Mobilising for equality? Understanding the impact of grass roots agency and third party representation

Beirne, Martin; Hurrell, Scott; Wilson, Fiona

doi:10.1111/irj.12237

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…the mandate for a rent by the gym and the appropriation of unpaid labour) generates a common experience of injustice around which to organize – the sine qua non for mobilization (Kelly, 1998, p. 27; cf. Beirne et al. , 2019).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resistance exercise: competition, coopetition and collective action among self-employed personal trainers in the UK

Harvey,

Li,

Wintersberger

2023

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Purpose The article explores the potential for self-employed personal trainers (SEPTs) to resist exploitation by gyms, with a focus on the attitudes of SEPTs towards trade unions and collective action.Design/methodology/approachThis article is based on a multiple-method study with qualitative data drawn from participant observation and interviews and quantitative data from a questionnaire survey. The data were collected in 2018.FindingsThe potential for individual resistance to exploitation among SEPTs is limited. However, attitudes towards a collective response were largely positive, albeit there is certainly no consensus agreement on the value of trade unions. The logic of coopetition is applied to explain the issues on which trade unions might organize SEPTs.Research limitations/implicationsThe study suggests coopetition as an organizing logic for highly individualized self-employed workers in intense proximal competition with one another. However, the research presented in this article was undertaken with a unique group of solo self-employed workers. Further study is required to demonstrate the applicability of these findings.Practical implicationsThe commercialization of work poses a threat to traditional employment and trade unions. It is crucial that trade unions represent the interests of all workers by focusing on workers who do not traditionally form the vanguard of its membership (e.g. dependent workers and the falsely self-employed). The study illustrates the way in which trade unions can organize micro-entrepreneurs.Social implicationsCoopetitive representation whereby micro-entrepreneurs collaborate to resist exploitation while remaining independent has the potential to change the perspectives and values of entrepreneurs.Originality/valueThe article assesses the potential of organizing a highly individualized and competitive self-employed worker. Coopetitive representation is presented as distinct from other approaches to representation and as a means of trade union revitalization.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resistance exercise: competition, coopetition and collective action among self-employed personal trainers in the UK

Harvey,

Li,

Wintersberger

2023

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“…3 Its highest-profile courtroom victory of recent years was the successful challenge of employment tribunal fees in 2017 mentioned above (see also Ford, 2018). Other highprofile cases include Vining v London Borough of Wandsworth ([2017] EWCA Civ 1092), involving the consultation rights of parks police as protected by Article 11 ECHR; Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake ([2021] UKSC 8), in which Unison supported a member in her ultimately unsuccessful attempt to establish that the national minimum wage was owed to home care workers during sleep-in shifts (Hayes, 2022); and a series of cases brought during a long running equal pay dispute between thousands of women workers and Glasgow City Council (Beirne, Hurrell, and Wilson, 2019). In 2002, counsel for Unison argued that the right to strike was protected by Article 11 ECHR; an argument which the Strasbourg Court accepted though it then went on to find that the rule at issue could be justified under Article 11, paragraph 2, as a proportionate measure (UNISON v United Kingdom [2002] I.R.L.R.…”

Section: Research Design: Three Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Legal Change and Legal Mobilisation: What Does Strategic Litigation Mean for Workers and Trade Unions?

Dukes,

Kirk

2023

Social & Legal Studies

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This article addresses the question of what strategic litigation means for workers and trade unions. Drawing on the existing literature and on a series of semi-structured interviews with union officials, lawyers with experience in representing them and other actors from across the labour movement, it explores how U.K. trade unions and actors within them understand and experience strategic litigation and legal mobilisation, what they seek to achieve, and what has been effective and ineffective for them. Uncovering both differences and commonalities between different unions, it suggests that the decision to devote union resources to – usually very costly – litigation is never taken lightly. Trade union approaches to strategic litigation involve neither a straightforward embrace of it nor an outright scepticism regarding its potential.

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“…Many local authority care services were outsourced in the 1980s and 1990s, which shifted workers beyond the scope of collective bargaining agreements. Furthermore, during the 2000s trade unions were unable to halt the acceleration of outsourcing of care work to avoid the costs associated with the deserved upgrading of mostly female care workers (Beirne et al, 2019). On top of that, some trade union branches pressured women workers to accept inferior deals for back pay in order to protect mostly male manual workers from downgrading (Deakin et al, 2015).…”

Section: Precarious Work In Domiciliary Carementioning

confidence: 99%

Raising the bar? The impact of the UNISON ethical care campaign in UK domiciliary care

Johnson

Rubery

Egan

2021

Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research

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This article critically analyses a major trade union initiative in the United Kingdom to raise standards in public contracts for domiciliary care, and in turn to improve wages and working conditions for outsourced care workers. The campaign successfully built alliances with national employer representatives, and around 25 per cent of commissioning bodies in England, Scotland and Wales have signed a voluntary charter that guarantees workers an hourly living wage, payment for travel time and regular working hours. The campaign overall, however, has had only limited effects on standards across the sector, in which low wages, zero-hours contracts and weak career paths predominate. Furthermore, the campaign has not yet yielded significant gains in terms of union recruitment, although there are signs of sporadic mobilisations of care workers in response to localised disputes.

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Mobilising for equality? Understanding the impact of grass roots agency and third party representation

Cited by 4 publications

References 35 publications

Resistance exercise: competition, coopetition and collective action among self-employed personal trainers in the UK

Resistance exercise: competition, coopetition and collective action among self-employed personal trainers in the UK

Legal Change and Legal Mobilisation: What Does Strategic Litigation Mean for Workers and Trade Unions?

Raising the bar? The impact of the UNISON ethical care campaign in UK domiciliary care

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