{"title":"Is job quality better or worse? Insights from quiz data collected before and after the pandemic","authors":"Rhys Davies, Alan Felstead","doi":"10.1111/irj.12401","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12401","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article is based on data collected from almost 100,000 individuals who completed the www.howgoodismyjob.com quiz either side of the pandemic. The results show that overall non-pecuniary job quality has improved, differences between occupations have shrunk and the growth of remote working is a factor behind these trends.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"54 3","pages":"203-222"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12401","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42332391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
David Etherington, Bob Jeffery, Peter Thomas, Martin Jones, Ben Ledger-Jessop
{"title":"Trade union strategies to tackle labour market insecurity: Geography and the role of Sheffield TUC","authors":"David Etherington, Bob Jeffery, Peter Thomas, Martin Jones, Ben Ledger-Jessop","doi":"10.1111/irj.12400","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12400","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper analyses the role of trades councils and trade unions in organising within local and regional contexts around the challenges facing and potential union strategies for addressing the needs of insecure and precarious workers. We deploy a case study on the Sheffield Trade Union Council and the Sheffield Needs A Pay Rise campaign as a way of exploring innovations and challenges for the trade union movement for organising the unorganised. We explore the potentials as well as limitations of local organising and campaigning around insecurity and marginalisation by trade unions to demonstrate theoretically and empirically within industrial relations research the role of strategic spaces for action by workers and trade unions and the set of institutional, economic, social and cultural resources that workers can draw on in developing their respective strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"54 3","pages":"261-277"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12400","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49417135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effectiveness of international framework agreements as a tool for the protection of workers' rights: A metasynthesis","authors":"Marc-Antonin Hennebert, Isabelle Roberge-Maltais, Urwana Coiquaud","doi":"10.1111/irj.12398","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12398","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Are international framework agreements (IFAs) an effective trade union response for regulating multinational enterprises and protecting workers' rights? Using a metasynthesis methodological approach, which we apply to a corpus of 36 empirical studies, this article aims to 1—provide empirical and practical answers to this question and 2—offer a theoretical reflection on the notion of effectiveness as applied to the case of IFAs.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"54 3","pages":"242-260"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12398","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44486140","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards rebuilding collective bargaining? Poland in the face of contemporary challenges and changing European social policy","authors":"Łukasz Pisarczyk","doi":"10.1111/irj.12397","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12397","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The article examines the existing legal framework for collective bargaining in Poland with the situation, strategies and opinions of social partners and discusses the result – the coverage by collective agreements (approximately 12%). Next, de lege ferenda proposals and expectations for the future are put forward.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"54 2","pages":"186-200"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43529375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Breaking the deadlock: How union and employer tactics affect first contract achievement","authors":"John Kallas, Dongwoo Park, Rachel Aleks","doi":"10.1111/irj.12399","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12399","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The United States labour movement faces a potentially transformative moment, as workers have won breakthrough union organizing victories at various high-profile, private-sector employers. While winning an election is essential to establishing collective bargaining, unions then need to secure a first contract with employers to make tangible improvements in working conditions. Drawing on a sample of 126 responses about postcertification collective bargaining, we find that both employer and union tactics have significant impacts on first contract achievement. Employers continue to impede first contract achievement by committing unfair labour practices, but unions can improve their chances of establishing an agreement by utilizing tactics that engage the public.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"54 3","pages":"223-241"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12399","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42811782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Covid-19 and the work of trade unions: Adaptation, transition and renewal","authors":"Tom Hunt, Heather Connolly","doi":"10.1111/irj.12395","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12395","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Trade unions face long-term challenges including declining memberships that threaten their influence. COVID-19 created new challenges and possibilities for renewal. This article presents findings from a study conducted during the pandemic, comprising a large survey and interviews that investigated how unions adapted to the changes to working life they and their members faced. Evidence from UK unions shows unions rapidly changing how they worked, particularly in adopting and investing in new technologies. COVID-19 became a trigger for adaptation for unions which helped to meet the challenges created by the pandemic and demonstrated unions' creative ability to adapt and maintain relevance. The article contributes new insights about union renewal and argues that renewal should be understood as a continuous and evolving process of adaptation and transition, shaped as much by internal strategy as external shocks. It argues that confidence within unions about their ability to reform is important for understanding renewal.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"54 2","pages":"150-166"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12395","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48055516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Manuela Galetto, Sabrina Weber, Bengt Larsson, Barbara Bechter, Thomas Prosser
