National Union Effectiveness in Organizing: Measures and Influences

Abstract

The percentage of the U.S. work force that is unionized is at its lowest level in more than 50 years. Although many studies have sought the reasons for this decline, few have investigated characteristics of unions themselves as possible factors. This paper focuses on unions as organizations, and applies a model of national union effectiveness to union organizing. The authors propose a composite measure of organizing effectiveness that goes beyond union success in representation elections. An analysis of data from the 1990 National Union Survey and other sources, with controls for environmental influences, suggests that organizing effectiveness is enhanced by innovation and reduced by centralization of control at the national level. Some evidence is also found that internal union democracy enhances union success in organizing.

Renewal in the United Faculty of Florida: Class War in Paradise?

“…Thus, the external threat's emergence was more a factor than was new leadership. National and state affiliates were also critical in developing and implementing plans for transformation, consistent with prior analyses (Fiorito, Jarley, and Delaney 1995;Voss and Sherman 2000).…”

“…This point was made previously in broad-based quantitative research on organizing (e.g., Bronfenbrenner 1997;Fiorito, Jarley, and Delaney 1995), and in more extensive and less intensive case studies (e.g., Voss and Sherman 2000). In the present case, the UFF could have pursued other strategies, including abandoning the SUS and focusing on its stronger CC chapters with their higher membership density.…”

“…The commitment to organizing and activation of a network of volunteers was a key part of that trend. As Bronfenbrenner (1997) and others (e.g., Fiorito, Jarley, and Delaney 1995) have concluded, union strategies and actions matter greatly for organizing, perhaps more than any other single fac, tor (Bronfenbrenner 1997).…”

Union Organizing under Neutrality and Card Check Agreements

“…The innovation scale consisted of eleven items (alpha = .77) ranging from associate membership programs to the use of new media and corporate campaigns. It did not include bargaining over organizing (see Fiorito et al 1995:626 for a full list). The innovation scale was a strong, positive determinant of organizing effec-I A few unions initially indicated that they did not have any such agreements, but were later found to have one or more.…”

Research note: profiles of union workplace representatives: evidence from three unions in south‐west England

“…Later debates have concentrated on the requirements of successful renewal of workplace union organisation either in terms of adoption of strategy (Boxall and Haynes, 1996) or within a discussion of the general context of the future of unions (Fiorito et al, 1995;Hyman, 1996). More recent contributions from Darlington (1994Darlington ( , 2001 and Gall (1998) have filled an important gap by concentrating on the political affiliation of stewards and its influence on workplace organisation.…”