest book is “<a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501769702/the-uaws-southern-gamble/#bookTabs=1">The UAW’s Southern Gamble: Organizing Workers at Foreign-owned Vehicle Plants</a>.” The direct elections, while making the UAW better reflect the interests of workers, will challenge companies at the same time the Biden administration is trying to revive manufacturing and <a href="https://joebiden.com/empowerworkers/">boost union influence</a>. The results could reverberate through the nation’s fragile economy.</p>
<h2>How a scandal gave workers more power</h2>
<p>The UAW held a first round of direct elections for the union’s president and leadership board in late 2022, with ballots mailed to working members and retirees. </p>
<p>This new election format is a product of a 2021 <a href="https://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CONSENT-DECREE-updated-9-17-21.pdf">consent decree</a> between the UAW and the Justice Department to settle a sprawling <a href="https://www.autonews.com/static/section/report05.html">corruption scandal</a> in which several top union officials were convicted of taking bribes from the auto companies and spending millions of dollars of union funds intended for worker training on luxuries for themselves, including trips and a Ferrari.</p>
<p>During the campaign, the incumbents, led by current UAW president Ray Curry, <a href="https://www.currysolidarityteam.org/">have depicted their slate</a> as a safer and more experienced set of hands, which would be particularly valuable in troubled economic times. <a href="https://uawd.org/">The challengers</a>, led by <a href="https://uawmembers.org/">Shawn Fain</a>, have accused incumbents of conceding too readily to management, tolerating a culture of patronage and scandal and failing to practice democracy. Curry was never implicated in the scandal.</p>
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<img alt="Three officials answer questions from reporters holding up microphones. A truck is in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512095/original/file-20230223-5743-d72pev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512095/original/file-20230223-5743-d72pev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512095/original/file-20230223-5743-d72pev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512095/original/file-20230223-5743-d72pev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512095/original/file-20230223-5743-d72pev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512095/original/file-20230223-5743-d72pev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512095/original/file-20230223-5743-d72pev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">UAW President Ray Curry, center, flanked by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Ford Motor Co. President and CEO Jim Farley, spoke on Feb. 13, 2023, after Ford announced plans for a new electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/FordBatteryPlant/98a55e53e73c406396d1457a55a90b60/photo">AP Photo/Carlos Osorio</a></span>
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<p>For decades, UAW leaders were chosen through an indirect process common to many unions. Delegates to the UAW convention chose top officers, and regional conventions picked regional directors.</p>
<p>This system was raucous in the union’s early days. <a href="https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/american-vanguard">Ferocious struggles</a> among communist, socialist and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41831041">voluntarist</a> factions at UAW conventions rocked the union in the 1930s and 1940s until the socialists under the leadership of Walter Reuther prevailed. Reuther consolidated power through an internal group, which eventually became known as the Reuther Administrative Caucus, or RAC, and came to dominate UAW conventions. Joining and adhering to the positions of the RAC was a prerequisite to advancement within the union.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.intpubnyc.com/browse/the-communist-party-and-the-auto-workers-union/">Critics compared</a> the RAC to a one-party state. <a href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=shotwell&commit=%C2%A0">Union dissidents</a> accused the RAC’s leaders of being too quick to crush dissent and to make concessions to the auto companies. Ultimately, the dominance of the RAC <a href="https://labornotes.org/2018/02/interview-corruption-and-collaboration-uaw">left the UAW vulnerable to scandal</a>, which is why the consent decree mandated a referendum to decide whether to have direct elections of top union officers. Union members voted in favor.</p>
<p>Two sides quickly formed in the lead-up to direct elections for the UAW’s top governing body, the International Executive Board: the <a href="https://www.currysolidarityteam.org/">Curry Solidarity Team</a>, which was the informal successor to the Reuther Administrative Caucus, and challengers who called themselves <a href="https://uawmembers.org/">UAW Members United</a>. The challengers blame the incumbent leadership for a much-hated two-tier wage structure that compensates new hires at a lower rate and say the incumbents haven’t done enough to secure jobs in the transition to electric vehicles. The incumbents say the challengers are <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2023/01/13/uaw-president-candidates-debate-offer-competing-visions-as-runoff-starts/69803789007/">armchair critics</a> without answers to tough problems.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2022/12/01/challengers-gain-edge-over-incumbents-in-uaw-election-of-top-leaders/69691769007/">UAW Members United group exceeded expectations</a> in the December 2022 elections, winning five of the 14 International Executive Board seats, including two of three vice-president posts and the secretary-treasurer, the second-highest position in the union. The Curry Solidarity Team won six seats, an independent won a seat, and the runoff will decide the winner of the presidency and one district head.</p>
<h2>Expect internal conflict</h2>
<p>Bringing together an International Executive Board that is evenly divided between the two slates will be a challenge regardless of who wins the presidency.</p>
<p>Direct elections will make it far more difficult for the UAW leadership to agree to difficult trade-offs between decent compensation and job security on the one hand and preserving the competitiveness of the domestic auto producers on the other, because dissatisfied members can now challenge leaders through direct elections. </p>
<p>Being elected to a top position in the UAW is now much more like running for Congress. Candidates need to appeal to base voters and take positions that can feed polarization. Top union officers will have less room to deviate from campaign promises because direct elections make it far easier to challenge them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of autoworkers hold picket signs reading UAW on strike" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512096/original/file-20230223-22-x5sss2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512096/original/file-20230223-22-x5sss2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512096/original/file-20230223-22-x5sss2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512096/original/file-20230223-22-x5sss2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512096/original/file-20230223-22-x5sss2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512096/original/file-20230223-22-x5sss2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512096/original/file-20230223-22-x5sss2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The UAW in February 2023 increased strike pay from $400 to $500 a week. A more aggressive union could mean more strikes like this one, at a plant in Indiana.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/workers-from-united-auto-workers-local-440-picket-outside-news-photo/1169393987">Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Having a sharply divided leadership board could also make union policies less coherent and lead to internal paralysis, which would be disastrous for not only the union but also for companies with union contracts. Union members vote to ratify all contracts, and a dispute could make ratification less likely. It would also be harder for a union with a leadership riven with strife to organize new workplaces.</p>
<p>Both camps within the UAW recognize the grave risks of internal division and have been careful so far to remain civil. It is an open question, however, whether mutual accommodation is durable given the intense views of many rank-and-file members.</p>
<h2>What will the election mean for negotiations?</h2>
<p>The first major test of the new UAW will be this fall’s collective bargaining negotiations with the Big Three: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which includes Chrysler.</p>
<p>Both factions agree on opening demands: the restoration of cost-of-living adjustments to the new contract and the elimination of the two-tier wage system. It is too soon to tell whether they will turn on each other in the heat of negotiations. </p>
<p>One thing is certain, however: The UAW’s experiment with more direct democracy will shake both the auto industry and the economy, as it permits a much less mediated expression of worker concerns – replete with contradictions and disagreements – to come to the fore. As newly elected <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2022/12/01/challengers-gain-edge-over-incumbents-in-uaw-election-of-top-leaders/69691769007/">UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock put it</a>, “the companies should prepare for a new, more aggressive UAW.”</p>
<p><em>This article was updated March 1, 2023, with the runoff vote count beginning.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200335/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen J. Silvia does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Results already in from the first direct leadership election in the UAW’s 88-year history present a sharply divided leadership.Stephen J. Silvia, Professor of International Relations, American University School of International ServiceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1893942022-08-29T20:02:37Z2022-08-29T20:02:37ZWhy unions and small business want industry bargaining from the jobs summit – and big business doesn’t<p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s series looking at Labor’s jobs summit. Read the other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/jobssummit2022-125921">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>The trade union movement’s push to reform Australia’s enterprise bargaining system looks set to be a major issue at this week’s Jobs and Skills Summit.</p>
<p>The Australian Council of Trade Unions’ <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/actu%E2%80%99s-sally-mcmanus:-%E2%80%9Ccollective-bargaining-has/14031720">plan</a> for sectoral or industry-level bargaining was outlined by secretary Sally McManus last week:</p>
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<p>The way we’d see it working is that, where it makes sense to have multi-employer bargaining, both the workers’ representatives and the employers sit down and negotiate across their sector.</p>
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<p>Innes Willox, chief executive of Australian Industry Group, labelled the proposal “<a href="https://www.aigroup.com.au/news/media-centre/2022/we-need-to-work-together-on-sensible-reform-not-reimpose-union-led-industry-wide-bargaining/">seriously misguided</a>” and a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/25/what-is-multi-employer-bargaining-could-it-help-lift-wages-growth-in-australia">throwback</a>” to the 1960s. He warned it “would reduce opportunities for employers and employees to negotiate genuine improvements in productivity and work conditions that suit their workplace”. </p>
<p>But employer groups’ reactions have been far from unanimous.</p>
<p>The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia has agreed to work with the ACTU on industry bargaining reforms. The council’s chief executive, Alexi Boyd, <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/keep-it-simple-on-pay-bargaining-deal-for-unions-firms/news-story/1ac98a70b256c4ea26e57184747d26d9">said</a>:</p>
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<p>The current bargaining system was not built for us. It is not efficient and is too complicated. We welcome the opportunity to explore new flexible single- or multi-employer options that can be customised to our circumstances. The one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. </p>
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<h2>What is industry bargaining?</h2>
<p>Industry bargaining is a common approach to wage negotiations in most European countries. It involves representatives of workers and employers negotiating over the pay and conditions to apply across specific sectors of the economy.</p>
<p>New Zealand is in the midst of introducing a form of industry bargaining through its <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/BILL_121328/fair-pay-agreements-bill">Fair Pay Agreements Bill</a>, currently before the NZ parliament. </p>
<p>An industry-level approach to award wage negotiations also operated in Australia up to the early 1990s, before the Hawke-Keating government introduced enterprise bargaining (negotiating agreements by workplace). </p>
<h2>Enterprise bargaining is broken</h2>
<p>Hawke and Keating saw enterprise bargaining as the way to modernise the industrial relations system in line with their mission to make Australia globally competitive.</p>
<p>Thirty years on, though, it is not delivering for employers or workers.</p>
<p>Unions can be involved in enterprise bargaining where they are strong enough. However, in many workplaces there is no negotiation. The employer simply puts out its proposed agreement for a vote by the employees, then submits it to the industrial relations umpire (the Fair Work Commission) for approval.</p>
<p>It has become increasingly apparent over the past decade that enterprise bargaining <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-one-big-reason-wages-are-stagnating-the-enterprise-bargaining-system-is-broken-and-in-terminal-decline-183818">is broken</a>. In 2012, 27% of employees were covered by an enterprise agreement. By 2021 it was just 15%. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466199/original/file-20220531-14-9c8cg6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466199/original/file-20220531-14-9c8cg6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466199/original/file-20220531-14-9c8cg6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466199/original/file-20220531-14-9c8cg6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466199/original/file-20220531-14-9c8cg6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466199/original/file-20220531-14-9c8cg6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466199/original/file-20220531-14-9c8cg6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australia Institute, The Wages Crisis Revisited</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-one-big-reason-wages-are-stagnating-the-enterprise-bargaining-system-is-broken-and-in-terminal-decline-183818">There's one big reason wages are stagnating: the enterprise bargaining system is broken, and in terminal decline</a>
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<h2>Fears of militant unions</h2>
<p>A major concern of business advocates such as the Australian Industry Group is that industry bargaining – backed by the right to take industrial action – will further empower unions such as the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union to pursue “pattern bargaining” claims – by which a union secures gains from one employer and then demands the same from others.</p>
<p>There is indeed a risk that extending the right to bargain and strike across industries will add to the potency of some already powerful unions. </p>
<p>But this cannot be the perennial excuse for doing nothing to give greater leverage to hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers, doing the vital work that keeps our economy and society functioning.</p>
<p>The ACTU’s proposal will not be a return to the 1960s or ‘70s, when union membership was more than 50% of the workforce and there were regular strikes in support of wage demands. </p>
<p>In those days, unions were able to push for better pay and conditions through adjustments to awards, overseen by the industrial relations court, the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission. Awards no longer serve that purpose, now being a “safety net” for workers on minimum wages.</p>
<h2>Why care workers would benefit</h2>
<p>Changing the Fair Work Act to enable industry bargaining would particularly benefit workers in industries such as child care, aged care and disability support.</p>
<p>These are highly feminised sectors where enterprise bargaining has not delivered for a variety of reasons – including the role of government funding in setting wages, and workers’ reluctance to take industrial action that is detrimental to their clients. This has led to care workers being stuck on award-level wages. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wages-and-women-top-albaneses-ir-agenda-the-big-question-is-how-labor-keeps-its-promises-183527">Wages and women top Albanese's IR agenda: the big question is how Labor keeps its promises</a>
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<p>Industry bargaining would enable funding bodies to be brought into pay negotiations in these sectors. </p>
<p>It would also enable workers and unions to negotiate with other business entities beside direct employers that have influence over the wages ultimately paid to employees. </p>
<p>This is important given the use of franchising structures, labour hire arrangements and complex supply chains to obscure the employment relationship between the worker and the business employing their labour. </p>
<p>To take one example, a union representing cleaners and security guards working out of the same CBD building must currently make separate agreements with the different contracting firms that employ those workers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Industry-level collective bargaining could improve outcomes for workers in the care sector and where labour-hire and contracting practices are common." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481484/original/file-20220829-34035-yjor8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481484/original/file-20220829-34035-yjor8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481484/original/file-20220829-34035-yjor8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481484/original/file-20220829-34035-yjor8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481484/original/file-20220829-34035-yjor8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481484/original/file-20220829-34035-yjor8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/481484/original/file-20220829-34035-yjor8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Industry-level collective bargaining could improve outcomes for workers in the care sector and where labour-hire and contracting practices are common.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In a system of multi-employer bargaining, the building owner or building services management company – which ultimately benefits from the workers’ labour and determines its price through the contracts it makes with the cleaning and security companies – would be brought into the equation. </p>
<p>In this way, industry or multi-employer bargaining would ensure a level playing field. </p>
<p>Businesses would not have to fear a competitive disadvantage from having to pay higher wages than rival businesses. Nor could they undercut each other by outsourcing to avoid higher wages and conditions in an agreement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189394/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Forsyth is affiliated with the Centre for Future Work (Australia Institute) and the Migrant Workers Centre in Victoria. He has received funding from the Australian Research Council Linkage Program (industry partners: Australian Council of Trade Unions & The Union Education Foundation).</span></em></p>The trade union movement’s proposal to allow ‘multi-employer’ collective bargaining has won crucial support from small business advocates.Anthony Forsyth, Distinguished Professor of Workplace Law, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1855702022-06-27T12:16:41Z2022-06-27T12:16:41ZUnions fight to secure better pay and conditions for workers, but they can also benefit employers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470821/original/file-20220624-18-9g2eft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=59%2C11%2C7880%2C2928&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Employees and their organisations can gain from union membership, research shows.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/business-partnership-handshake-concept-two-coworkers-720820906">SFIO CRACHO/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past century, unions have successfully campaigned for a minimum wage, holiday and sickness pay, equal opportunity rights, maternity and paternity rights and a two-day weekend for British workers, <a href="https://www.indy100.com/politics/rmt-trade-unions-rail-strike">among other benefits</a>. </p>
<p>With more than 40,000 UK rail workers participating in the recent very visible <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61906531">strike action</a>, discussions about why people might want to join a trade union have tended to focus on improving pay and working conditions. But unions can do much more for employees and even for employers. In fact, research shows their benefits can extend beyond individual organisations, boosting sectors and even the economy by reducing staff turnover, providing or promoting training and encouraging innovation. </p>
<p>Research from the <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/068bb29d-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/068bb29d-en">Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)</a> from 35 countries shows that individuals working in organisations where unions engaged in firm-level collective bargaining enjoy higher wages. </p>
<p>And, when pay and conditions are protected, employees are less likely to change jobs, certainly in the UK. Data published in 2021 by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows 47% of <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1077904/Trade_Union_Membership_UK_1995-2021_statistical_bulletin.pdf">unionised workers</a> worked for the same employer for ten years or more, compared to 29% of all employees. A <a href="https://www.tuc.org.uk/added-value-trade-unions">2017 analysis</a> of the national <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/workplace-employment-relations-study-wers">Work Employment Relations Survey</a> (WERS) data, commissioned by the Trades Union Congress, similarly found that staff were less likely to voluntarily leave unionised organisations. </p>
<p>While more recent survey evidence would be helpful – and the WERS analysis points out that data in this area can be sparse – it makes a number of other noteworthy conclusions. These relate to a positive correlation between innovation, attitude to work-life balance and off-the-job training at unionised organisations. Other research shows the <a href="https://hrnews.co.uk/the-importance-of-employee-learning-and-development/">benefits of training</a> in relation to worker retention and productivity.</p>
<h2>All for one</h2>
<p>So how have unions been able to have this kind of impact on working life? Collective bargaining is a major factor. The interests of employers and workers conflict and/or converge to varying extents at different points in time. And while unions attend disciplinary and grievance meetings with individual members, they also engage in collective bargaining on behalf of their members by negotiating with employers on pay and conditions. If negotiations break down and unions meet the <a href="https://www.ier.org.uk/resources/trade-union-act-2016-what-says-what-it-means/">Trade Union Act</a> balloting thresholds, members can organise <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-workers-go-on-strike-93815">strike action</a>. </p>
<p>It is at such times that union density – the percentage of employees who are union members – is key, particularly when it comes to collective bargaining. High union density within an organisation can be a powerful bargaining tool when strikes are threatened. </p>
