Kindling Activism? Union Commitment and Participation in the UK Fire Service

Abstract

A B S T R AC TUsing survey data from a UK fire service, this article examines the antecedents of members' intent to participate in their union. The authors identify three dimensions of intent to participate -in rankand-file activities, in militant activities and in standing for union office. Affective union commitment is the main direct determinant of all three. Affective union commitment itself reflects solidaristic prounion beliefs and instrumental union commitment, providing some support for interactionist and rational choice theories. There is also evidence of frustration-aggression effects, with perceived industrial relations climate and pay equity having negative direct effects on intent to participate. Perceived industrial relations climate moderates none of these relationships. Implications for union strategy and renewal are discussed. K E Y W O R D S Fire Brigades Union industrial relations climate union commitment union participation union renewalUnion decline and the potential for renewal have been common themes in the industrial relations literature in recent years (e.g. example, write of the 'decollectivization' of employment relations, with management restructuring, a reduction in facilities provided for workplace union representatives and difficulties in recruiting such representatives combining to undermine 8 4 5 Human Relations

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“…This is consistent with the frustration-aggression hypothesis as it relates to dissatisfaction with the employing organization (Redman and Snape, 2004). Poorer industrial relations climates will be consistent with higher levels of participation:…”

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“…In union research, participation in union activities is most often the principal outcome measured. Redman and Snape (2004) provide a review of the literature, and address the choice of anticipatory scales versus past-behaviours scales. They highlight the challenges of past behaviour measures when the opportunity for such participation may be limited for reasons of geography or numbers.…”

“…The union commitment scales were left unchanged from the original model. The union willingness scale was deemed too close a duplicate of the union activity scales, given their anticipatory nature, and so was not included in subsequent analysis.Factor analysis of the activity scales revealed two factors rather than three (Redman & Snape, 2004), however, the vote activity component of the original scale was reported elsewhere in the instrument and the strike militancy was omitted from the instrument, thus potentially explaining the difference in component structure. The factor analysis results for the activity scales are reported in Table 2 & 3.…”

“…Factor analysis of the activity scales revealed two factors rather than three (Redman & Snape, 2004), however, the vote activity component of the original scale was reported elsewhere in the instrument and the strike militancy was omitted from the instrument, thus potentially explaining the difference in component structure. The factor analysis results for the activity scales are reported in Table 2 & 3.…”

“…The union commitment scale was a thirteen item instrument from The union and profession participation scales were duplicates, with the term union replaced by profession. The scale was based on Redman and Snape (2004), with the exception of the item regarding strikes, as it does not have a ready counterpart in the profession, and the voting item, which was asked separately. The question asked how likely a respondent was to participate in each activity across a five point scale, from very unlikely to very likely.…”