{"title":"‘You see similarities more than differences after a while’. Communities of Practice in European industrial relations. The case of the hospital European Sectoral Social Dialogue","authors":"Manuela Galetto, Sabrina Weber, Bengt Larsson, Barbara Bechter, Thomas Prosser","doi":"10.1111/irj.12396","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12396","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article looks at the hospital European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee (SSDC) through a Community of Practice (CoP) theoretical lens. Based on a 2-year project, qualitative in-depth interviews at the European level and in five Member states, and participant observation of the hospital SSDC, we propose a shift from traditional institutional and resource-based accounts and provide a learning and knowledge-focused understanding of this specific area of European industrial relations. Interpreting the SSDCs as a CoP sheds new light on the role of power relations, participation and informal activities among members and on how they work together; this, we find, can alert those interested in more effective functioning of the European Sectoral Social Dialogue on how to strengthen this supra-national level of industrial relations.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"54 2","pages":"167-185"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12396","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45670038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The union default: Effects and implications of regulated opting-out","authors":"Mark Harcourt, Gregor Gall, Margaret Wilson","doi":"10.1111/irj.12394","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12394","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A union default would automatically enrol workers in a union with bargaining coverage over their work. Though there would be a right to opt-out, it would facilitate recruitment and retention of members, especially in sectors with small employers and high staff turnover. Research indicates it would receive majority support and, where available, induce most workers to membership of unions. This study looks at whether two potential features of a union default would influence the intention to remain a union member if defaulted or support for a union default. The first is a mandatory 30-day waiting period until opt-out is permitted. The second is a standardised, online process to facilitate opting out.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"54 2","pages":"132-149"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12394","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42377445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stephen Mustchin, Mathew Johnson, Marti Lopez-Andreu
{"title":"Civil society organisations in and against the state: Advice, advocacy and activism on the margins of the labour market","authors":"Stephen Mustchin, Mathew Johnson, Marti Lopez-Andreu","doi":"10.1111/irj.12393","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12393","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article contributes to our understanding of the complex role of civil society organisations (CSOs) in tackling precariousness through advice, advocacy and activism. It draws on qualitative data gathered primarily from two local CSOs in the north of England that help clients navigate a highly flexible labour market and an increasingly punitive welfare system. The findings reveal that in marginalised communities, CSOs compensate for retreating state services by providing clients with individual advice and advocacy, but there is little evidence of the grassroots activism observed in labour CSOs in North America. We argue that the uneven tradition of community organising across cities in the UK combined with the complex dependencies of service-oriented CSOs on state resources has restricted their role to that of labour market intermediaries that serve primarily to integrate clients into low-wage jobs.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"54 2","pages":"117-131"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12393","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47208094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"What do indebted employees do? Financialisation and the decline of industrial action","authors":"Giorgos Gouzoulis","doi":"10.1111/irj.12391","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12391","url":null,"abstract":"<p>While isolated episodes of work stoppages keep occurring, aggregate industrial action rates have been on the decline over the last five decades. Attempts to explain this trend centre on the short-term effects of the business cycle and the long-term impacts of labour market liberalisation, deindustrialisation and globalisation. This paper argues that household indebtedness is a missing piece of the puzzle. Since indebted employees tend to become self-disciplined at the workplace on the fear of losing their job and defaulting, this paper argues that the post-1970 rise of household financialisation is associated with the decline of strike activity. The econometric evidence reported provides strong support to this argument for the cases of Japan, Korea, Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom over the period 1970–2018.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"54 1","pages":"71-94"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12391","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44567085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}