<p>The impact of collective bargaining varies depending on the type of system adopted, according to <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/068bb29d-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/068bb29d-en">OECD research </a>. It shows that the best outcomes for employment levels, productivity and employee wages are achieved via collective bargaining that aligns wage and working conditions agreements across sectors, but also allows agreements to be adapted at the organisation level. This is known as “organised decentralisation” and is used in countries such as Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Germany.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the UK uses a fully decentralised system that limits the benefits of collective bargaining for workers, organisations and the wider economy. There is no pay coordination across sectors and bargaining units, very little if any government influence, and collective bargaining happens at the organisation level only rather than across sectors.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two people walking past storage containers wear hard hats and high-visibility clothing, plane flying overhead." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470824/original/file-20220624-26-qz8s83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470824/original/file-20220624-26-qz8s83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470824/original/file-20220624-26-qz8s83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470824/original/file-20220624-26-qz8s83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470824/original/file-20220624-26-qz8s83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470824/original/file-20220624-26-qz8s83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470824/original/file-20220624-26-qz8s83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The transport and storage sector is one of four UK industries with the highest union density.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/industrial-worker-works-coworker-overseas-shipping-2037948062">Blue Planet Studio/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Further strikes by rail workers <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/train-strikes-when-next-rmt-rail-strike-dates-this-week-walkouts-1704720">could happen</a> in coming weeks and there is growing discontent among other workers, including <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61923815">British Airways</a> staff, <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2022-06-22/teaching-union-threatens-to-strike-with-demand-for-inflation-beating-pay-rise">teachers</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/25/nhs-staff-should-get-4-percent-pay-rise-independent-experts-say">NHS workers</a>. Unions will be at the forefront of any negotiations between these workers, their employers and the government. Industries with higher union density will bring more power to the negotiating table.</p>
<p>The percentage of unionised workers varies across sectors, industries and age groups in the UK, however. About half (50.1)% of UK public sector employees and 12.8% of private sector employees were unionised in 2021. The four industries with the highest union density are education (49.4%), human health and social work activities (39.2%), public administration and defence (38.6%) and transport and storage (36.6%). Employees over 35 years of age made up 63% of the UK’s overall employees and 76% of unionised employees in 2021. Only 4.3% of union members were aged between 16 and 24 years old and 19.8% were aged between 25 and 34 years old. </p>
<p>One reason for lower membership levels among younger workers is that they are more likely to be in <a href="https://theconversation.com/unions-rally-to-support-young-people-in-precarious-jobs-46657">precarious employment</a> with less access to unions. For example, one-third of those aged between 18 and 34 years old returned to the workforce after the pandemic via the “<a href="https://standout-cv.com/gig-economy-statistics-uk">gig economy</a>. ONS data also shows that 15.1% of workers in temporary positions are unionised compared to 23.7% of workers in permanent positions. Yet, a June 2022 <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/economy/survey-results/daily/2022/06/08/d6f7e/3">YouGov poll </a> shows 49% of respondents aged between 18 and 24 years old support the rail strikes, with older age groups showing less support. </p>
<p>The potential for strike action across several industries in coming months relates to societal issues such as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-17/u-k-cost-of-living-squeeze-intensifies-with-drop-in-real-wages">decreasing real income</a>. Dialogue between unions, employers and government could help address these concerns without the need for strike action. In fact, research shows that collective bargaining by unions can benefit both sides – companies and employees – as well as society. But, as we have seen in recent weeks, its failure can create significant disruption in workplaces with strong union membership.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185570/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Sara Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Collective bargaining carried out by unions can ultimately benefit employers, not just employees.Emma Sara Hughes, Lecturer in Human Resource Management, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1854502022-06-23T15:04:28Z2022-06-23T15:04:28ZWhat trade unions do and what joining one means<p>Union membership among young workers today is incredibly low. Industrial action scholars speak of a worldwide trend towards the so-called <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277515552_Young_Workers_and_Trade_Unions_A_Global_View">de-unionisation of the young</a>. </p>
<p>In 1980 <a href="http://www.ilera-directory.org/15thworldcongress/files/papers/Track_4/Thur_W4_DICKENS.pdf">80% of the British workforce</a> was covered by collective bargaining between employers and unions. By the 2000s, that figure had fallen to around 30%. And the numbers have kept falling, in particular for young people. UK government statistics show that in 2021, only <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1077904/Trade_Union_Membership_UK_1995-2021_statistical_bulletin.pdf">4.3%</a> of 16 to 24-year-old workers were members of a union. This figure rose to 19.8% for the 25 to 34 category. </p>
<p>In their introduction to the 2015 compendium, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277515552_Young_Workers_and_Trade_Unions_A_Global_View">Young Workers and Trade Unions: A Global View</a>, scholars Andy Hodder and Lefteris Kretsos explain that it’s not so much that young professionals view unions more negatively than their older counterparts. Rather, they tend to work in jobs and industries where union representation doesn’t exist. Crucially, for the most part, they <a href="https://www.academia.edu/8961890/Young_Workers_and_Trade_Unions_The_case_of_the_UK?auto=download">do not know</a> what unions are, what they do – and what they have done to change the world of work.</p>
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<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-last-two-recessions-hit-young-people-hardest-heres-how-you-can-protect-yourself-for-the-next-one-184783">The last two recessions hit young people hardest – here’s how you can protect yourself for the next one</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/four-ways-pensions-still-fail-to-support-staff-who-are-young-low-paid-and-part-time-176289?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Four ways pensions still fail to support staff who are young, low paid and part time</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/hybrid-working-post-covid-how-young-professionals-can-optimise-their-time-in-the-office-and-why-they-should-184025">Hybrid working post-COVID: how young professionals can optimise their time in the office (and why they should)</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>What unions do</h2>
<p>Unions give employees a voice – both as individuals and as a collective – that is independent of their employer. Employers are more likely to engage through consultation and negotiations with the views of their workers where workers can speak as one. This is simply because it is more efficient and provides legitimacy to the result of these negotiations. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A factory worker in protective gear looks at the camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470597/original/file-20220623-13-nn7sbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470597/original/file-20220623-13-nn7sbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470597/original/file-20220623-13-nn7sbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470597/original/file-20220623-13-nn7sbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470597/original/file-20220623-13-nn7sbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470597/original/file-20220623-13-nn7sbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470597/original/file-20220623-13-nn7sbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unionised workplaces have been shown to be safer and healthier for workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/factory-woman-worker-technician-hygienic-mask-1681854001">SritanaN | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the workers, there is strength in numbers. They can club together to provide the resources to allow their union to negotiate on their behalf. The vast majority of collective disputes are settled without any industrial action. But having the ability to engage in such collective action, if necessary, can be vital, as many groups of workers this summer are finding out. </p>
<p>Quite what is negotiated has resulted in a number of procedural and substantive benefits to workers. First, unionised workplaces have been shown to be <a href="https://www.napier.ac.uk/%7E/media/worktribe/output-2659451/trade-unions-and-career-services-potential-partners-for-promoting-social-justice-at-work.pdf">fairer</a> than non-union workplaces. There is less wage disparity between different employees. </p>
<p>Unionised workplaces are also <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4880255/">healthier</a> places to work. Workers are subjected to less stress and more attention is paid to keeping working hours within healthy limits. </p>
<p>Similarly, unions have also been shown to make workplaces <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0950017006061275?casa_token=uz5Tzt7zLzgAAAAA:iIMk8P7S5AkhMFmgwbWoG4AyDwobTwZq-jqlx7poSvWAr3_RYvljxIGLiEBm3az2OEYTWgbxgSDv">safer</a>. There are fewer accidents and fatalities because workers in unionised workplaces are more likely to be given the equipment they need to work safely, whether ergonomically assessed workstations, or clothing to protect themselves from noxious substances. </p>
<p>And then there’s the question of pay. Union members <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/287278/uk-trade-union-wage-premium/#:%7E:text=In%202021%20members%20of%20trade,more%20than%20the%20average%20worker.">still earn more</a> than non-union members. Some recent pay deals negotiated by unions, such as those led by the Unite union on behalf of airport staff, dockers and carmakers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/17/profiteering-bosses-workers-inflation-unite-sharon-graham-labour">have outstripped</a> the current rate of inflation.</p>
<p>Lastly, unions are able to lobby governments to push for greater employment rights for workers. They also work to stop any existing rights being withdrawn.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/09/06/unionized-workers-becoming-more-satisfied-than-non-union/">Research indicates</a> that these benefits lead to happier, more satisfying and more productive workplaces as well as more <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/unions-and-well-being/">democratic and fairer societal outcomes</a>. This in turn is a benefit for employers. </p>
<h2>How unions assert employees’ rights</h2>
<p>Some experts, including US economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/amazon-employees-do-not-need-a-union">have argued</a> that unions are no longer needed. “Workers don’t need unions because the economy is booming, and workers face a sellers’ market for their skills. They also don’t want to pay substantial union dues,” Furchtgott-Roth wrote in March 2022. </p>
<p>While it is true that workers now have more individual rights in law covering minimum wages, discrimination, holidays and working hours, many of these things we now take for granted were achieved by union members acting collectively.</p>
<p>And still today, most workers <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X07073031">do not know</a> what their rights are or how to enforce them, with some afraid to for fear of retribution. This is particularly true of people just starting out in their careers, who, research shows, increasingly find themselves in the <a href="https://www.etuc.org/en/young-people-and-precarious-work">most precarious</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/unions-rally-to-support-young-people-in-precarious-jobs-46657">insecure</a> jobs. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A delivery cyclist on his bike with a delivery box on his back." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470598/original/file-20220623-51579-21t9k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470598/original/file-20220623-51579-21t9k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470598/original/file-20220623-51579-21t9k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470598/original/file-20220623-51579-21t9k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470598/original/file-20220623-51579-21t9k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470598/original/file-20220623-51579-21t9k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470598/original/file-20220623-51579-21t9k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young people are increasingly employed in insecure jobs and non-unionised sectors.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/courier-on-bicycle-delivering-food-city-674369497">Daisy Daisy | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2009, industrial relations scholar Linda Dickens <a href="http://www.ilera-directory.org/15thworldcongress/files/papers/Track_4/Thur_W4_DICKENS.pdf">pointed out</a> that trade unions remained “effective positive mediators” for ensuring that the rights of workers that are enshrined in our laws can be translated into changes in the workplace. In other words, collective action is still the best way by which to ensure that individual employees’ rights are respected and upheld. </p>
<p>Non-union bodies like the UK’s Citizens’ Advice Bureaux – which many people go to for <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237440551_Under-funded_Overstretched_and_Overwhelmed_the_Experience_of_Citizens_Advice_Bureaux_and_Law_Centre_Advisers_in_Supporting_Vulnerable_Workers">help at work</a> – are so under-resourced that they recommend union membership as the most effective way to resolve workplace grievances.</p>
<p>While union membership has fallen significantly over the last 20 to 30 years, this does not mean that <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801444456/what-workers-say/#bookTabs=1">non-union workers</a> do not want to be in unions. It is often the case that they have no access to unions. <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137319067">Some employers</a> have also made it known that they are anti-union. </p>
<p>The average union member is no longer a male, blue-collar manual worker but a female white-collar worker. Indeed, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1077904/Trade_Union_Membership_UK_1995-2021_statistical_bulletin.pdf">the highest levels of union membership</a> are among teachers, health workers, social workers and civil servants. </p>
<p>People from across the contemporary employment spectrum – including journalists, actors (like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/oct/19/spending-cuts-union-protest-westminster">Benedict Cumberbatch</a>), writers, lawyers, doctors and musicians (like <a href="https://musiciansunion.org.uk/news/scots-folk-singer-and-mu-member-iona-fyfe-wins-stuc-equality-award">folk singer Iona Fyfe</a>) are union members. They see no conflict between unions representing their rights and their ability to be successful in their careers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185450/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregor Gall is the director of the Jimmy Reid Foundation, the editor of Scottish Left Review, co-editor of Scottish Labour History and a member of the UCU union. He is not a member of any political party.</span></em></p>Workers, particularly at the beginning of their careers, don’t know their rights in the workplace, and often fear asserting them.Gregor Gall, Visiting Scholar, School of Law, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1848952022-06-23T14:50:35Z2022-06-23T14:50:35ZWhy Uber drivers aren’t unionizing in Québec<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468243/original/file-20220610-28309-qtm2nc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Uber model hinders any possibility of drivers acting collectively and generates significant cognitive dissonance among them.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As of mid-June, the Uber platform will extend its services to the entire province of Québec. On a global scale, Uber is in nearly <a href="https://s23.q4cdn.com/407969754/files/doc_downloads/2021/07/Uber-2021-ESG-Report.pdf">10,000 cities and 71 countries and has more than 3.5 million workers</a>.</p>
<p>This model, based on on-demand work and the algorithmic distribution of tasks, fundamentally transforms ways of thinking about, organizing and carrying out work, both on an individual and collective basis.</p>
<p>The expansion of Uber’s service across Québec provides an opportunity to examine the reality of the work being carried out by thousands of drivers and delivery personnel in the province. What is their work day like? How do they make social connections?</p>
<p>To try to answer these questions, I observed Facebook groups of drivers and interviewed about 50 Uber workers in Québec.</p>
<p>As a doctoral student in communications at Université du Québec à Montréal and a research student at the Université du Québec’s Institut national de la recherche scientifique, my research examines the profile and motivations of Uber drivers, their ideas about collective action and, more generally, the psychosocial issues involved in work that is mediated by algorithms.</p>
<h2>Many encounters, but solitary work</h2>
<p>Although Uber workers encounter many people on a daily basis (customers, restaurant owners, passengers), their activity is essentially solitary. Their work takes place without ever meeting another human from Uber. Their registration on the platform is done online and their daily tasks are distributed to them by an algorithm through the Uber app.</p>
<p>If a problem prompts a driver to contact the company’s technical service, the people they interact with are located in <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520970632/html">out-of-country call centres</a>. What’s more, the answers they get are most often formatted by scripts, reinforcing the robotic nature of their relationship to work.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="man wearing a mask driving a car with an Uber badge" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467558/original/file-20220607-18-79q23t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The organization of their work limits Uber drivers’ possibilities to socialize and hinders the possibility of forming a union.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As for the few moments when workers might meet — in restaurants waiting for orders or in drop-off areas at airports — drivers’ interactions are limited to brief exchanges about the number of orders they got that day, as expressed by Katia, an Uber Eats delivery driver in Montréal:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When I pass another delivery driver, I say “Hey Uber! Lots of business tonight,” or “Not much business tonight,” and that’s about it. After that, I probably won’t ever see them again, but if I do, I just say hello. I don’t even know their name.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A competitive atmosphere</h2>
<p>Uber drivers’ Facebook groups do provide a place to share information and vent about frustrating situations. However, these spaces play a very limited role in building a collective since they don’t make it possible for drivers to have extended conversations about work.</p>
<p>The architecture of the groups favours short-term interactions, with posts quickly fading into the thread. Constructive exchanges would require conversations over a long period of time in an atmosphere of listening and trust. However, the competition felt by drivers, combined with the brief and anonymous interaction mode of social networks, contributes to a hostile climate. As Diane, an Uber Eats delivery driver in Laval, says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think that the negative comments are made to discourage others because it’s not a group where we encourage each other. It’s a group where we try to discourage others, because it’s competition. If I want to earn a living, I have to run more races than you.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Collective action is a threat</h2>
<p>Surprisingly, this absence of a collective identity is not perceived as a problem by most of the workers I interviewed. Despite difficult working conditions over which they have no control, workers do not tend toward gathering and mobilizing in an effort to establish a power relationship with Uber.</p>
<p>While Uber drivers in other jurisdictions <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8816204/uber-union-reach-settlement-ontario-unionization-case/">have tried to unionize</a>, the idea of collective action is perceived as a threat by most of the Québec workers. The competitive climate pushes drivers to develop a repertoire of tactics and tinkering to stand out, as Bertrand, an Uber driver in Québec City, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We all go to the Facebook group for the same thing, to find others like us and see if they can give us tips and tricks to better understand how it works, to get information. But we quickly understand that, no, we are all in the same boat, we are all there for our own pocketbook.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Among the tactics used to optimize their income, some drivers will, for example, call customers to find out their destination before picking them up. If drivers feel the trip is unprofitable, given the distance to the customer, they will cancel the trip. Others use two phones to maintain access to the map and show the location of the surcharge zones.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Uber app on a Samsung phone showing several available cars" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467536/original/file-20220607-13238-andol3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Québec, many Uber users appreciate the app’s ease of use and the convenience of the service.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>No sense of belonging</h2>
<p>To many workers, a work collective that strives to harmonize practices and replace individual tactics with collective strategies, looks like a loss of competitive advantage.</p>
<p>Now that Uber drivers’ struggles against cab drivers is over — thanks to <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5096891/taxi-drivers-protest-montreal-quebec-city/">the adoption of Bill 17 in 2020</a> which deregulated Québec’s taxi industry — they no longer share a common enemy.</p>
<h2>Fraught consequences</h2>
<p>Each driver has to learn how the business works and cope with its challenges on their own, cobbling together their own tactics, conscious that not all drivers benefit from the same resources. Moreover, drivers are deprived of the opportunity to develop a collective reaction about their working conditions. </p>
<p>The absence of meaningful exchanges, opportunities to listen and the presence of other drivers hinders the development of any meaningful relationships and solidarity between drivers. Their activity is reduced to their relationship with technology.</p>
<p>In fact, without the power to act collectively in the face of rigid working conditions, the dysfunctions and health problems of workers are always treated <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278777956_Collective_work_and_rules_re-writing_process_a_way_of_workers%27_health">as isolated realities rather than as a consequence of the way their work is organized</a>. As Kader, an Uber driver in Montréal, puts it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve never opened my heart on the Facebook group. All I have to do is make one comment and I feel attacked by the others. Often, drivers who speak honestly are verbally attacked. Drivers are suffering. We could discuss it. But the climate we need to do this does not exist in the group.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The profiles of Uber drivers in Québec vary greatly. For example, the fact that it’s impossible to negotiate higher incomes does not have the same consequences for a Tesla engineer, who drives three hours a week to take their mind off things, as it does for an immigrant who works 60 hours a week to support their family.</p>
<h2>Low revenues and lack of transparency</h2>
<p>For some individuals being an Uber driver brings in extra income, but the model also takes advantage of the precariousness of a part of the population. Those who carry out the activity as their only source of income, often do so because they lack a better option. </p>
<p>Although the majority of the drivers I interviewed do not aspire to become employees and are reluctant to join a union, many deplore the low income and the platform’s lack of transparency over how the algorithm and the remuneration system work.</p>
