Building Power Together: Union Support for Central Labour Bodies

Abstract

One of the key factors in the success of labour federations is to have affiliate unions who actively participate and support their work. This article examines the catalysts behind union involvement with central labour bodies and presents an analysis of the organizational motivations for engagement.

Conditions for cross-professional union coalition-building: When enough is enough, but solidarity also has its limits!

“…Second, the public-sector context of our study was facilitative in that the unions faced what has traditionally been thought of as a ‘model employer’ in Denmark (Hansen and Seip, 2018). Prior research has emphasized the importance of political opportunity structures for mobilization and coalition-building (Behrens and Pekarek, 2021; Boris and Grabelsky, 2014; Kochan et al, 2013; Stevenson and Greenberg, 2000). While political context can also empower the state to employ a divide-and-rule strategy (see below; Due and Keller, 2005), here it provided a favourable opportunity structure for the coalition because the 2019 elections loomed over the collective bargaining round.…”

“…Prior research has argued that contextual conditions, such as various forms of crises and political changes, produce employer responses that prompt unions to enter into coalitions. For example, Boris and Grabelsky (2014) found that the threat of mass layoffs and budget restrictions following economic crises spurred unions to join labour councils. The Kaiser Permanente Coalition also grew out of Kaiser Permanente's organizational performance crisis (Kochan et al, 2013).…”

“…Underlying any union coalition must be a common goal for which all unions strive, which Tattersall (2010) has called a ‘common concern’. Furthermore, leaders must deem that forming a coalition will lead to gains that they could not achieve on their own (Boris and Grabelsky, 2014; Kochan et al, 2013).…”