<p>Faced with this situation, they see the government as the only stakeholder that could establish a power relationship with Uber and force the platform to offer better working conditions to its drivers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184895/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucie Enel has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie, and the J.A. DeSève Foundation.</span></em></p>When it comes to dealing with Uber’s difficult working conditions, Uber drivers are on their own.Lucie Enel, Doctorante en communication, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1840842022-05-31T09:25:55Z2022-05-31T09:25:55ZWages: why are they not keeping up with inflation?<p>There has been a huge amount of concern about rising inflation in recent months, and it’s made worse by the fact that wage inflation has not been keeping up. <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/4a32b0c4-7df0-47a2-a52d-8a823012b67e?accessToken=zwAAAYD6vtqakc9KMrDEffBHotOlLYqCMBK2fg.MEUCIQCV078lRGjeXDPEYFj38OfiE9LrGkAGW-REJp7FmyKf2wIgRv_PombmHJCr1slKad_AOETi7CEDEHdg43LYcZorfiQ&sharetype=gift?token=752a3f65-9a9a-4217-af37-e2619476a1fd">A few workers</a> in high-paid jobs have enjoyed higher bonuses and inflation-busting pay rises – it has just been reported that <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/af0d30bd-f6ee-4ab4-abfe-94e58aa27b12">CEO pay</a> has recovered to pre-pandemic levels for instance. But for the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/12/jump-uk-wages-fails-ease-cost-living-crisis-prices">majority of workers</a>, higher price inflation is now eroding the real value of what they earn. </p>
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<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>More than a fifth of workers are struggling to afford the things <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/24/uk-inflation-food-prices-grocery-supermarket">they need to live</a>. For them, the cost of living crisis is not some hackneyed political slogan but a fact of life. It spells real hardship. Its resolution calls for a rethinking of policies towards inflation and indeed the economy more generally.</p>
<p>Economics textbooks teach us that lower unemployment is the cause of higher wage inflation – the negative relationship between unemployment and wage growth forms the basis of the so-called <a href="https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/1364/economics/phillips-curve-explained/">Phillips curve</a>. The textbooks also refer to the possibility of wage-price spirals, where higher prices fuel higher wages. This way of thinking gained support from the experience of the 1970s, when higher prices and higher wages coexisted, leading to a period of stagflation.</p>
<p>But the present shows us how price inflation and wage inflation can be decoupled. As a challenge to economic theory, workers are facing cuts in their real pay with seemingly no prospect of wages catching up with headline inflation. This is despite the fact that unemployment is low. Lower real living standards now represent the price of being in paid work and the cost of an economy that is jobs-rich.</p>
<p><strong>Growth in pay, inflation and unemployment (%)</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465984/original/file-20220530-16-f2pds5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing pay, inflation and unemployment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465984/original/file-20220530-16-f2pds5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465984/original/file-20220530-16-f2pds5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465984/original/file-20220530-16-f2pds5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465984/original/file-20220530-16-f2pds5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465984/original/file-20220530-16-f2pds5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465984/original/file-20220530-16-f2pds5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465984/original/file-20220530-16-f2pds5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Regular pay is net of things like overtime, bonuses and benefits insurance; CPI = consumer price inflation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ONS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why the low wage inflation?</h2>
<p>Wages have actually been in the doldrums ever since the global financial crisis of 2007-08. Real wages sank in the years immediately after that crisis, and although they were able to increase again on the back of very low inflation from 2012 onwards, they only returned to 2008 levels very recently. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465989/original/file-20220530-22-qnfjyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing real wages in UK" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465989/original/file-20220530-22-qnfjyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465989/original/file-20220530-22-qnfjyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465989/original/file-20220530-22-qnfjyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465989/original/file-20220530-22-qnfjyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465989/original/file-20220530-22-qnfjyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=308&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465989/original/file-20220530-22-qnfjyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=308&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465989/original/file-20220530-22-qnfjyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=308&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Y-axis is real average weekly wages (£).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ibisworld.com/uk/bed/average-real-wage/44028/">IbisWorld</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fact that this is all they have achieved in a period of low unemployment is something of a paradox. It is not entirely clear how to explain this, but several factors are potentially important. </p>
<p>First, there is the decline of union power together with the rise in firm power. Unlike the 1970s, British workers are not able to collectively demand and secure pay rises via union organisation. They face bargaining at an individual level, and the best way to get higher pay is often to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61552546">find a new job</a>. The increase in market power of firms also helps to explain why <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-publishes-second-state-of-competition-report">profits have risen</a>: they’re <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/corporate-profits">up around 60%</a> in real terms in 20 years, compared to growth in workers’ real wages of about 14%.</p>
<p>Second, there are other measures of unemployment. While recorded unemployment has fallen, <a href="http://shura.shu.ac.uk/30252/">the actual level</a> of unemployment is higher: workers on incapacity benefits – in relatively large numbers in particular areas such as Wales and Scotland – would be in work if suitable jobs were available, but are not counted in the official unemployment statistics. </p>
<p>The fact that there has been a recent rise in <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/movementsoutofworkforthoseagedover50yearssincethestartofthecoronaviruspandemic/2022-03-14">economic inactivity</a>, with workers (particularly older ones) exiting the labour force, also suggests some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/22/how-the-narrative-of-full-employment-britain-hides-the-real-picture">hidden unemployment</a>. This matters because it implies that workers’ bargaining power may be less than what the headline measures of unemployment suggest.</p>
<p>Third, there is the role of lags. While wage inflation may not be rising by as much price inflation now, in the coming months, some argue it will begin to rise and perhaps even overtake price inflation. This argument has been put by the Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, leading him to call for <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60206564">wage restraint</a>. </p>
<p>But while the possibility of above-inflation wage rises cannot be ruled out, it seems far-fetched to think that workers – in all sectors and regions – will be able to assert their power in ways that protect their real wages. Indeed, before any lags are realised, the prospect of wage inflation catching up with headline inflation may be stifled by unemployment rising in response to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/12/a-uk-recession-seems-certain-the-only-question-is-how-deep">economy contracting</a>. </p>
<h2>Time for new policies</h2>
<p>At present, central banks in the UK and other countries are fighting inflation by raising interest rates and reversing the “money creation” that they were doing under quantitative easing. With inflation forecast by the Bank of England to peak at <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy-report/2022/may-2022#:%7E:text=inflation%20to%207%25-,We%20expect%20inflation%20to%20rise%20to%20around%2010%25%20this%20year,on%20energy%20in%20October%202022.">around 10%</a> in the next few months, this policy approach looks less and less convincing. Rather, new policies are needed to ensure that wages catch up with headline inflation, especially if workers are not to suffer economic harm. </p>
<p>It is a welcome step that the government is (belatedly) offering <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61583651">direct financial support</a> to the least well-off in society to help with soaring energy bills. While the government announced some time ago that it plans to increase corporation tax from 19% to 25% for most firms from 2023, it has only just decided to impose a windfall tax on oil and gas companies to help pay for this support, having previously resisted pressure to do so. The wider lesson from this U-turn is that the state has a responsibility to protect the economically disadvantaged, and that includes redistributing income in this way. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466019/original/file-20220530-16-8npleg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Oil rig in the North Sea" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466019/original/file-20220530-16-8npleg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466019/original/file-20220530-16-8npleg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466019/original/file-20220530-16-8npleg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466019/original/file-20220530-16-8npleg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466019/original/file-20220530-16-8npleg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466019/original/file-20220530-16-8npleg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466019/original/file-20220530-16-8npleg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Government is aiming to raise £5 billion with a windfall tax on oil and gas companies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gas-oil-rig-platform-605648954">Mr.PK</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet it is concerning that the support payments are one-offs. Will the government offer new cash transfers in the future if energy prices keep on rising? Its <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/rishi-sunak-i-m-a-fiscal-conservative-unlike-boris-">fiscally conservative instincts</a> are likely to prevent this from happening. </p>
<p>In any case, support payments do not help raise wage inflation to levels that match headline inflation. This would be easier to achieve if workers had greater bargaining power. </p>
<p>Restoring the bargaining power of workers necessitates radical reforms. It entails reimagining corporate governance structures and giving workers more of a say in firms. It also entails strengthening union power and widening forms of public and worker ownership. </p>
<p>Only until we address the imbalances in power that entrench low real pay will we secure an economy that is sustainable and run in the interests of everyone, not just the few.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Spencer has received funding from the ESRC </span></em></p>Lower real living standards now represent the price of being in paid work.David Spencer, Professor of Economics and Political Economy, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1700672021-11-09T13:41:14Z2021-11-09T13:41:14ZWhy so many unions oppose vaccine mandates – even when they actually support them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430511/original/file-20211105-10356-wv1ll6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=76%2C33%2C3124%2C2097&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving is paying the price for ignoring New York City's vaccinate mandate – and his union's decision to allow it.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/NetsCIrvingBasketball/9a8b544c044b48d1b977ddcb1aa1999d/photo?Query=Kyrie%20irving&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=6107&currentItemNo=7">AP Photo/Elise Amendola</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, labor unions have been among the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/osha-covid-meat-plant-fines/2020/09/13/1dca3e14-f395-11ea-bc45-e5d48ab44b9f_story.html">strongest advocates for workplace safety measures</a>. </p>
<p>So it came as a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/29/unions-shouldnt-stand-way-vaccine-mandates/">surprise to many</a> that some unions have resisted the imposition of vaccine mandates, ranging in sentiment from <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/17/health-202-labor-unions-are-split-vaccine-mandates/">cautious</a> to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/10/02/police-firefighters-resist-vaccination/">outright hostile</a>. Their reactions can seem confusing because we tend to associate unions with Democrats, who, polls show, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/08/poll-support-vaccine-mandates-students-515657">overwhelmingly support vaccine mandates</a>. In fact, some unions, including those that represent police officers, are <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-police-oregon-coronavirus-pandemic-workers-rights-05ff3bd3325fb47f90061b1cc8e339a1">more supportive of Republicans</a>. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GmfL_MIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">an expert in labor law</a>, however, I wasn’t at all surprised by these differences. Understanding a little about the purpose of unions and how they operate shows why.</p>
<h2>Unions have to represent their members</h2>
<p>Police unions have been most vocally opposed to vaccine mandates. </p>
<p>They’ve <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/10/28/new-york-city-vaccine-mandate-judge/">filed lawsuits</a>, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hell-no-some-police-officers-their-unions-oppose-vaccination-mandates-n1277608">vowed to ignore the mandate</a> and <a href="https://ktla.com/news/california/san-francisco-sheriffs-deputies-threaten-to-quit-over-covid-19-vaccine-mandate/">threatened to quit</a>, even though <a href="https://www.odmp.org/search/incident/covid-19">COVID-19 has been the leading cause of death</a> for police officers in 2020 and 2021.</p>
<p>Although it’s unclear exactly how many police officers and their unions are opposing mandates, their vaccination numbers are <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/cities-police-unions-clash-vaccine-mandates-effect-80608735">well below the national rate for adults</a>, and there have been very hostile objections to mandates in <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/21/us/police-unions-vaccine-workers-rights/index.html">cities across the country</a>. For example, the Chicago police union president urged officers to <a href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-police-vaccine-mandate-union-head-urges-cops-to-defy/2635725/">defy a vaccine mandate that he compared to a Nazi gas chamber</a>.</p>
<p>It’s important to understand that unions are representative organizations that rely on the support of their members, much like politicians. A union only gains a foothold at a workplace if a majority of employees want it; if the union loses that majority support, it can be kicked out. </p>
<p>Moreover, union leaders obtain and keep their positions through periodic elections. As a result, unions are especially sensitive to the positions of their members. And that’s not only to maintain support, it’s also unions’ main job: representing employees. </p>
<p>So if a union represents workers who oppose vaccine mandates, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that union leaders, who are <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2020/10/16/491731/unions-democratically-organized-corporations-not/">usually former rank-and-file employees</a>, echo the same view. This is why we see so many unions that represent law enforcement officers and firefighters, who <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-police-oregon-coronavirus-pandemic-workers-rights-05ff3bd3325fb47f90061b1cc8e339a1">tend to be politically conservative</a>, oppose vaccine mandates. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="New York firefighters hold signs opposing vaccine mandates during a news conference." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430585/original/file-20211106-25-1crk7lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430585/original/file-20211106-25-1crk7lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430585/original/file-20211106-25-1crk7lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430585/original/file-20211106-25-1crk7lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430585/original/file-20211106-25-1crk7lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430585/original/file-20211106-25-1crk7lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430585/original/file-20211106-25-1crk7lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Firefighter groups, like the FDNY Fire Officers Association, have been among the unions most vocally opposed to mandates.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/NYVaccineMandateFirefighters/c34efd64b3c24de7b8c97f2c94fc7444/photo?Query=police%20vaccine%20mandate&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=44&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Mary Altaffer</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Protecting the right to bargain</h2>
<p>Yet even unions that traditionally support the Democratic Party aren’t always gung-ho about mandates, especially those that are implemented without their input.</p>
<p>While some large unions, like the <a href="https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/565195-afl-cio-backing-vaccine-requirement-for-workers">AFL-CIO</a> and <a href="https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releases/nea-announces-support-educator-vaccine-and-testing">National Education Association</a>, quickly backed vaccine mandates, others have taken a more nuanced stance. As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/09/16/unions-vaccine-mandates-ufcw/">Terri Gerstein from the Harvard Labor and Worklife Program emphasized</a>, it’s important to pay attention to exactly what these unions are doing and saying. </p>
<p>Many unions initially expressed caution or opposition to vaccine mandates, but that reluctance has frequently softened over time. Thus, we see some unions that have always encouraged its members to vaccinate, like the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teachers-unions-have-opposed-vaccine-mandates-but-that-may-change/2021/08">American Federation of Teachers</a>, first oppose employer-led mandates before reversing course, all the while emphasizing the need for more discussion between workers and management.</p>
<p>The American Federation of Government Employees is encouraging its members to be vaccinated but <a href="https://www.afge.org/publication/largest-federal-employee-union-responds-to-president-bidens-covid-19-vaccine-announcement/">has emphasized that any requirements</a> first be “properly negotiated with our bargaining units.” The Service Employees International Union also pushed for members to get the vaccine, while arguing that employers may be <a href="https://seiu.org/covid-19-faqs">legally required to bargain with unions before implementing mandates</a>.</p>
<p>Although these stances may seem odd, they’re exactly what you should expect.</p>
<p>When a policy that affects workers is first proposed, unions may need some time to gauge their members’ thoughts. Hence the initial hesitation. After that, however, unions focus on protecting one of their members’ vital labor rights: the <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/the-law/employees/collective-bargaining-rights">right to bargain</a>. </p>
<p>A major reason employees want a union in the first place is get a seat at the table with their employer to hash out work conditions. Employers usually can’t change work conditions on their own because <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/the-law/bargaining-in-good-faith-with-employees-union-representative">they have a duty</a> to try to work out an agreement with the union. Therefore, when the possibility of a vaccine mandate arises, a union – even one that supports the mandate – will be very careful to make sure the employer bargains before implementing it. </p>
<p>Although <a href="https://www.njcourts.gov/attorneys/assets/opinions/appellate/published/a0146-21a0159-21.pdf?c=9p4">some state courts</a> and <a href="https://perb.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/decisionbank/decision-2783h.pdf">agencies</a> have recently determined that state and local government employers aren’t required to negotiate with unions over vaccine mandates because it’s an urgent health emergency, it’s still an <a href="https://casetext.com/admin-law/virginia-mason-medical-center-5">open question in the private sector</a>. As a result, a union’s failure to at least push for the right to bargain over a mandate would be giving up one of its most powerful rights without a fight.</p>
<h2>Ironing out the details</h2>
<p>But even when its members generally support a mandate and an employer is allowed to impose one, a union may still have an incentive to avoid publicly supporting the mandate. That’s because it will still want to reserve the right to bargain over the mandate’s implementation. </p>
<p>The duty to bargain includes not only the adoption of a rule but also <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/the-law/bargaining-in-good-faith-with-employees-union-representative">negotiations over how the rule is implemented</a>. </p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/tyson-foods-meatpacking-union-strike-deal-over-vaccine-mandate-2021-09-03/">Tyson Foods and its unions agreed</a> to a mandate that included incentives for vaccinations, such as paid leave. </p>
<p>And the U.S. Postal Service and its unions <a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/unions/2021/09/usps-says-vaccination-testing-requirements-subject-to-mandatory-union-negotiations/">are negotiating how to address</a> the <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/11/05/2021-23643/covid-19-vaccination-and-testing-emergency-temporary-standard">new rule</a> that obligates employers with 100 or more employees to either require workers be vaccinated or take regular COVID-19 tests. Terms include deadlines for compliance, whether the Postal Service will provide on-site testing or vaccinations, and how employees who don’t comply will be disciplined. </p>
<p>Questions over whether disciplinary action can be challenged recently led an <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-fop-lodge-7-vaccination-mandate-judge-restraining-order-20211101-ov5l25pyhvdvfemcb3zkfuym6q-story.html">Illinois court to temporarily prevent Chicago</a> from enforcing its vaccination requirement for police officers. The delay was needed, according to the court, to allow unvaccinated officers time to challenge suspensions through the arbitration process that was part of their union’s contract with the city.</p>
<p>A lot is at stake in these post-mandate negotiations, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/10/12/kyrie-irving-nets-vaccine-mandate-unavailable/">Kyrie Irving of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets can attest</a>. </p>
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<p>Irving’s unvaccinated status means that he’s unable to play in his team’s arena because of New York City’s vaccine rules. The NBA has said that players who can’t play because of a vaccine mandate will be fined. That’s a position that the players union initially opposed but, after <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/kyrie-irving-pay-cut-vaccination/7n3x4epp5spv1dftekfffocjd">discussions with the league</a>, ultimately agreed was allowable under the contract. The result is that Irving is set to lose over US$15 million. </p>
<p>Most employees, of course, have nowhere near as much money at stake. However, their interest in having their union involved with decisions over how a vaccine mandate will be implemented is just as great. And this helps explain why unions will be hesitant to publicly support a mandate until they can iron out all these details.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170067/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey Hirsch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The reasons have a lot to do with the nature of unions as representative of workers’ views, as well as the importance of protecting their right to bargain.Jeffrey Hirsch, Professor of Law, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1402272020-06-12T20:57:52Z2020-06-12T20:57:52ZPolice unions are one of the biggest obstacles to transforming policing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341533/original/file-20200612-153845-iip80o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=54%2C50%2C2760%2C1741&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters in front of Boston Police Headquarters during a United Against Racist Police Terror Rally on June 7, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-approach-in-front-of-boston-police-headquarters-news-photo/1218632760?adppopup=true">Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Protesters and community organizers are increasingly calling for <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2020-06-09/what-does-it-mean-to-defund-the-police-or-disband-the-police">defunding and disbanding the police</a> as a way to end police violence. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing">Advocates</a> argue that moderate reforms like enhanced training and greater community oversight have failed to curb police violence and misconduct. </p>
<p>But there’s a major, and usually insurmountable, obstacle to reform: police unions. <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/gwlr85&div=23&id=&page=">Research</a> suggests that these unions play a critical role in thwarting the transformation of police departments. </p>
<p>Union officials like John McNesby in Philadelphia, where I live and work as <a href="http://www.jillmccorkel.com/">a scholar of law and the criminal justice system</a>, do not deny this. Over the course of his <a href="https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/02/23/john-mcnesby-fop-police-philadelphia/">12-year career</a> as president of the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, he has derided the city’s civilian review board and predicted in 2010 that beefed-up misconduct procedures would wind up “… <a href="https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/02/23/john-mcnesby-fop-police-philadelphia/">at the bottom of the litter box</a>.” </p>
<p>He was right. The union has <a href="https://billypenn.com/2019/12/20/phillys-negotiating-a-new-police-contract-can-the-city-get-reforms-past-the-fop-union/">successfully petitioned</a> the Pennsylvania State Labor Relations board to overturn tougher disciplinary measures.</p>
<p>Philadelphia’s police union is not alone in its power to maintain the status quo. In cities and states across the U.S., the benefits and protections afforded police <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/us/police-unions-minneapolis-kroll.html">have been provided by public officials</a> who have catered – and caved – to union demands over many decades.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341328/original/file-20200611-80766-1vq5szk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341328/original/file-20200611-80766-1vq5szk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341328/original/file-20200611-80766-1vq5szk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341328/original/file-20200611-80766-1vq5szk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341328/original/file-20200611-80766-1vq5szk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341328/original/file-20200611-80766-1vq5szk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341328/original/file-20200611-80766-1vq5szk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Philadelphia police union head John McNesby addressed the Black Lives Matter protests in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-a-reaction-to-a-black-lives-matter-rally-posted-outside-news-photo/842636568?adppopup=true">Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Lack of accountability</h2>
<p>Across the United States, police are shielded from both public and departmental accountability by multiple layers of contractual and legislative protections. Nearly all of these measures reflect the political will and political might of <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/stanlp28&div=7&id=&page=">police unions</a>.</p>
<p>Measures that discourage accountability vary by jurisdiction, but typically include some combination of collective bargaining agreements, civil service protections, a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/04/24/the-police-officers-bill-of-rights/">Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights</a> and discrete legislative statutes. </p>
<p>Taken together, they afford police greater procedural safeguards than citizens suspected of a crime have and offer more employment assurances than are available to other public servants. </p>
<p>They also make efforts to deter brutality and corruption all but impossible. </p>
<p>Commissioners seeking to tighten disciplinary protocols in departments plagued by police violence and misconduct have terminated officers only to see them <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/a/philadelphia-police-problem-union-misconduct-secret-20190912.html">reinstated</a> in arbitration. </p>
<p>So-called “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/18/us/chicago-police-misconduct-records/index.html">purge clauses</a>” require departments to remove all records of disciplinary actions against officers after periods of time typically ranging from <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/559fbf2be4b08ef197467542/t/5773f695f7e0abbdfe28a1f0/1467217560243/Campaign+Zero+Police+Union+Contract+Report.pdf">two to five years</a>. This can stymie the ability of external investigators to discover and analyze patterns of misconduct in a department. Following the police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, investigators from the Department of Justice had to obtain a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2015/05/27/cleveland_agreement_5-26-15.pdf">consent decree</a> to gain access to disciplinary records that were buried behind purge clauses. </p>
<p>Legislative protections and union contracts erode the ability of <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4586&context=buffalolawreview">civilian review</a> boards to operate as an external check on police power. In <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-ci-cr-police-reforms-20200612-cy63mihhjndvjparmkmoazil3m-story.html">Maryland</a>, civilians are not allowed to participate in an investigation of a law enforcement officer. And in Newark, New Jersey, the <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Newark-ruling.pdf">police union sued and won</a> when the city attempted to give its civilian review board disciplinary powers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341334/original/file-20200611-80762-1hn4f4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341334/original/file-20200611-80762-1hn4f4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341334/original/file-20200611-80762-1hn4f4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341334/original/file-20200611-80762-1hn4f4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341334/original/file-20200611-80762-1hn4f4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341334/original/file-20200611-80762-1hn4f4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341334/original/file-20200611-80762-1hn4f4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Recent legislation has made it difficult for the public to view body camera footage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/los-angeles-police-department-officer-wears-a-body-camera-news-photo/695011490?adppopup=true">ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Closed doors, entrenched protections</h2>
<p>In general, the terms of employment for police officers are dictated by <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/bclr32&div=10&id=&page=">state-level civil service protections</a> that extend to all public employees. State labor laws facilitate the collective bargaining process and provide opportunities for public employees to challenge managerial decisions. </p>
<p>Collective bargaining agreements – union contracts – further refine the terms and conditions of employment for law enforcement officers in thousands of jurisdictions across the country. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3890&context=dlj">These agreements do more than just establish basic parameters</a> governing salaries, raises and overtime pay. They also dictate how investigations into officer misconduct will be carried out, the types of disciplinary measures available to departments and avenues of redress for officers seeking to overturn or evade sanction. In all but <a href="https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=3890&context=dlj">eight states</a>, contract negotiations with police unions take place behind closed doors, outside the purview of journalists and the public.</p>
<p>Many agreements declare that officers will not be immediately interrogated following an incident in which the officer’s use of force, including deadly force, is being investigated. They limit the length of interrogations, the time of day they occur and the number of interrogators. They allow officers to have a union representative or attorney present. And, unlike civilians suspected of a crime, officers are entitled to review all the evidence against them prior to submitting to questioning.</p>
<p>Other contracts require <a href="https://www.joincampaignzero.org/contracts">that civilians</a> pursuing a complaint provide sworn statements, videotaped testimony or agree to cross-examination by an officer’s representatives. In <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/559fbf2be4b08ef197467542/t/55a26ccbe4b02ee06b2a8571/1436708043810/AustinPoliceContract.pdf">Austin, Texas</a>, officers under investigation can be present during a complainant’s testimony before an otherwise private hearing of the city’s civilian review board. <a href="https://journals-sagepub-com.ezp1.villanova.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/1098611115613320">Research</a> suggests that these requirements can have a chilling effect on the willingness of civilians to file a complaint, or, once filed, see it through the adjudication process. </p>
<p>Even when investigations bear fruit, their impact is blunted. <a href="https://www.luc.edu/law/faculty/facultyandadministrationprofiles/rushin-stephen.shtml">Stephen Rushin</a>, a law professor at Loyola University, recently conducted one of the <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3134718">largest studies to date</a> of police union contracts. Over 70% of collective bargaining agreements allow officers sanctioned for misconduct to appeal to an arbiter. The arbiter’s decision is binding and overrides the decisions and recommendations of supervisors, police officials and civilian review boards. </p>
<p>In jurisdictions like Philadelphia where the Fraternal Order of Police has a hand in selecting the arbiter, the officer appealing sanction prevails at least <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/a/philadelphia-police-problem-union-misconduct-secret-20190912.html">two-thirds</a> of the time and receives no, or little, punishment. </p>
<h2>Extra protection for police</h2>
<p>Sixteen states have passed some version of a legislative package known as the <a href="https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=3890&context=dlj">Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights</a>. This legislation incorporates the provisions found in many collective bargaining agreements and extends blanket protections to police officers throughout the state. For example, departments are prevented from publicly identifying officers under investigation and, if an officer is cleared, the department cannot acknowledge that an investigation ever took place.</p>
<p>States that have not passed the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights have nonetheless <a href="https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=3890&context=dlj">enacted legislation</a> that extends similar kinds of protections. This includes laws that prevent the public from accessing disciplinary records, personnel files and body camera footage. </p>
<p>These laws make it difficult for researchers and journalists to document and analyze misconduct. And they create substantial barriers for communities seeking to address police violence and racial discrimination. </p>
<p>Politicians on both sides of the aisle have been, for most of the last three decades, <a href="https://law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/SLPR-Vol.-28-1-Bies.pdf">enthusiastic proponents of legislation</a> that hides collective bargaining agreements from public view and denies citizens access to relevant employment information about the officers who patrol their neighborhoods. </p>
<p>One reason they respond so well to police demands: campaign donations by police unions. </p>
<p>Former D.C. police chief and former Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey <a href="https://lite.cnn.com/en/article/h_4fdb1fe07f803564aa91bf0e7ba18236">recently told CNN</a> that police and their unions have “become far too powerful. They form political action committees. They donate to district attorneys’ race or state attorneys’ race, state senators and representatives and so forth.”</p>
<p>“And then we wonder why you can’t get anything done.” </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140227/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jill McCorkel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Across the United States, police are shielded from both public and departmental accountability by multiple layers of contractual and legislative protections.Jill McCorkel, Professor of Sociology and Criminology, Villanova UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1233982019-09-19T22:13:58Z2019-09-19T22:13:58ZThe NDP is MIA on bold labour proposals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293029/original/file-20190918-187995-pjp4ux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C665%2C4533%2C2380&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has so far failed to propose bold labour initiatives in the lead-up to the Oct. 21 federal election.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many social democrats, progressives and others on the left have been approaching Canada’s federal election campaign with considerable apprehension. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/poll-tracker/canada/">latest polls</a>, the federal New Democratic Party is in a distant third place, its popular vote projection having declined slightly since May. </p>
<p>Poll numbers so far have put the NDP at below 15 per cent and if its popularity doesn’t rise over the next few weeks, the party is likely to lose most of its caucus and play a minor role in the next Parliament.</p>
<p>What’s going on with the New Democrats? </p>
<p>Without question, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/09/04/will-jagmeet-singhs-identity-be-a-campaign-issue.html">racism</a> — whether explicit or implicit — has contributed to NDP leader Jagmeet’s Singh’s struggle to make headway with Canadian voters. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/vb5vwb/ndp-leader-jagmeet-singh-tackles-racism-after-losing-new-brunswick-candidates">Public</a> and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/8x8wap/jagmeet-singh-called-out-the-cbc-for-racist-questions">media treatment</a> of the first visible minority leader of a Canadian political party should have Canadians thinking seriously about the country’s purported multiculturalism. </p>
<p>But there’s also been a surprising lack of organization and mobilization by the NDP. While not entirely attributable to Singh himself, the difficulty the NDP has had filling each electoral riding with a <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/09/11/ndp-candidate-in-bc-resigns-and-apologizes-for-telling-energy-journalist-that-he-would-like-to-break-his-jaw.html">vetted candidate</a> hasn’t eased the party’s woes.</p>
<h2>Labour movement in decline</h2>
<p>The NDP’s lack of bold proposals directed toward strengthening and rebuilding the labour movement — the party’s natural constituency — is striking. To be sure, the federal New Democrats have put forward some <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ndp-singh-health-policy-federal-election-1.5175899?fbclid=IwAR1AUM2Xs1Pg1_meHEQGFhA2dVdEd-gVdFXpVUy45bqTDV6nOzSjodXE7dI">far-reaching policies</a>, such as enlarging Canada’s health-care system to include dental, hearing and eye coverage, Pharmacare and mental health services. </p>
<p>But when it comes to the labour movement, the NDP has less to offer. This is particularly troubling when contrasted with <a href="https://pressprogress.ca/parliamentary-budget-officer-1-tax-on-canadas-wealthy-elites-would-generate-nearly-70-billion-in-new-revenue/">persistent earnings and wealth inequality</a> in Canada, and the related <a href="https://pressprogress.ca/new-data-shows-wages-stagnated-and-inequality-grew-even-as-the-canadian-economy-boomed-in-2017/">wage stagnation</a> experienced by workers in the bottom 40 per cent of the income distribution since the 1980s. </p>
<p>It’s no coincidence that during this same time period, union membership rates have fallen from a high of 37.6 per cent <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-630-x/11-630-x2015005-eng.htm">in 1981</a> to just over 30 per cent today. Even this significant decline masks what has been a far more disconcerting weakening of unions in the private sector, where unionization now hovers at just under <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410013201">16 per cent</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/militant-unionists-are-striking-out-here-are-4-things-unions-can-do-to-stay-relevant-121040">Militant unionists are striking out: here are 4 things unions can do to stay relevant</a>
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<p>Given the role trade unions <a href="https://www.labourrights.ca/sites/labourrights.ca/files/documents/cflr_unions_matter.pdf">have historically played</a> in diminishing economic inequality, there should be more in the NDP’s platform aimed at making it easier for workers to form or join unions and to expand the scope of collective bargaining. </p>
<h2>A platform for labour?</h2>
<p>Perhaps the centerpiece of the NDP labour platform is the call for a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, <a href="https://www.insauga.com/ndp-leader-jagmeet-singh-announces-plan-to-establish-living-wage-for-minimum-wage-workers">officially announced</a> by Singh on Labour Day. </p>
<p>There are two problems with this proposal.</p>
<p>First, because of the division between provincial and federal jurisdictions in Canada, where employment and labour law are mostly the purview of the provinces, a federal minimum wage would only cover approximately <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/labour-standards/reports/federal-minimum-wage.html">six per cent</a> of workers in federally regulated industries.</p>
<p>Currently, there’s no minimum wage in the federal industries; federal employees in the private sector are covered by the provincial minimum wage legislation in place in whichever province they happen to work. So although it would be a progressive measure to institute a higher federal minimum wage, the policy would have a limited reach. </p>
<p>Second, of those <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/labour-standards/reports/federally-regulated-private-sector.html">federally regulated workers</a> (who mostly work in banking, telecommunications, air, rail and road transportation, private courier services, uranium mining, grain milling and interprovincial bridge and tunnel construction), fewer than a quarter currently earn less than $20 per hour. </p>
<p>The federal New Democrats also propose to tackle the growth of nonstandard employment, such as part-time, contract and temporary work, by instituting policies designed to ensure workers are compensated equally to full-time permanent employees doing comparable work.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293063/original/file-20190918-187940-1d9wwx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293063/original/file-20190918-187940-1d9wwx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293063/original/file-20190918-187940-1d9wwx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293063/original/file-20190918-187940-1d9wwx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293063/original/file-20190918-187940-1d9wwx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293063/original/file-20190918-187940-1d9wwx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293063/original/file-20190918-187940-1d9wwx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293063/original/file-20190918-187940-1d9wwx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers in the gig economy would be compensated fairly under NDP proposals. But the Liberals are proposing the same safeguards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But it’s not clear how these proposals differ from what Justin Trudeau’s Liberals already introduced in 2018 through Bill C-86. These newest reforms to the Canada Labour Code — the legislation governing labour standards in the federal jurisdiction — already include a measure to help guarantee <a href="https://www.hrreporter.com/workplace-law/38932-bill-c-86-brings-major-changes/">equal pay for equal work</a>, regardless of whether an employee is full-time, part-time, contract or temporary.</p>
<p>The Trudeau government has also already signalled its willingness to make a number of positive reforms to labour standards in the federal jurisdiction, convening an <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/campaigns/expert-panel.html">Expert Panel on Modern Labour Standards</a> in 2017 to hold public consultations and make recommendations to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour. </p>
<p><a href="https://stewartmckelvey.com/thought-leadership/client-update-change-is-the-only-constant-bill-c-86-changes-in-federal-labour-and-employment-regulation/">Bill C-86</a> contains a number of labour standards improvements. They include paid personal leave days and additional vacation and vacation pay for employees with more than 10 years of service, and a “reverse onus clause” designed to place the burden of proof on employers in cases where workers claim to be misclassified as independent contractors. </p>
<h2>Growing the labour movement</h2>
<p>On the industrial relations side, the NDP’s main proposal involves banning the use of replacement workers during strikes. Such “anti-scab” legislation has long been on the agenda of organized labour. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293058/original/file-20190918-187974-1exrbrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293058/original/file-20190918-187974-1exrbrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293058/original/file-20190918-187974-1exrbrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293058/original/file-20190918-187974-1exrbrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293058/original/file-20190918-187974-1exrbrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293058/original/file-20190918-187974-1exrbrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293058/original/file-20190918-187974-1exrbrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293058/original/file-20190918-187974-1exrbrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canada Post workers walk the picket line during a rotating strike in Halifax in November 2018. The striking postal workers were ordered back on the job.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One important caution about anti-scab bills is that, while they ban companies from bringing in replacement workers, they do not necessarily stop companies from moving production out. Given the increasingly complex supply chains of our economy, outsourcing production during a labour stoppage is arguably a bigger problem for striking workers.</p>
<p>Additionally, the NDP’s <a href="https://www.ndp.ca/economy">election platform</a> indicates that the party will protect free collective bargaining. However, Canada’s system of worksite-based bargaining presents significant obstacles to union growth.</p>
<p>The rise of the “<a href="http://www.fissuredworkplace.net/the-problem.php">fissured workplace</a>,” with sub-contracting, franchising and other forms of divided ownership structures, creates a fundamental mismatch between worksite-level bargaining units and the organization of contemporary businesses. As many <a href="https://onlabor.org/this-labor-day-a-clean-slate-for-reform/">labour experts</a> have been pointing out, the only way to address these economic changes is through a system of broader-based <a href="https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/about/cwr_interim/chapter_4_6.php">sectoral bargaining</a>, where unions bargain contracts to cover whole sectors, industries or regions. </p>
<p>Nothing of this order seems to be on the radar of the federal NDP. </p>
<p>Granted, the federated structure of Canada’s political system makes it difficult to roll out progressive legislation with a national impact, particularly when it comes to labour reforms. But a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/dec/17/the-next-left-socialism-in-the-uk-and-the-us">resurgent left</a> in the United States and United Kingdom, growing inequality in Canada and a Canadian public seemingly <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/08/27/majority-of-canadians-have-a-positive-view-of-socialism-poll-says.html">open to progressive change</a> present a promising political opening that the NDP is unfortunately squandering. </p>
<h2>A template from Bernie Sanders</h2>
<p>If the NDP is in search of an ambitious suite of labour proposals, they should look to Democratic primary candidate Bernie Sanders’ recently released <a href="https://berniesanders.com/en/issues/workplace-democracy/">Workplace Democracy Plan</a>. It’s a veritable labour wish list for the 21st century economy. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293065/original/file-20190918-187945-ymciy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293065/original/file-20190918-187945-ymciy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293065/original/file-20190918-187945-ymciy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293065/original/file-20190918-187945-ymciy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293065/original/file-20190918-187945-ymciy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293065/original/file-20190918-187945-ymciy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293065/original/file-20190918-187945-ymciy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293065/original/file-20190918-187945-ymciy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bernie Sanders’ list of labour proposals is a wish list for the decades ahead.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eric Gay)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sanders’ plan includes lifting the ban on secondary strikes and boycotts, tackling various forms of employee misclassification, guaranteeing union successor rights that would prevent contract-flipping and business sales from undermining collective agreements, ending at-will employment (requiring “just cause” for dismissals), extending labour rights and protections to workers currently exempted (like domestic workers and farm labourers), and — most ambitiously — creating a system of national-level sectoral bargaining. </p>
<p>The breadth of Sanders’ plan is remarkable, particularly when compared to the tepid NDP platform. </p>
<p>At a time when economic polarization has contributed to a revitalized left in other industrial democracies, the NDP appears conspicuously out of step. </p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123398/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam D.K. King does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The federal NDP is missing an opportunity to put workers’ rights firmly on the agenda during this election campaign.Adam D.K. King, Post-Doctoral Visitor, Department of Politics, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1197222019-07-31T11:41:48Z2019-07-31T11:41:48ZHow organized labor can reverse decades of decline<p>Collective bargaining has long been one of organized labor’s most attractive selling points. </p>
<p>In its simplest form, collective bargaining involves an organized body of employees negotiating wages and other conditions of employment. In other words, unions are saying: Join us, and we’ll bargain with your boss for better pay.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, traditional collective bargaining is no longer an effective strategy for labor union growth. That’s because <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/bp235/">employers</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-americas-labor-unions-are-about-to-die-69575">many states</a> have made it incredibly hard for workers to form a union, which is necessary for workers to bargain collectively. </p>
<p><a href="https://hbr.org/2019/01/the-tactics-media-unions-are-using-to-build-membership">My own research</a> suggests unions should pursue alternative ways to organize, such as by focusing on more forceful worker advocacy and offering benefits like health care. Doing so would help unions swell in size, putting them in a stronger position to secure and defend the collective bargaining rights that <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-us-labor-unions-and-why-they-still-matter-38263">helped build America’s middle class</a>.</p>
<h2>Why unions still matter</h2>
<p>Unions <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/37157281_Union_Membership_Trends_in_the_United_States">reached their pinnacle</a> in the mid-1950s when a third of American workers belonged to one. Today, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t01.htm">that figure stands at</a> just 10.5%.</p>
<p>A big part of the problem is that employers have used heavy-handed <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/bp235/">legal and managerial tactics</a> to block organizing and the elections necessary to form a union. And <a href="https://employment.findlaw.com/wages-and-benefits/what-are-right-to-work-laws.html">more than half of U.S. states</a> have passed so-called right to work laws, which allow workers at a unionized company to avoid paying dues. </p>
<p>The stakes of this challenge are high – not just for unions but for most workers in the U.S. That’s because weaker <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/how-todays-unions-help-working-people-giving-workers-the-power-to-improve-their-jobs-and-unrig-the-economy/">unions correlate</a> with lower wages, reduced benefits and greater economic inequality. </p>
<p>Millions stand to gain from a strengthened labor movement, from <a href="https://workersolidarity.net/2019/05/15/uber-stock-sales-flop-as-global-rideshare-workers-strike/">Uber and Lyft drivers</a> in the gig economy to low-wage employees in retail and hospitality. And surveys show nearly half of nonunion workers in the U.S. <a href="https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/a-new-survey-takes-pulse-worker-voice-america">say they would join one</a> if they could. </p>
<p>I believe there are three models traditional unions could pursue to add members without relying on workplace certification and collective bargaining. </p>
<h2>Advocating for workers</h2>
<p>One approach is to build on the success of worker advocacy groups like <a href="https://fightfor15.org/">Fight for $15</a> and the <a href="https://www.domesticworkers.org/">National Domestic Workers Alliance</a>. </p>
<p>Fight for $15, for example, played a leading role advocating increases in the minimum wage in several states, most recently <a href="https://fightfor15.org/connecticut-victory/">Connecticut</a>, while the National Domestic Workers Alliance <a href="https://www.domesticworkers.org/bill-of-rights/new-york">helped secure the passage</a> of the domestic workers bill of rights in New York.</p>
<p>What they all have in common is that they engage in protests and strikes to call public attention to the plight of exploited workers while advocating for economic and social justice. Unions, which used to engage in more of this kind of activism, need to recapture some of that militant spirit. </p>
<h2>Establishing minimum standards</h2>
<p>A second model involves pushing employers to agree to a minimum set of standards for benefits and pay to provide workers.</p>
<p>The Writers Guild of America, which represent screenwriters and others in television, theater and Hollywood, exemplify this model. For example, they establish <a href="https://www.wgaeast.org/guild-contracts/mba/">minimum levels of compensation</a> for specific jobs and duties and then require members – both employers and workers – to adhere to them. It’s a collective bargaining agreement with a potentially much wider reach. </p>
<p>That’s because these agreements are negotiated with employers but also cover independent contractors who sign on as well. Their strength comes from the aggressive organizing and advocacy plus the strategic importance of the workers they represent, which puts pressure on employers to take part and meet the minimum standards.</p>
<p>Other unions could expand this approach to encourage workers throughout industries that have little or no labor representation to join their ranks as affiliated members, which should pressure employers to follow suit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286319/original/file-20190730-186814-c6metd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286319/original/file-20190730-186814-c6metd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286319/original/file-20190730-186814-c6metd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286319/original/file-20190730-186814-c6metd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286319/original/file-20190730-186814-c6metd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286319/original/file-20190730-186814-c6metd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286319/original/file-20190730-186814-c6metd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unions peaked in the 1950s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-NJ-USA-APHS384972-Labor-Unions-Unit-/4f3c09caec404b409dec31cc37b982eb/153/0">AP Photo/Sam Myers</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Unions with benefits</h2>
<p>Another approach involves focusing on offering special benefits to independent workers in exchange for fees. </p>
<p>Some labor groups already do this, but the workers would benefit from unions combining their collective power to offer more heavily discounted goods and services, such as health care, disability benefits and legal representation.</p>
<p>For example, although the 375,000-strong <a href="https://www.freelancersunion.org/">Freelancers Union</a> can’t negotiate over pay, it offers independent contractors these sorts of discounted benefits. Instead of charging dues, it charges fees for its benefits, essentially operating as its own insurance company. It also advocates for public policy changes that safeguard freelancers from exploitation, such as New York’s <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/nyc-passes-law-forcing-employers-pay-freelancers-time-article-1.2847980">Freelance Wage Protection Act of 2010</a>. </p>
<p>This model is probably the approach most likely to succeed in attracting large numbers of new members. The growing gig economy and low-wage industries like fast food are two areas that could receive benefits from these types of collective entities.</p>
<h2>The endgame</h2>
<p>Ideally, unions would embrace all three of these models, offering discounted benefits to any worker interested in signing on, fighting for minimum standards across industries and putting worker advocacy front and center. By broadening the ways in which workers can join and what they offer, unions will become stronger and closer to the people and communities that they are meant to represent. </p>
<p>But by no means are these models meant to supplant organized labor’s traditional collective bargaining role. My point is that unions should break the straightjacket fixation on traditional bargaining and use alternative models as intermediate steps to the ultimate goal of unionizing more workplaces in order to negotiate collective bargaining agreements on behalf of workers. </p>
<p>To get there, though, unions must mobilize a critical mass of workers. Only then will they break the dynamic of labor’s decline.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marick Masters receives funding from various government and nonprofit organizations and is a senior partner with AIM Consulting. </span></em></p>Unions should move their focus away from traditional collective bargaining and instead embrace new ways to attract new members, such as by offering discounted benefits and engaging in more advocacy.Marick Masters, Professor of Business and Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1100212019-01-22T04:40:50Z2019-01-22T04:40:50ZHow a default union membership could help reduce income inequality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254441/original/file-20190118-100273-1ww0u36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C57%2C3812%2C2484&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As income inequality is growing in many countries, associated social problems are also getting worse. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A more equal society with less income disparity is good for well-being.</p>
<p>In their <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/188/188607/the-inner-level/9781846147418.html">latest book</a>, epidemiologists <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/richard-wilkinson">Richard Wilkinson</a> and <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/healthsciences/our-staff/kate-pickett/">Kate Pickett</a> argue people living in more equal societies empathise more and worry less about income, possessions and social status. </p>
<p>But income inequalities have been increasing, <a href="https://www.bwb.co.nz/books/inequality">notably in New Zealand</a>, and research suggests this growing economic gap is associated with a range of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/073401689301800203">social ills</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0014292195000305">political instability</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/distress-status-wars-and-immoral-behaviour-the-psychological-impacts-of-inequality-75183">Distress, status wars and immoral behaviour: the psychological impacts of inequality</a>
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<p>In our <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ilj/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/indlaw/dwy005/5040332">research</a>, we argue that making union membership the default option would help reduce inequality while protecting workers’ rights to opt out. </p>
<h2>Unions and inequality</h2>
<p>Unions have traditionally played a key role in reducing income disparities. They negotiate higher pay for virtually all workers, but especially the low waged. </p>
<p>In the United States, evidence suggests the union pay premium has been a <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w24587">consistent 10% to 20% since the 1930s</a>, and is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2696012?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">as high as 30% to 40% for the lowest paid</a>. Countries that have higher union membership levels and collective bargaining coverage usually have <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Staff-Discussion-Notes/Issues/2016/12/31/Inequality-and-Labor-Market-Institutions-42987">lower income inequality</a>. Those that have declining membership and coverage usually have <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cje/article-abstract/42/4/1009/4621985?redirectedFrom=PDF">worsening inequality</a>. </p>
<p>In the US, research suggests the decline in union membership since the 1960s explains up to a <a href="http://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/images/journals/docs/pdf/asr/WesternandRosenfeld.pdf">third of the growth in male wage inequality</a> since that time.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-income-inequality-looks-like-across-australia-80069">What income inequality looks like across Australia</a>
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<h2>Preferences for union membership</h2>
<p>Despite widespread de-unionisation, surveys show roughly half of all workers across richer Anglophone countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, <a href="https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1035&context=books">want to be union members</a> but a majority cannot exercise their preference because they belong to a non-union workplace. </p>
<p>Recruitment of members was less of an issue in the past. Unions, once established, could negotiate closed-shop clauses in their collective agreement. Such a clause means an employer agrees to employ only workers who are already members of a particular union or agree to join once employed. </p>
<p>But more recently, governments in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US have increasingly <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23747890?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">adopted a policy of voluntary unionism</a>, banning the closed-shop clause or declaring it unenforceable. In the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights, in the <a href="http://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law:ihrl/2988echr06.case.1/law-ihrl-2988echr06">Sorensen and Rasmussen v. Denmark case</a>, declared the closed shop was a <a href="https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/article/2006/echr-rules-against-danish-closed-shop-agreements">breach of the freedom not to associate</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unions-cant-just-rely-on-promises-of-favourable-laws-to-regain-lost-ground-91315">Unions can't just rely on promises of favourable laws to regain lost ground</a>
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<p>How, then, can employees retain the freedom to choose while reaping the benefits of union membership in reducing inequality? In our <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ilj/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/indlaw/dwy005/5040332?redirectedFrom=fulltext">research</a> we propose an innovative solution, drawing on insights from behavioural economics, which involves defaulting employees to union membership in workplaces where unions already have some members or a collective agreement. Once employed, employees would be automatically enrolled in the on-site union, but retain the freedom to opt out at least after some time.</p>
<h2>Union default and increased membership</h2>
<p>Our work indicates a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ilj/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/indlaw/dwy005/5040332?redirectedFrom=fulltext">union default</a> would likely increase union membership in four main ways. It would lower the costs of joining, membership would become the norm, inertia would keep workers in the union and they would not want to lose the benefits of unions. </p>
<p>The cost of union membership would be significantly lower because, for the union, it would be solely associated with establishing an initial presence and collective agreement. The cost of recruiting additional members would be effectively zero. For members, enrolment would be automatic.</p>
<p>Once enrolled, employees would be more likely to remain members through inertia. Making decisions can be difficult, especially when the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/choosing-not-to-choose-9780190457297?cc=nz&lang=en&">choices are complex</a>. This is certainly true of unions, given the broad range of their services and the difficulties in forecasting whether these services will be needed (for example, in the case of a dismissal). If membership is the default, inertia means workers <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12555797">would stay with the status quo</a>.</p>
<p>A union default would also help to normalise union membership. It would send a clear signal to employees that the state approves of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ejsp.2080">union membership as the right thing to do</a> and that it’s commonplace. Beyond that, a union default would set a reference point for employees’ assessments of gains and losses, with <a href="https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1000&context=penn_law_review">losses typically given more importance</a> in any decision to leave a union. </p>
<p>It’s difficult to predict how much union membership would rise with a union default, but the <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/302/5649/1338">extensive</a> <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsb071595">empirical research</a> on default effects in various contexts would suggest a lot.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Harcourt receives funding from the New Zealand Law Foundation. The Foundation has agreed to fund our research related to the union default. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregor Gall is the director of the Jimmy Reid Foundation and editor of the Scottish Left Review.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margaret Wilson receives funding from NZ Law Foundation She is a non-active member of NZ Labour Party.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nisha Novell received funding from the New Zealand Law Foundation.</span></em></p>Research suggests union membership by default could help reduce income inequality and its associated social ills.Mark Harcourt, Professor, University of WaikatoGregor Gall, Affiliate Research Associate, University of GlasgowMargaret Wilson, Professor, University of WaikatoNisha Novell, Law Student, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1085792018-12-12T22:19:18Z2018-12-12T22:19:18ZWhy politics shouldn’t influence how much we pay judges<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250105/original/file-20181211-76962-1s8ch6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How much judges are paid is a thorny issue for governments. It shouldn't be.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rawpixel/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever wondered who determines the salaries and benefits paid to judges, and on what basis they decide? Until I was asked by the <a href="http://www.judges-juges.ca/">Canadian Provincial Court Judges Association</a>, an independent federation of provincial and territorial judges’ associations, to conduct research into the existing process for determining judicial compensation, I had not thought much about the issue. </p>
<p>But <a href="http://www.judges-juges.ca/files/cover/Judicial-compensation.pdf">in my research study</a>, I identified at length how the process has become highly contentious. </p>
<p>Secure and appropriate compensation for judges is a <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/ccs-ajc/05.html">constitutionally recognized component of judicial independence</a>, which itself is a set of interrelated principles meant to ensure that the rule of law applies fairly to everyone, including governments.</p>
<p>To ensure both the reality and appearance of independence, judges can’t simply go to governments and ask for pay raises. They can’t form unions to bargain collectively. Nor can they negotiate through the media. </p>
<p>To engage in any of these actions would imply that judges might relax their scrutiny of government action as a trade-off for a salary increase.</p>
<p>Therefore, any process for determining judicial compensation must balance the requirements of responsible government and democratic accountability with the requirement for secure and appropriate compensation. That compensation must ensure public confidence in the independence of judges as well as attract high-quality legal talent to the multiple levels of courts.</p>
<h2>Public spending cutbacks</h2>
<p>Historically, governments claimed they had a constitutional right to determine judicial compensation unilaterally. During the 1990s, in response to an economic downturn, governments imposed cutbacks and freezes on spending in the public sector, <a href="https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0071914">including the courts.</a></p>
<p>Losing financial ground to inflation, and to lawyers in the private sector, associations of judges took governments to court to protect their independence. Eventually, on appeal from decisions in various provinces, the Supreme Court of Canada <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1541/index.do?iframe=true">ruled in 1997</a> that compensation could not be determined until after a commission process that must be “independent, objective and effective.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250160/original/file-20181212-76971-garcyf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250160/original/file-20181212-76971-garcyf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250160/original/file-20181212-76971-garcyf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250160/original/file-20181212-76971-garcyf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250160/original/file-20181212-76971-garcyf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250160/original/file-20181212-76971-garcyf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250160/original/file-20181212-76971-garcyf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Supreme Court of Canada is seen in this May 2018 photo. The court ruled more than 20 years ago that a commission process had to be put in place to determine judges’ compensation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Within two years, all provinces and territories had created commissions (called tribunals or committees in some jurisdictions) that <a href="https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/sclr/">typically operate on three-year cycles</a>. Governments and judges select members of these commissions, along with a chairperson chosen by the two sides.</p>
<p>These principles were confirmed in another landmark case in 2005. The <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2277/index.do?iframe=true">Supreme Court made it clear</a> that an effective commission process did not necessarily require binding rulings, only that governments treat recommendations seriously and provide meaningful reasons for why they might decide to reject or alter recommendations from commissions. </p>
<h2>Politics involved</h2>
<p>The court recognized compensation decisions were inherently political, but it hoped that the commission process would significantly “depoliticize” decision-making.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the opposite has happened. </p>
<p>Especially since the economic downturn in 2008, governments have taken a hard line on compensation. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/judge-salaries-provincial-court-1.4847357">Acrimony, conflict and litigation</a> became the pattern due to the rejection or reduction in the pay raises proposed by commissions, often without compelling reasons or evidence to support such decisions. Almost all provincial court judges’ associations, in fact, have been in court over the past decade.</p>
<p>Judges have felt compelled to take governments to court in order to enforce their constitutional right to secure adequate compensation. Such court battles involve significant costs of time and money for both sides. And the often over-simplified, sensational media coverage risks bringing the judiciary into disrepute.</p>
<p>Governments often make a series of arguments on why they should not be bound by commission recommendations. </p>
<p>They claim the Constitution requires that only ministers and legislatures can be responsible and accountable for spending. They insist that in periods of budgetary restraint, spending on courts cannot be protected while cuts are being made in other fields like health care. Nor, they argue, is it fair to protect the incomes of judges while other public employees are undergoing wage freezes or pay cuts.</p>
<p>Finally, governments argue that commissions fail to take into account their budgetary priorities and/or incorrectly weight the various factors that the law requires them to consider.</p>
<h2>Implicit approval</h2>
<p>None of these arguments is entirely persuasive. By approving legislation that establishes commissions, governments are implicitly approving future spending. Open-ended spending authority is granted to election agencies, after all, to ensure fair elections. </p>
<p>Similarly, binding authority for compensation commissions would protect judicial independence. Spending on judicial salaries is a minuscule part of total spending and governments never explain how pay increases will prevent spending in other high-priority areas.</p>
<p>Judges are not regular public servants since they cannot form unions or bargain collectively, and so determination of their compensation should not be treated as part of a government’s collective bargaining strategy with its unionized employees.</p>
<p>Commissions are not bound by law to consider the budgetary strategies of governments, and to do so would inappropriately drag them into the political fray. </p>
<p>Finally, when governments reject commissions’ pay recommendations for judges because they disagree with the relative weight assigned to different factors, they undermine a compensation process that is meant to be independent and objective.</p>
<h2>Two reforms could ease public backlash</h2>
<p>The main problem with the current compensation process is not constitutional or monetary, it’s political. Governments fear a public backlash if they give pay raises to judges <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/j-1/FullText.html">who earn a lot of money</a> compared to most voters. </p>
<p>Two reforms could help to address the political problem. </p>
<p>First, commissions should be granted binding authority. A binding model provides political cover for decisions that may be unpopular in the short term. Binding rulings also reduce conflict and litigation. </p>
<p>Second, another stage should be added to the commission process that would make interim recommendations public, allowing governments and judges to offer additional reasons and evidence for their position before a commission makes its final decisions. </p>
<p>This additional stage would allow for consideration of unexpected developments and could increase public support for the final decision. </p>
<p>In combination, these reforms would help to create a compensation process that is independent, transparent, objective, balanced and effective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108579/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul G. Thomas receives funding from Canadian Association of Provincial Court Judges as noted in the article.</span></em></p>Secure and appropriate compensation for judges is a constitutionally recognized component of judicial independence. Here’s why politics must not be allowed to interfere with it.Paul G. Thomas, Professor Emeritus, University of ManitobaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1075612018-11-28T21:56:48Z2018-11-28T21:56:48ZIs back-to-work legislation unconstitutional?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247615/original/file-20181127-76755-26y70u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Canada Post workers walk the picket line during a rotating strike in Halifax on Nov. 13, 2018. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-89/royal-assent#enH276">Bill C-89</a> recently passed third reading in the Senate, its final hurdle before becoming law. The bill ended the rotating strikes that the Canadian Union of Postal Workers had engaged in for more than a month and sends the labour dispute to third-party, binding arbitration after a specified mediation period.</p>
<p>The bill was briefly held up over concerns <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senate-canada-post-legislation-strike-1.4919485">that it was unconstitutional.</a> The union says Bill C-89 is <a href="https://nursesunions.ca/cupw-and-clc-issue-joint-statement-in-support-of-postal-workers/">“a clear violation of workers’ Charter rights.”</a> The Senate was ultimately unpersuaded.</p>
<p>It is accepted wisdom among labour relations scholars that freely negotiated settlements lead to better outcomes than imposed settlements. Whatever the labour relations wisdom of this bill, the question of whether it violates the Charter remains. </p>
<h2>The Charter right to strike</h2>
<p>In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada expanded the scope of freedom of association under the Charter <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/2015/2015scc4/2015scc4.html">to include striking in support of collective bargaining.</a> </p>
<p>Those arguing Bill C-89 is unconstitutional refer to the fact that postal service is not “essential.” They also cite a 2016 court ruling in which a similar bill (C-6) introduced by Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in 2011 <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2016/2016onsc418/2016onsc418.html">was deemed unconstitutional.</a> </p>
<p>While both of these facts are relevant, neither determines whether the present bill is unconstitutional. </p>
<h2>Essential services</h2>
<p>Federal Labour Minister Patricia Hajdu claims <a href="https://business.financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/mail-service-halted-in-ottawa-as-commons-looks-to-take-up-back-to-work-bill">the postal service is “essential”</a> and the rotating strikes were harming small and medium-sized enterprises.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247616/original/file-20181127-76770-1kowphj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247616/original/file-20181127-76770-1kowphj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247616/original/file-20181127-76770-1kowphj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247616/original/file-20181127-76770-1kowphj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247616/original/file-20181127-76770-1kowphj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247616/original/file-20181127-76770-1kowphj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247616/original/file-20181127-76770-1kowphj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247616/original/file-20181127-76770-1kowphj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Labour Minister Patricia Hajdu is seen during Question Period in the House of Commons on Nov. 22, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Under international labour law, “essential services” are defined narrowly. Previous attempts to expand the definition of essential to include <em>economic</em> harm caused by a strike have been decisively rejected by the International Labour Organization’s Committee on Freedom of Association. And the Supreme Court of Canada has explicitly endorsed the <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/2015/2015scc4/2015scc4.html">restricted definition of “essential services” found under international labour law.</a></p>
<p>When it comes to labour law, the term “essential” is a loaded one. And it isn’t obvious whether the minister intends for the term to be understood in its legal, or some other, sense. And maybe it doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>That’s because in 2016, the court determined that even strikes in <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2016/2016onsc418/2016onsc418.html">non-essential services could be restricted.</a> </p>
<h2>Different than previous bill?</h2>
<p>Hajdu maintains, in fact, that Bill C-89 is different from Bill C-6, ruled unconstitutional in 2016. Under Bill C-6, terms that were central to the bargaining impasse were removed from the arbitrator’s purview and imposed by the government. Additionally, Bill C-6 allowed for the <a href="http://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/41-1/bill/C-6/royal-assent/page-35#2">unilateral appointment of the arbitrator</a> by the government’s labour minister at the time, Lisa Raitt.</p>
<p>Bill C-89 appears to avoid both problems. First, it <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-senators-to-resume-debate-on-legislation-to-end-canada-post-strike/">“does not impose immediate outcomes.”</a> It does provide a list of “principles” that an arbitrator must consider in its determination, but that’s not unusual. Moreover, these principles acknowledge the concerns of <a href="http://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-89/first-reading#enH272">both the union and the corporation.</a> </p>
<p>Bill C-89 allows for the unilateral appointment of an arbitrator only in the event that both parties cannot agree upon one, and even then, only after <a href="http://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-89/first-reading#enH272">consultation with the chair of the Canadian Industrial Relations Board.</a> </p>
<p>Contrast this to the previous unilateral appointment process, whereby two successive appointees were challenged by the union. The first recused himself, and the second was ordered to do so by a federal court judge owing to <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2012/2012fc975/2012fc975.html">a reasonable apprehension of bias.</a> </p>
<h2>Bill could still face uphill battle</h2>
<p>The fact that strikes may be restricted even in non-essential services, and that the arbitration process might pass constitutional muster, doesn’t mean that other Charter principles don’t apply. The government must demonstrate that its legislation has a pressing and substantial purpose, and that it is proportional.</p>
<p>In 2016, Bill C-6 was considered unconstitutional because it failed one aspect of the “proportionality” analysis — that is, it impaired the Charter rights of the striking workers more than was necessary to achieve its purpose.</p>
<p>Much depends upon how a court defines the government’s “purpose” and how it chooses to understand the relationship between that purpose and the requirement to only minimally impair Charter rights. </p>
<p>Among other things, a court might consider that the strike activity itself was minimal given that the union had very purposely chosen <em>rotating</em> strikes rather than a complete labour withdrawal. </p>
<p>The court might also consider that Canada Post is not a monopoly and that consumers and businesses have alternatives available to them. This could weigh against the notion that the total prohibition on strikes required by Bill C-89 is minimally impairing.</p>
<p>For these reasons, a constitutional challenge could still prove successful. In any event, a court tasked with determining whether Bill C-89 violates Charter rights should be very careful about what a low bar for government intervention it could be setting, all things considered.</p>
<h2>Strikes not all bad</h2>
<p>Strikes are necessarily inconvenient. But they also have benefits. Aside from providing a means to address workers’ legitimate concerns, those benefits often ripple beyond the union membership itself. </p>
<p>Notably, the postal worker strike in the early 1980s won for union members expanded maternity rights, which in turn pressured the government to <a href="http://activehistory.ca/2018/11/cupw1981/?fbclid=IwAR3km7BTJnJDr7TMzFkdJLoP0V64FhxZytWGl2gbittyTXuz2kQoAlBg1b0">follow suit.</a></p>
<p>And when faculty strike over <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.2681865">class sizes</a> or to highlight their <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-experience-as-an-under-paid-ontario-college-instructor-87486">precarious employment</a>, the potential effect is to improve the learning conditions for all students.</p>
<p>While not every strike might carry with it far-reaching positive implications, we should be very circumspect about intervention into the bargaining process, and skeptical about government claims that intervention is the best way to protect the public interest.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107561/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Braley-Rattai does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ottawa has ordered postal workers back on the job, but is it constitutional? We should be circumspect about intervening in the bargaining process and skeptical about claims it’s in the public good.Alison Braley-Rattai, Assistant Professor, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1001642018-07-19T02:37:51Z2018-07-19T02:37:51ZTech innovators start to see old-fashioned benefits of collective bargaining<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228331/original/file-20180719-142420-ilynvu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After a long industrial campaign, Amazon workers in Italy have persuaded their employer to reach an agreement with them.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.filcams.cgil.it/lavoratori-amazon-in-sciopero/">FILCAMS CGIL</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Disruption has been a defining buzzword of this decade, as companies in nearly all sectors find themselves challenged or supplanted as a result of the impact of technology. The beneficiaries of this disruption have mostly been newcomer enterprises – the Ubers and the Amazons – which have quickly grown to become part of everyday life.</p>
<p>Policymakers, reluctant to quash innovation, have taken a hands-off approach. But these innovators’ employment practices don’t appear to be so innovative. In recent times, however, some tech innovators have shown they aren’t allergic to bargaining with their workforce after all.</p>
<p>What’s driving this shift? It might be convenient for consumers but the gig employment model, with its arm’s-length relationship with its workforce, <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40422073/why-these-on-demand-startups-dont-use-1099-contractors">struggles to build organisational culture and relationships with customers</a>. We see evidence of this in ongoing strife in companies such as Uber and Deliveroo. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gig-economy-businesses-like-uber-and-airtasker-need-to-evolve-to-survive-79199">Gig economy businesses like Uber and Airtasker need to evolve to survive</a>
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<p>Now, though, major firms have begun to negotiate collective agreements with their workers.</p>
<h2>Amazon in Italy</h2>
<p>For the <a href="https://www.globalresearch.ca/amazon-workers-organize-inhumane-work-hours-in-italy/5643014">first time anywhere in the world</a>, it was <a href="http://www.uni-europa.org/2018/05/25/historic-agreement-between-amazon-and-sector-unions/">announced in May</a> that Amazon had made an agreement with unions. The breakthrough took place in Italy, where Amazon and the FILCAMS CGIL union negotiated an agreement. It was endorsed by 70% of employees who voted on it.</p>
<p>The deal came into effect on June 17. It ensures fairness in scheduling and allocating weekend work, and reduces mandatory night shifts. </p>
<p>Amazon workers now get four consecutive free weekends out of every eight. Shifts alternate between Saturdays and Sundays, and they get 25% higher pay for working at night.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wh2icBSmDfc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Amazon warehouse and distribution centre in Piacenza, Italy, is now covered by a collective agreement with workers.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Digital media in the US</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/26/business/media/unions-digital-media.html">growing number of digital news outlets have signed collective agreements</a> with their writers over the last few years. The list includes <a href="https://www.recode.net/2016/4/15/11586166/vice-media-union-contract">Vice Media</a>, <a href="https://variety.com/2016/digital/news/thinkprogress-writers-guild-contract-1201822431/">ThinkProgress</a> and the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/huffington-post-union-contract_us_588f7523e4b0c90efefed41a">Huffington Post</a>. All are now signed on to union contracts with the <a href="https://www.wgaeast.org/">Writers Guild of America East</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, <a href="https://www.wgaeast.org/2018/01/slate-employees-vote-to-unionize-with-writers-guild-of-america-east/">Slate</a>, <a href="https://www.wgaeast.org/?s=Salon&x=0&y=0">Salon</a>, <a href="https://www.wgaeast.org/?s=MTV+News&x=0&y=0">MTV News</a> and <a href="https://www.wgaeast.org/2018/06/fast-company-unionizes-with-the-writers-guild-of-america-east/">Fast Company</a> recognise the Guild as a negotiating partner. <a href="https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/vox-media-unionizes-writers-guild-of-america-east-1202661137/">Vox</a> is <a href="https://www.wgaeast.org/2018/04/wga-east-to-livestream-from-vox-medias-first-union-bargaining-session/">negotiating</a> its first union contract right now. </p>
<p>These contracts establish minimum salary and future pay rises, and set agreed payment for derivative republication of writers’ work. They also limit the power of management to fire employees at will.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-huffpo-and-other-new-media-journalists-are-choosing-unions-49204">Why HuffPo and other 'new' media journalists are choosing unions</a>
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<hr>
<h2>A gig employer in Denmark</h2>
<p>We have heard a lot about <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-things-unions-can-learn-from-uber-drivers-54651">Uber</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/deliveroo-strike-win-shows-gig-workers-can-subvert-the-rules-too-64049">Deliveroo</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-gig-workers-may-be-worse-off-after-the-fair-work-ombudsmans-action-against-foodora-98242">Foodora</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-care-and-no-responsibility-why-airtasker-cant-guarantee-a-minimum-wage-76943">Airtasker</a> and the problems created because they don’t treat their workers as employees. This means, among other things, they don’t provide the minimum wage or other basic employment standards. Airtasker has sought to address this by <a href="https://theconversation.com/full-response-from-airtasker-ceo-tim-fung-77009">making undertakings</a> to the peak union body in New South Wales.</p>
<p>By contrast, Danish employment platform <a href="http://cphpost.dk/news/first-ever-collective-agreement-for-the-platform-economy-signed-in-denmark.html">Hilfr recently signed a collective agreement</a> covering its workers, who provide cleaning services. Under the agreement, Hilfr’s workers will receive:</p>
<ul>
<li>a minimum wage equal to A$30 an hour</li>
<li>pension contributions</li>
<li>holiday pay</li>
<li>sickness benefits.</li>
</ul>
<p>The agreement was negotiated with Danish union 3F (United Federation of Danish Workers) and comes into effect on August 1.</p>
<h2>Winds of change in Australia?</h2>
<p>After years of decline, collective bargaining coverage in Australia has stabilised over the past 12 months.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228329/original/file-20180719-142420-vcloy7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228329/original/file-20180719-142420-vcloy7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228329/original/file-20180719-142420-vcloy7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228329/original/file-20180719-142420-vcloy7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228329/original/file-20180719-142420-vcloy7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228329/original/file-20180719-142420-vcloy7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228329/original/file-20180719-142420-vcloy7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228329/original/file-20180719-142420-vcloy7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These figures don’t include new agreements being made in the retail sector. These are set to add another 200,000 employees by the end of this year.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the gig employment model faces the likelihood of increased regulation. The federal Labor Party has <a href="https://www.innovationaus.com/2018/07/Shorten-targets-the-gig-economy">stated its intention to regulate gig employment</a> if elected. Labor governments have starting doing so at state level.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The Victorian government recently <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/vic-to-boost-gig-economy-worker-rights">announced</a> on-demand deliveries would be brought within the <a href="https://economicdevelopment.vic.gov.au/about-us/legislation-and-regulation/support-for-the-transport-and-forestry-industries/key-features-of-the-act">Owner Drivers and Forestry Contractors Act</a> and couriers given the ability to bring claims before the <a href="https://www.vsbc.vic.gov.au/">Victorian Small Business Commission</a> and the <a href="https://www.vcat.vic.gov.au/about-vcat">Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>In New South Wales, the shadow minister for industrial relations, Adam Searle, announced that Labor intends, if elected, to introduce <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/nsw-labor-aims-to-use-state-laws-to-regulate-gig-economy-workers-20180626-p4znrc.html">even broader protections</a> for gig workers to “fill gaps” in the <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/legislation/the-fair-work-system">Fair Work Act</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>The Queensland government is considering options to extend workers’ compensation coverage to gig workers.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/workers-compensation-doesnt-cover-gig-workers-heres-a-way-to-protect-them-99946">Workers' compensation doesn't cover gig workers – here's a way to protect them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Gig employers have a strong incentive to sit down and talk – it could make for an uncomfortable ride for them if workers’ entitlements continue to be imposed through political agitation followed by legislation.</p>
<p>Perhaps it won’t be long until we see one of these tech innovators put in place such an “innovative” agreement with its Australian workers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100164/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Walker is an official of the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees' Association.</span></em></p>Tech companies overseas are signing collective agreements with their employees. Might Australia be next?Michael Walker, PhD candidate researching worker voice, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/913152018-02-08T00:50:18Z2018-02-08T00:50:18ZUnions can’t just rely on promises of favourable laws to regain lost ground<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205248/original/file-20180207-74512-1dtdlq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As ACTU secretary, Sally McManus has proven effective at elevating the debate over workplace reform. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Alex Murray</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This year has begun with an intensification of <a href="https://theconversation.com/vital-signs-jobs-may-be-increasing-but-the-real-test-is-whether-we-get-a-pay-rise-this-year-90110">the debate</a> about wage stagnation and wage inequality in Australia.</p>
<p>Research papers published this year have <a href="http://www.futurework.org.au/decline_in_strike_frequency">linked</a> the stalling of wage increases to drastically reduced levels of industrial action (and therefore unions’ collective bargaining power), and <a href="https://percapita.org.au/research/work-australia-working/">highlighted</a> the current system of workplace regulation’s focus on outdated notions of work and the workplace.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vital-signs-jobs-may-be-increasing-but-the-real-test-is-whether-we-get-a-pay-rise-this-year-90110">Vital Signs: jobs may be increasing but the real test is whether we get a pay rise this year</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Labor Party’s national president, Mark Butler, <a href="https://markbutler.net.au/news/speeches/the-future-of-unions-in-australia-and-the-implications-for-labor/">recently urged</a> the labour movement “to have a no-holds-barred debate about the place of unions in Australia”. He pointed to the problems unions faced in terms of employer hostility and unhelpful laws, but also argued:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Most people still imagine union organising against a backdrop of relatively large workplaces with a stable workforce – traditional factory organising … [However a] modern workplace is far more likely to be small and difficult to access, with a workforce that has high levels of turnover.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Unions have to persuade people of the wisdom of having a collective voice in the workplace, and find a new version of solidarity for the digital age.</p>
<h2>State of play</h2>
<p>Sally McManus has been secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) for just under a year. In that time, she has <a href="http://www.afr.com/brand/afr-magazine/actu-chief-sally-mcmanus-parlays-online-support-into-power-20170814-gxvuo2">proven effective</a> at elevating the debate over workplace reform. The <a href="https://www.australianunions.org.au/change_the_rules">union movement’s mantra</a> – “the rules are broken”, “we need to #changetherules” – is biting in the community.</p>
<p>McManus recently effectively called time on the 25-year process of enterprise bargaining. <a href="https://www.workplaceexpress.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&selkey=56458">She argued</a> unions are confronted with “a labyrinth of regulations”, and workers now have “little to trade off”.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00323">Fair Work Act</a> is a legacy of the last Labor government; it’s been the subject of minimal change by the Coalition to date. </p>
<p>Unions had significant input into drafting the act when Julia Gillard was workplace relations minister in 2007-08. They ensured it included various mechanisms to support collective bargaining, in a shift from the individualised focus of the WorkChoices era.</p>
<p>However, in the decade since then, employers have found various ways to side-step many of the Fair Work Act’s requirements. And other union or employee rights have been read down by the courts and the Fair Work Commission.</p>
<h2>Finding new ways to connect</h2>
<p>Clearly, there are changes to the law that would, <a href="https://www.actu.org.au/actu-media/speeches-and-opinion/sally-mcmanus-address-to-nexgen-2017">as McManus argues</a>, help unions in their efforts to organise and represent workers. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>tackling the “free-rider” issue (where non-unionists gain the benefit of union-negotiated enterprise agreements)</p></li>
<li><p>enabling unions to bargain not just with the direct employer of their members, but across franchise networks and supply chains</p></li>
<li><p>closing down the use of outsourcing, labour hire and other business entities to avoid the application of enterprise agreements, and employers making inferior agreements with small employees that are later applied to a much larger workforce (known as “no-stake” bargaining)</p></li>
<li><p>limiting employers’ ability to seek termination of expired agreements (taking workers back to the award safety net).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Labor has <a href="http://brendanoconnor.ml.net.au/en-au/News/Brendan-OConnor-Latest-News/Post/16230/WORK-WAGES-AND-DIVISION-CREATING-A-FAIR-AND-PRODUCTIVE-LABOUR-MARKET-NATIONAL-PRESS-CLUB-CANBERRA">already committed</a> to implement many elements of the union agenda if it wins the next election. </p>
<p>But even with the most favourable laws, unions will still need to confront the reality of a dramatic transformation in the world of work: automation, the expanding “gig economy”, and what US academic David Weil calls the <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674975446&content=reviews">“fissuring” of work</a> – where business functions are split off to new entities that are forced to engage in intense competition, thus driving down labour costs. </p>
<p>Former ACTU assistant secretary Tim Lyons <a href="https://meanjin.com.au/essays/the-labour-movement-my-part-in-its-downfall/">puts it this way</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The workplaces and communities in which we organised politically and industrially have disappeared underneath us … Unions have to transform to catch up to the world as it is.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These developments, combined with the disinclination of young workers to join unions, mean new forms of engagement have to be found outside the conventional notion of the workplace. Unions must connect with people in their communities and speak to them using technology they are familiar with.</p>
<p>Some Australian unions are taking on this challenge. They are attempting to organise workers in their homes, places of religious observance, and other focal points for community activity. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Victorian Trades Hall Council’s <a href="http://www.youngworkers.org.au/">Young Workers Centre</a> harnesses the power of social media in an effort to reach a new generation of workers in disparate, disconnected work environments. </p></li>
<li><p>The National Union of Workers has run a very effective campaign targeting exploitation of farm workers in the fresh food supply chain. It has also offered a <a href="https://www.nuw.org.au/your-fair-go-0">“FairGo” category</a> of membership, enabling non-members to participate in a class action to recover underpayments.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>However, not all union leaders are embracing these kinds of innovation. They may be at risk of placing too much faith in the capacity of legal changes to deliver a revival in membership numbers. </p>
<p>Given record-low wage increases and widespread exploitation of vulnerable workers, the value proposition of a collective voice in the workplace has rarely been stronger.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91315/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Forsyth has received research funding from organisations including the BCA, CFMEU, Fair Work Commission and Victorian Government. He is a Consultant with Corrs Chambers Westgarth. The views expressed in this article are his own.</span></em></p>Even with the most favourable laws, unions will still need to confront the reality of a dramatic transformation in the world of work.Anthony Forsyth, Professor of Workplace Law, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/860182018-01-02T01:15:50Z2018-01-02T01:15:50ZHow Trump’s NAFTA renegotiations could help Mexican workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200036/original/file-20171219-5004-1k5yig3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Donald Trump says cheap Mexican labor is hurting American workers. But isn't it also hurting Mexican workers?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Guillermo Arias</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Long before Donald Trump dubbed it “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2016/09/26/trump-nafta-is-worst-trade-deal-ever-signed.html">the worst trade deal ever signed</a>,” the <a href="http://tcc.export.gov/Trade_Agreements/All_Trade_Agreements/NorthAmericanFreeTA.asp">North American Free Trade Agreement</a> had been portrayed as a threat to U.S. workers. </p>
<p>In 1992, for example, independent presidential candidate Ross Perot <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/16/us/the-1992-campaign-transcript-of-2d-tv-debate-between-bush-clinton-and-perot.html">accused</a> Mexico of paying “a dollar an hour for labor” and warned that NAFTA would create a “giant sucking sound” as investment went south of the border. And that’s before NAFTA even came into effect, on Jan. 1, 1994.</p>
<p>Fears that Mexico’s allegedly substandard labor conditions have hurt American workers reached <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-says-he-wants-to-kick-start-nafta-negotiations-1486056404">new heights</a> under Trump, who has threatened to withdraw the U.S. from NAFTA if Mexico doesn’t stop “<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mexico-us-tax-take-advantage-2017-1">taking advantage</a>.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"788919099275390976"}"></div></p>
<p>As a Mexican citizen, I find such rhetoric offensive. But as a human rights professor and lawyer, I also feel compelled to examine Mexico’s record on labor rights. If Trump is right that Mexico doesn’t respect workers’ rights, then NAFTA’s current renegotiation could be an opportunity to improve labor standards in my country – and help keep NAFTA alive in the process.</p>
<h2>A failed experiment</h2>
<p>From a strictly legal perspective, American notions about Mexico’s bad working conditions are unsubstantiated. <a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Mexico_2015.pdf?lang=en">Article 123</a> of the Mexican Constitution grants workers the right to organize and strike, provides protections for women and children, mandates an eight-hour workday and establishes a national minimum wage.</p>
<p>Mexicans <a href="http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/nacion/politica/2016/12/6/declaran-al-2017-como-el-ano-del-centenario-de-la-constitucion">take pride</a> in their 1917 constitution, which was the first in the world to include <a href="https://archivos.juridicas.unam.mx/www/bjv/libros/9/4423/12.pdf">social rights</a>.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, when NAFTA was in development, both the U.S. and Canada feared that free trade would lead working conditions in their countries to decline. So in 1993, the three North American governments signed a NAFTA side agreement, the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/pdf/naalc.htm">North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200041/original/file-20171219-4985-lcvo5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200041/original/file-20171219-4985-lcvo5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200041/original/file-20171219-4985-lcvo5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200041/original/file-20171219-4985-lcvo5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200041/original/file-20171219-4985-lcvo5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200041/original/file-20171219-4985-lcvo5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200041/original/file-20171219-4985-lcvo5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">NAFTA was controversial before then-President Bill Clinton signed it into law in 1993. Now it’s up for renegotiation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Doug Mills</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The document dictates that certain labor rights – including freedom of association, collective bargaining and equal pay for men and women – must be respected in all NAFTA countries. It also prohibits forced labor and guarantees protections for migrant workers.</p>
<p>In theory, these principles are <a href="https://www.dol.gov/ilab/trade/agreements/naalcgd.htm">enforced</a> cooperatively in each NAFTA signatory nation through intergovernmental consultations, independent evaluations and dispute settlement. </p>
<h2>Workers left unprotected</h2>
<p>After two decades, however, the experiment on <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/NAFTA_at_10.html?id=6uiFAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">cross-border labor cooperaton</a> seems to me to have failed. It’s mostly Mexican workers, though – not their American or Canadian counterparts – who have suffered from substandard working conditions south of the border. </p>
<p>American manufacturing jobs <a href="https://projects.cberdata.org/reports/MfgReality.pdf">have indeed decreased since 1994</a> – some 5.6 million of them disappeared between 2000 and 2010 alone – but estimates suggest that 87 percent were lost to automation rather than trade. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200043/original/file-20171219-5004-1pe6vjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200043/original/file-20171219-5004-1pe6vjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200043/original/file-20171219-5004-1pe6vjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200043/original/file-20171219-5004-1pe6vjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200043/original/file-20171219-5004-1pe6vjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200043/original/file-20171219-5004-1pe6vjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200043/original/file-20171219-5004-1pe6vjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Donald Trump has pressured U.S. manufacturers like Carrier not to reduce costs by outsourcing jobs to Mexico.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Evan Vucci</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, Mexico’s <a href="http://www.sat.gob.mx/informacion_fiscal/tablas_indicadores/paginas/salarios_minimos.aspx">minimum wage</a> – currently 88.36 pesos a day, around US$4.60 – is <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-a-living-wage-look-like-in-mexico-67826">not enough money</a> to buy what economists call the “basic basket of goods” for a single worker – beans, tortillas, eggs, some meat – much less to support a family. </p>
<p>In 1994, the minimum wage of <a href="http://salariominimo.com.mx/salario-minimo-historico/">15.27 pesos</a> a day amounted to <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjvkJPbk5fYAhUElZQKHYxAAs4QFggnMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cefp.gob.mx%2Fintr%2Fe-stadisticas%2Festa34.xls&usg=AOvVaw36vAm8lw0EBal5iwbEYEsj">$4.92</a>. So, thanks to <a href="http://www.banxico.org.mx/portal-inflacion/inflacion.html">inflation</a>, low-skill Mexican workers actually have less purchasing power than they did before NAFTA.</p>
<p>For decades, separate and apart from NAFTA, the Mexican government has also been <a href="http://www.corteidh.or.cr/tablas/r26049.pdf">violating</a> the constitutional rights of workers. Under the Revolutionary Institutional Party, which ruled Mexico uncontested for nearly the entire 20th century, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=8imQpwAACAAJ&dq=graciela+bensusan&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjL68e-hIrYAhWLf7wKHTzYDXEQ6AEIMzAC">federal officials exerted extensive power over labor unions</a>. </p>
<p>Through an alliance with the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=nn5FAAAAYAAJ&q=confederacion+trabajadores+mexico&dq=confederacion+trabajadores+mexico&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivyZfM_YnYAhVFPrwKHXwmA10Q6AEISTAF">Confederation of Mexican Workers</a>, a powerful group of unions, the PRI empowered labor bosses who supported its agenda, whether they <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/world/americas/leader-of-mexican-teachers-union-arrested.html">represented union members well</a> or not. To marginalize more independent unions, it created a series of legal <a href="https://www.nexos.com.mx/?p=8382">hoops</a> that few manage to actually jump through.</p>
<p>This system <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/05/22/inside-mexicos-ghost-unions.html">hobbled collective bargaining</a> throughout the 20th century, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=hy5Nv-uBfYAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Graciela+Bensusan&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixk_ftg4rYAhUDWbwKHX1fDhsQ6AEIRDAF#v=onepage&q&f=false">preventing labor rights from progressing apace with Mexico’s economic growth</a>. When the opposition National Action Party finally wrested the presidency from the PRI in 2000, it did not tackle this problem.</p>
<p>In fact, in 2012, <a href="http://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5280815&fecha=30/11/2012">Mexican labor law was actually reformed</a> to give employers more flexibility in determining working conditions.</p>
<h2>Canada’s solution</h2>
<p>Paradoxically, then, I believe NAFTA may have actually worsened working conditions in Mexico over the past quarter century. It incentivized businesses to invest in the country accompanied by a side agreement that did nothing to establish unified worker protections across the North America region. </p>
<p>Over the past 23 years, workers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico have filed nearly 40 <a href="https://www.dol.gov/ilab/trade/agreements/naalc.htm">complaints</a> before national labor authorities, decrying union busting, shoddy health conditions and lax safety regulations. None has resulted in concrete action like legislative reform. </p>
<p>Today, the failure to effectively address differing labor conditions in NAFTA countries has put the entire deal’s future at risk.</p>
<p>Unlike Trump, who wants to simply repeal NAFTA, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has proposed modernizing it by implementing <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3718194/nafta-canada-trump-jobs-labour-standards/">strong and progressive labor standards</a> across North America. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j6YTvo6A0zI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Canada wants Mexico to respect collective bargaining.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Canadian officials reason that if Mexican unions gain more power, they could push wages up for the benefit of the entire North American region. In October, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-senate-speech-1.4353088">Trudeau called on the Mexican Senate</a> to bring <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-senate-speech-1.4353088">freedom of association and collective bargaining</a> in Mexico into compliance with <a href="http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_INSTRUMENT_ID:312232">international labor standards</a>.</p>
<p>Senators <a href="http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/mundo/justin-trudeau-conquista-al-senado.html">applauded</a> Trudeau’s proposal, but business leaders not so much. Bosco de la Vega, president of the National Farming Council, retorted that improving <a href="http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2017/09/04/1186039">NAFTA</a> means more trade, not “intervening in labor markets.”</p>
<h2>A regional problem</h2>
<p>To my mind, the Canadian proposal is a sensible update for an old deal. In the long run, Mexico’s economic growth will hinge on <a href="http://www.ilo.org/global/statistics-and-databases/research-and-databases/kilm/WCMS_422456/lang--en/index.htm">sustainable business practices</a>.</p>
<p>However, I disagree that Mexico’s precarious working conditions are Mexico’s problem to solve. The U.S., too, has seen the rewards of looking the other way on Mexican human rights.</p>
<p>During Jimmy Carter’s administration, the U.S. <a href="https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/prm/prm41.pdf">was looking to invest in Mexico</a> – its “most promising new source of oil,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/12/15/us-study-eyes-better-ties-with-oil-rich-mexico/8bcbd716-2747-4392-a298-a60db6636375/?utm_term=.c1006add98e1">according to an internal memo leaked to The Washington Post in December 1978</a>.</p>
<p>The memo <a href="https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB89/mexhr11.pdf">acknowledged</a> that Mexico’s human rights record left room for “significant improvement,” citing the PRI government’s tendency to persecute its opposition. </p>
<p>To secure <a href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v37/d170">privileged access</a> to Mexican oil resources, though, Carter officials <a href="https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB89/mexhr11.pdf">determined</a> that “it would be ill-advised and counter-productive” for the U.S. “to take Mexico to task publicly for its violations of human rights.” That assessment included unenforced workers’ rights.</p>
<p>A similar logic seems to have underpinned NAFTA. All three economies have <a href="http://faculty.som.yale.edu/lorenzocaliendo/ETWENAFTA.pdf">generally benefited from the uptick in trade</a> between Canada, Mexico and the U.S., which <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42965.pdf">increased</a> from $290 billion in 1993 to over $1.1 trillion in 2016.</p>
<p>Even the American industries hit hardest by job loss are among NAFTA’s <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/north-american-free-trade-agreement.asp">major beneficiaries</a>. For carmakers and textile manufacturers, access to cheap labor in Mexico brought the total price of many goods down while enabling them to keep some production – and thus some economic benefit – in the United States.</p>
<p>This was crucial during the 2008 global recession. “Without the ability to move lower-wage jobs to Mexico,” one economist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/business/economy/nafta-may-have-saved-many-autoworkers-jobs.html">told The New York Times</a> in March 2016, “we would have lost the whole [auto] industry.”</p>
<p>So lax labor standards in Mexico are indeed a problem with NAFTA. But they are North America’s problem to solve. With top trade officials reportedly <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-17/mexico-and-canada-reject-u-s-nafta-demands-as-talks-wrap-up">sharply divided over what the goals of a renegotiated NAFTA should be</a>, perhaps higher labor standards for all workers is something all three countries could agree on. At the very least, it would be a trade battle worth having.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86018/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luis Gómez Romero does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trump has attacked NAFTA, saying that cheap, under-regulated Mexican labor hurts American workers. If he’s right, then NAFTA negotiations could be a chance to push Mexico on workers’ rights.Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/811142017-07-17T14:30:25Z2017-07-17T14:30:25ZForget workers going out on strike – in future it should be consumers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178479/original/file-20170717-27512-q0inb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/37299532@N08/5105932460/in/photolist-8MceQh-fiKsYD-4pc3fr-hpCmDc-ppPPdX-E8LchA-WryfMz-9u4STj-5bhimK-7gAnkC-bv55RV-bnLq1x-ogVfg8-d61g4j-mVFJNx-uAT4E-7eFENb-5dyhgq-f1TPb7-8GJyY7-fiVs7M-bK3BeR-ax8aRy-nBozMF-7diqJx-9gP7E7-6VSqVE-ozFUZ6-9dQ3JW-oit35t-9PCzqB-ozVRJS-cXaCsh-7yTZRo-b6oxR4-cJgei3-J9Nf1J-6rqqS1-55G2h7-cy3e4-na8zuK-6kPdYM-a8BXGS-bv55hF-TyDEN8-8k2c2x-h6yKkb-UYqW8w-iTyH93-9buFe4">Sylvain Szewczyk/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I belong to a generation that has been told there is no other choice other than to be flexible in the labour market. It means being flexible about where you go to work, when you go to work, and about what work you are going to do. For many of us, the idea of a long-term employment contract in a company where there is the possibility to progress belongs to another time. </p>
<p>This is a major challenge for <a href="https://www.ictu.ie/download/pdf/collective_bargaining_rights.pdf">one of</a> our fundamental human rights: the right of workers to collectively bargain for better conditions. In most countries, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/trade-union-act-becomes-law">labour law</a> protects workers who take industrial action from disciplinary action – provided they follow the right procedure on balloting, giving notice to employers and so forth. </p>
<p>Unless you are an employee, however, there is no such protection. In this respect, the likes of Uber drivers and Deliveroo riders are in a grey area. If they take industrial action, they face being removed from the platform that pays them. For many in the so-called gig economy it’s not even clear who their actual employer might be, since they give their labour to numerous different ones at the same time. </p>
<p>Most trade unions in Europe have been slow to wake up to this problem. They still tend to be in the narrow position of defending the specific interests of their members, which means employees. In effect, they close doors to workers that don’t fit in the old boxes. This may even be contributing to the fact that their membership <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/525938/Trade_Union_Membership_2015_-_Statistical_Bulletin.pdf">has fallen</a> to the lowest levels since the war. In this brave new world, what should they be doing differently? </p>
<p><strong>UK trade union membership</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178417/original/file-20170717-6069-j6s3cf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178417/original/file-20170717-6069-j6s3cf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178417/original/file-20170717-6069-j6s3cf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178417/original/file-20170717-6069-j6s3cf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178417/original/file-20170717-6069-j6s3cf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178417/original/file-20170717-6069-j6s3cf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178417/original/file-20170717-6069-j6s3cf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178417/original/file-20170717-6069-j6s3cf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Y axis is thousands of employees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/525938/Trade_Union_Membership_2015_-_Statistical_Bulletin.pdf">ONS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Future of collective action</h2>
<p>In the UK at least, there is the prospect of some workers in the gig economy gaining legal protection to bargain collectively after Uber taxi drivers won a <a href="https://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/october-online-2016/tribunal-rules-uber-drivers-are-entitled-to-workers-rights/">landmark employee tribunal case</a> in 2016. If an <a href="https://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/april-online-2017/uber-granted-right-appeal-uk-worker-status-case/">appeal hearing</a> in the autumn goes the same way, workers like these will become employees under the law. </p>
<p>Even then, it doesn’t change the basic issue. Other countries may not follow the UK’s lead on what constitutes an employee; and the speed at which employment is changing may well mean that the ruling becomes obsolete as new types of working arrangements come to the fore. In all likelihood, non-employees are here to stay. </p>
<p>Many trade unions therefore need to rethink who they serve. Admittedly not all of them focus on employees – for example, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain was behind <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/3093403/deliveroo-workers-threaten-strike-action-in-pay-row-with-delivery-firm/">recent threats</a> of strike action by Deliveroo workers. But making more provision for non-employees is only half the battle. Trade unions also have to develop protest strategies that assume that more and more workers will not be protected by labour laws. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178457/original/file-20170717-6049-1fwepyj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178457/original/file-20170717-6049-1fwepyj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178457/original/file-20170717-6049-1fwepyj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178457/original/file-20170717-6049-1fwepyj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178457/original/file-20170717-6049-1fwepyj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178457/original/file-20170717-6049-1fwepyj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1105&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178457/original/file-20170717-6049-1fwepyj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1105&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178457/original/file-20170717-6049-1fwepyj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1105&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jean-Louis Lejeune, Bread & Roses.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This was a hot topic at the recent <a href="https://councilforeuropeanstudies.org/conferences/upcoming-conferences/11-meetings-and-conferences/269-24th-international-conference-of-europeanists-call-for-proposals">International Conference of Europeanists</a> in Glasgow. <a href="http://www.uva-aias.net/en/staff/nuria-ramos-martin">One speaker</a> pointed out that trade unions’ power of bargaining has been weakened by the <a href="http://hsi.uva.nl/en/diadse/information-on-the-research-project/information-on-the-research-project.html">recent national legal reforms</a> on collective bargaining in Europe, signalling the need for a new approach. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-untersch%C3%BCtz-612b3851/?locale=en_US">Another</a> argued that workers who don’t fit in the traditional system of representation might need to organise collectively at a bigger scale – crossing national boundaries if necessary. </p>
<p>I want to make a couple of different suggestions. One is that trade unions should make it easier for workers to organise and communicate outside of where they work. Why not, for example, create spaces where the likes of Deliveroo riders could share and exchange openly about their concerns and working conditions – online if necessary?</p>
<p>Second, when dealing with non-employees, traditional forms of collective expression such as strikes are not suitable. Instead, there is a need for trade unions to look to empower workers without placing them in a situation where they could be disciplined or dismissed by their employers. The point of pressure has to be shifted somewhere else – to consumers. </p>
<p>Suppose for example Deliveroo riders were struggling to negotiate better work conditions. Trade unions could call on consumers via social media not to use Deliveroo during a certain period. Just like with a strike, this has the potential to hurt the company’s profits. When the workers have secured an improvement that is considered suitable, the trade union could instruct consumers to start using the platform again. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178462/original/file-20170717-6046-1b8lxjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178462/original/file-20170717-6046-1b8lxjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178462/original/file-20170717-6046-1b8lxjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178462/original/file-20170717-6046-1b8lxjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178462/original/file-20170717-6046-1b8lxjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178462/original/file-20170717-6046-1b8lxjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178462/original/file-20170717-6046-1b8lxjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178462/original/file-20170717-6046-1b8lxjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Steals on wheels?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/york-ukseptember-28-2016a-cyclist-increasingly-490881778?src=fZ7d5m2d_VIPGth1sz3pPA-1-9">Clare Louise Jackson</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, this system would only work if it is supported by enough consumers. But in an era where Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2017/results">can secure</a> 40% of the vote in the UK election on a left-wing platform, this could well be possible if trade unions modernised the way they use their mobilisation skills. </p>
<p>By using social media to inform consumers and make them more aware of their responsibilities towards workers, it could be the start of an exciting trade unions revival. If they can reinvent themselves to recognise how employment has changed in the 21st century, they could become the lynchpins in a big societal movement where everyone who wants to play a role can do so.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aude Cefaliello does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Not only did trade union membership peak in the 1970s – so did their way of doing things.Aude Cefaliello, PhD Researcher, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/808342017-07-12T13:42:27Z2017-07-12T13:42:27ZBig business prioritises climate change over labour rights – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177718/original/file-20170711-14468-tknf52.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We need to get noticed.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/cartoon-characters-workers-wearing-overall-yellow-264933164?src=2S3YesBxoW5tH1Ie_mlk0A-2-26">Fred Ho</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the Trump administration was <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-decision-to-quit-the-paris-agreement-may-be-his-worst-business-deal-yet-78780">still deciding</a> whether America should remain in the <a href="http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php">Paris climate agreement</a>, the president’s closest officials <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/us/politics/trump-advisers-paris-climate-accord.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fcoral-davenport&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=16&pgtype=collection">lined up</a> on different sides of the debate. Those in favour of the agreement included Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, a career property developer, and the secretary of state and former chief executive of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson. </p>
<p>The lifelong political operatives in the opposite camp were Scott Pruitt of the Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Mike Pence, the vice president. They said the accord threatened the US economy and was based on questionable science, arguments Trump himself had made during the 2016 election campaign. </p>
<p>It might seem surprising that the advisers with business backgrounds were the ones who wanted the US to maintain its commitment to cutting emissions. Of course Trump, the other businessman in the group, opted to leave the agreement. But his decision went against what has come to be the mainstream view of climate change in US corporate circles. </p>
<p>At the same time that Tillerson and Kushner were making their case, 30 chief executives of large corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange including Goldman Sachs, Dow Chemical Company and Coca Cola <a href="http://bteam.org/announcements/30-major-ceos-call-on-trump-stay-in-paris/">took out an ad</a> in the Wall Street Journal urging the president not to withdraw. </p>
<p>This chimes with new research findings that we are presenting at the <a href="https://councilforeuropeanstudies.org/conferences/upcoming-conferences/11-meetings-and-conferences/269-24th-international-conference-of-europeanists-call-for-proposals">International Conference of Europeanists</a> being held at the University of Glasgow. These <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0007650315613966">confirm that</a> multinationals are heavily engaged with environmental issues. On the other hand, they have largely neglected calls to discharge social responsibilities through the likes of the living wage, collective bargaining or taking action against forced labour in their supply chains. Why this difference? And what can be done about it? </p>
<h2>The research</h2>
<p>We analysed sustainability reports published by 150 large multinationals from Germany, the UK and the US from the late 1990s until the present. We found that firms from all three countries engaged earlier with environmental than social sustainability issues. They continue to publish higher quality data on their environmental impacts and have more ambitious improvement plans. </p>
<p>And firms from all three countries have converged around common environmental commitments while their commitments for most social issues are still substantially determined by the laws and the state of the debate in their home <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1449403515000478">countries</a>. </p>
<p>It is worth emphasising that this commitment to environmental responsibility is a sea change: for years big business, perhaps mainstream corporate America in particular, fought against climate action. Now many of these businesses are backing (some forms of) global climate regulation even in the absence of pressure from the US government. </p>
<p>This difference in attitudes to their environmental and social impacts is despite the fact that activists and NGOs have promoted the two issues in a similar manner. In both cases they have used voluntary certification schemes along the lines of the Fairtrade logo, for example. </p>
<p>According to interviews we carried out with a small sample of multinationals’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) managers, the difference is that their employers have come to view climate change as a future business risk. Investors are increasingly demanding evidence of plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To help guide them, global standards to measure this risk <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09638180802489121">are</a> being <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09644016.2015.1051325">developed</a>. </p>
<p>By contrast, labour rights issues are rarely seen by business as market imperatives. There is <a href="http://www.ilo.int/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---travail/documents/publication/wcms_162117.pdf">little evidence that</a> market actors such as the investor community exert significant pressure on multinationals to improve their practices in this area. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pink pulpit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/paris-france-apr-24-2017-emmanuel-639839071?src=kDs8pcKrYz469Hbde8gZpw-2-19">Hadrian</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To explore this difference, we analysed how the Financial Times has covered climate change and the living wage – two prominent sustainability issues from opposite sides of the divide. By looking at coverage over the same period as the corporate reports, we found that the FT’s business section had paid far greater attention to climate change than wage equality – even after the financial crisis of 2008-09. </p>
<p>At one point in 2007, the FT business pages published more than 1,400 articles on climate change. The highest point of its coverage of wage-related issues was as long ago as 1997, and amounted to just 268 articles. </p>
<p>This corroborates what the CSR managers had suggested in our interviews. Investors and customers seem to be putting much more pressure on multinationals to deal with emissions and more broadly climate change. They appear to have turned these issues into a nascent, albeit still contested, market imperative. </p>
<p>Prominent business actors still frequently deny that addressing wage inequality is their primary responsibility. Warren Buffett, the star American investor, recently came out against excessive increases to the minimum wage in an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/better-than-raising-the-minimum-wage-1432249927">op-ed piece</a> for the Wall Street Journal. The working poor would be better served by earned income tax credits rather than “distortions to the market”, he argued. </p>
<p>If firms’ sense of social responsibility is ever to catch up with their sense of environmental responsibility, these kinds of attitudes will have to change. Persuading investors that labour rights issues are in the interests of big business is a major part of the battle. If it becomes the same kind of mainstay in the international business press as climate change, things might begin to look entirely different. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is part of a series on sustainability and transformation in today’s Europe, published in collaboration with <a href="http://www.europenowjournal.org">EuropeNow Journal</a> and the <a href="https://councilforeuropeanstudies.org">Council for European Studies (CES)</a> at Columbia University. Each article is based on a paper presented at the <a href="https://councilforeuropeanstudies.org/conferences/upcoming-conferences/2017-ces-conference">24th International Conference of Europeanists</a> in Glasgow.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80834/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Kollman has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alvise Favotto receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>Once investors put their shoulders to the wheel, everything changes.Kelly Kollman, Senior Lecturer, Politics, University of GlasgowAlvise Favotto, Lecturer in Management Accounting, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/781672017-06-13T02:58:07Z2017-06-13T02:58:07ZFuture of unions in balance as Trump prepares to reshape national labor board<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173430/original/file-20170612-7026-1vr79yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Yale University graduate students have sought to form a union for more than a decade. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Bob Child</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last October, employees of the Elderwood Nursing Home in Grand Island, New York, <a href="https://www.1199seiu.org/upstateny/victory-elderwood">voted</a> to unionize after years of dealing with short staffing, stagnant wages and problems with management. Six months later, the company has yet to come to the bargaining table, claiming that there are unresolved legal questions about whether licensed practical nurses can be part of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).</p>
<p>Yale University <a href="https://theconversation.com/yale-grad-students-hunger-strike-cant-turn-the-tide-for-labor-77900">has recently come under criticism</a> for making a similar decision. Despite a February vote to unionize by graduate students in eight departments, Yale has so far <a href="http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2017/04/12/yale-refuses-negotiations-with-local-33/">resisted</a> calls to begin the bargaining process. Instead, it has appealed the decision to certify the election and is refusing to bargain until the appeal is decided.</p>
<p>Elderwood and Yale could hardly be more different. Yale is a world-class Ivy League bastion of higher education. Elderwood is a medium-sized elder care company that operates nursing home facilities in New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Yet both have made the strategic decision to not recognize the <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/labor-power-15530">right of their employees to unionize</a>. Why?</p>
<p>My research on the decline of the labor movement suggests a reason: Employers are counting on a changing of the guard at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173473/original/file-20170612-3809-nu7lex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173473/original/file-20170612-3809-nu7lex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173473/original/file-20170612-3809-nu7lex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173473/original/file-20170612-3809-nu7lex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173473/original/file-20170612-3809-nu7lex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173473/original/file-20170612-3809-nu7lex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173473/original/file-20170612-3809-nu7lex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The NLRB is about to go under new management.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jon Elswick</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Republicans take control</h2>
<p>The NLRB is the administrative agency that is tasked with enforcing the <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/resources/national-labor-relations-act">National Labor Relations Act</a>, the federal statute that gives employees the right to unionize and collectively bargain. The NLRB consists of five members who are appointed to five-year terms by the president upon the advice and consent of the Senate. </p>
<p>Right now, there are two vacancies on the board that President Donald Trump will fill. Once the Senate confirms President Trump’s nominees, Republicans will control the board for the first time since <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/who-we-are/board/members-nlrb-1935">2007</a>. </p>
<p>The background of the three candidates <a href="https://www.bna.com/trump-nlrb-shortlist-n57982084216/">reportedly</a> under consideration suggests that the board will in fact be much friendlier to business interests under the Trump administration. One of the potential nominees, <a href="http://www.seatonlaw.com/attorneys/douglas-p-seaton/">Doug Seaton</a>, has made a career of being a “<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/union-buster-president-trump-list-fill-spot-nlrb-article-1.3100158">union-buster</a>,” the term used to describe a consultant brought in by employers to beat a unionization campaign. Another, <a href="https://www.littler.com/people/william-j-emanuel">William Emanuel</a>, is a partner at Littler Mendelson, one of the largest and most successful anti-labor law firms in the country. Less is known about the third potential candidate, Marvin Kaplan, but his history as a Republican staffer <a href="https://qz.com/682125/the-alliance-between-us-businesses-and-the-republican-party-is-in-shambles/">suggests he may also</a> represent employers’ interests.</p>
<p>Many observers <a href="https://www.law360.com/articles/907451/7-obama-era-nlrb-rulings-trump-s-board-may-strike-down">assume</a> that this new board will overturn many Obama-era precedents that favored unions. These precedents include questions such as how to define bargaining units, at issue at both Yale and Elderwood. </p>
<p>But the new board could go even further and roll back pro-union decisions dating back decades. This could be devastating to already weakened unions. With <a href="https://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpslutab3.htm">private sector union membership</a> hovering at a dismal 6.4 percent – down from about 17 percent in 1983 – nothing short of the end of the labor movement could be at stake.</p>
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<h2>How politics intruded on the NLRB</h2>
<p>The composition of the NLRB is important because most claims regarding the right to organize and collectively bargain are decided by the agency. </p>
<p>Unlike other employment statutes, such as <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm">Title VII</a> and the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/">Fair Labor Standards Act</a>, individuals and unions cannot file claims in federal court and instead must participate in the administrative process set up by the National Labor Relations Act. While aggrieved parties can appeal board rulings to federal appeals courts, judges grant a high degree of deference to NLRB decisions. </p>
<p>In other words, three board members – a bare majority of the board – have an enormous ability to influence and shape American labor policy. </p>
<p>Given the amount of power these three individuals can wield, it is no wonder that the NLRB has become <a href="http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/faculty_scholarship/136/">highly politicized</a> in the decades since its creation in the 1930s. Ironically, the board was originally established as a way to try to insulate labor policy from political influences. </p>
<p>The drafters of the labor act <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1341293.pdf?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">believed</a> that the federal courts were hostile to labor rights and would chip away at the protections in a way that would be bad for unions. Instead, the board has become a political battlefield for the two parties who hold very different views about labor policy. </p>
<p>This politicization came to a head during the Obama administration, when it became impossible to confirm anyone to serve on the NLRB. In response, Obama <a href="https://www.littler.com/es/president-bypasses-senate-make-recess-appointments-nlrb">appointed several members</a> using his recess appointment power, which allows the president to avoid Senate confirmation of nominees when Congress is in recess. </p>
<p>Employers challenged the move, and the Supreme Court eventually invalidated the recess appointments as executive overreach in <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/national-labor-relations-board-v-noel-canning/">NLRB v. Noel Canning</a>. After the decision, Obama and the Senate finally agreed on five members that were confirmed. This new board, with a Democratic majority, then decided many of the precedents that employers hope the new members will overturn.</p>
<h2>Flaws in the National Labor Relations Act</h2>
<p>So what will happen if Elderwood and Yale bet wrong and lose their appeals in front of the new Republican-controlled board?</p>
<p>In all likelihood, not much. The board process is long and cumbersome. It often takes years from the filing of a charge for failure to bargain to the board’s decision. In the meantime, employers hope that unions will have turnover in their membership, become disorganized and lose support.</p>
<p>Moreover, the penalties available under the National Labor Relations Act are <a href="https://www.acslaw.org/sites/default/files/Dannin_No_Rights_Without_Remedy_0.pdf">weak</a>. If an employer is found to have violated the act, the board can issue a “cease-and-desist” letter and require the employer to post a notice promising not to engage in further violations. These penalties hardly encourage employers to comply with their obligations, especially when they have so much to gain from obstructing attempts to unionize and collectively bargain. </p>
<p>If the labor movement is to survive, the National Labor Relations Act needs to be reformed to fix these problems. Instead, a few years of a Republican-controlled NLRB could be organized labor’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-americas-labor-unions-are-about-to-die-69575">death knell</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78167/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Hallett directs the Community Justice Clinic, which represents low-wage workers on employment matters, though not before the National Labor Relations Board.</span></em></p>Thwarted efforts to organize at Yale and a New York nursing home show how a changing of the guard at the National Labor Relations Board could potentially end the labor movement.Nicole Hallett, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, University at BuffaloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.