Conference on Organized labour
Responses to the Conference Paper
Freek Schiphorst, Roodal Moonilal, with Amrita Chhachhi, Henk Thomas & A.J.C. Bose
Institute of Social Studies, The Hague
October 1998
Network on Organized Labour in the 21st Century
We Accept Your Invitation to Participate
The paper "Network on Organized Labour in the 21st Century: An Invitation to Participate" lists five challenges facing trade unions:
1 Changing Patterns of Employment and Union Membership
2 Change in Labour Management Relations
3. Public Status of Trade Unions
4. Challenges in a Hostile Economic Environment
5. The International Economy: A Threat to National Trade Unions
Subsequently the paper addresses itself directly to a trade union audience in asking --for each of these categories-- specifically how unions have dealt with these challenges. The consolidated answers to these questions would indeed be relevant to chart out future strategies for a broad trade union movement.
In what follows we have attempted to raise a number of issues which cut across some of the themes listed above. It is not a comprehensive nor an exhaustive reply to each and every question raised in the IILS paper. Instead it should be seen as supplementary to the points raised therein. Our contribution to the discussion addresses a number of themes which might help in devising a future trade union strategy which could meet the challenges of the 21st century.
For analytical purposes, we have made a distinction between levels, zones, and action. This is followed by a few afterthoughts. Levels and zones relate to aspects of the challenges which trade unions face, action to aspects of possible strategies with which to respond to them. The structure of our paper is as follows:
Levels
- global
- regional / supranational
- national
- local
- work
Zones
- new face of labour
- new type of work
- new trade union model
Action
- human resource development & trade unions
- recruitment - retention - mobilisation
- research
Afterthought
- attitude & culture
- internal governance
Levels : · global
At the global level trade unions face the challenge of globalisation: the freeing of all markets (product, capital and labour) which has an impact on labour and on labour organization.
Increased international trade calls into focus the whole question of labour standards and how to address these. On the one hand, further analysis seems to be required as to how dominant players in international trade use the labour standards argument to further their own position in the global market. From different quarters come arguments in favour of the universality of labour standards and proposals for a Ber role of trade unions in the advancement of human rights. On the other hand, the notion of deregulation (to enhance international trade flows) seems to be in contradiction with the increased importance attached to labour standards. Some worker rights can never be secured unless this is addressed.
Finally, clear insights need to be developed into the exact role of international institutions (and their various sub-departments) which have an impact on trade unions: ILO - WTO - ICFTU - WCL - Trade Secretariats. What are the interlinkages between these and in what way do these institutions provide support to trade unions, are some of the questions that seem to be relevant here.
Levels
regional / supranational
Organized labour does not seem to have an immediate response to the rise of regional trading blocks, and the rise of regional labour markets therein, like the EU, ASEAN, MERCOSUR, NAFTA, and to a lesser extent, ECOWAS and SADC. The states participating in these blocks might indeed not have withered away, their role has certainly changed. What seems to be needed is a complete set of new institutions that articulate the role and position of labour in these blocks and markets -- including the migratory flows between countries in blocks and between blocks. However, regional organizations are already in place. Further study might prove helpful on how to rebuild the regional organizations of ICFTU and WCL (ETUC, ORIT, BATU, AFRO, CLAT), the regional offices of the ILO (Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe) as well as the multidisciplinary advisory teams of the ILO (East Africa, Southern Africa, South East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, Central and Eastern Europe).
Levels
national
At the national level changes in the labour markets pose challenges to the trade union movement and unions individually. These changes are, external and internal, primary and secondary -- resulting a.o. in the informalisation and casualisation of work. Unions would require a thorough understanding of, and insight into the developments here as well as of the mechanism which govern the various labour markets.
The changes in the industrial relations scene are a second point of attention at this level. The power of the various actors has changed and thus the power balance between them. IR institutions have changed -- sometimes as a result of legislative changes, sometimes as a result of changes in practices. Often too, the ideology in which IR was embedded has changed fundamentally.
Another point of attention should be the role of the state. Pressures to deregulate financial and labour markets has in cases led to a less pronounced role of the state. However, the contrasting phenomenon can be observed, namely that of re-regulation especially in the context of legislative measures protecting labour. A similar up- and down- movement is taking place in the area of social security: what is the responsibility of the state in the provision of (forms of) social security; what role does privatisation play here and do employers have a responsibility in this field? In some quarters the notion of trustee-ship has been put forward. What do these developments imply for trade unions ?
Levels
· local
Whereas the state might be rolling back at national levels, local government and local communities more and more provide opportunities for (organized) labour. Joint public-private ventures at the local level prove to be highly successful in some instances in employment generation. The repeated calls for a "developmental role" for trade unions might get an extra meaning at exactly this level.
Also, local regulations have been introduced by local governments and/or town administrators protecting labour. Where local NGO's played a role in this there were opportunities for local alliances. Experiences in this field might be collected and assessed to find out what lessons are there to be learned.
Levels
· work
In order to understand their intricacies and the interlinkages between the various facets at the work level it is good to differentiate here the enterprise, the home and the informal sector. Such a distinction might also shed better light on the gender perspective. In addition, the relationships between the various labour markets will find expression at these levels.
At each of these levels, changes in the labour process and changes in labour relations will pose serious demands on trade union functioning and organization.
Zones · new face of labour
New entrants into the labour markets, and/or a newly acquired importance of old labour markets actors have changed the face of labour. In a number of instances women's participation in the labour force has increased, in other instances, women's work --already existing for long-- has become more visible. The number of young workers has increased. Traditional "blue collar workers" seem to give way to more and more skilled workers -- and not just by a change in the definition but by a change in the character of the work.
Historically trade unions have fought to get legal recognition and status. This had brought them many benefits. However, such anchoring in the law has led to a strict definition and demarcation of union constituencies and action. The changing work environment has sometimes turned these boundaries into a tight corset which unions have not been able to shed. For instance, legal definitions of what a "worker" is (and therefore, who a trade union can legitimately organize) have turned obsolete, or would apply only to an ever shrinking portion of the labour force -- yet this is what legally determines union membership. Unions all too often have accepted being thus locked into such a prescription of action and width.
Moreover, traditional class boundaries and social identities have been eroded by a movement from collectivism to individualism. When the working class changes its face from a its traditional collectivised form towards a more fluid, multifaceted or heterogeneous mass of workers, trade unions might appear archaic.
Zones
· new type(s) of work
Traditional industrial sectors are waning and new fields of activities emerge especially in an rapidly expanding services sector. New technology makes the concentration of work under one roof unnecessary. Clustering of firms but also home based work and teleworking create new patterns of employment which trade unions have to incorporate in their strategies.
Zones
new trade union model
Current trade union models seem to be predicated upon the almost exclusive dominance of collective bargaining as the one and only form of trade union action. Sometimes, it is collective bargaining and a little bit of something else (e.g. workers' participation; social concertation). More often than not this collective bargaining is set in tones and shades of bi- or tripartism. As to the latter, an examination is called for to assess a multi-partite approach which would allow not only wider consultation (and thus would support an emphasis on alliances and networks) but would also allow a wider range of issues to be addressed -- including social exclusion.
The emergence in the labour market of "new" workers necessitates a new trade union model. A policy of "alliance building" with both these "new" workers and their organizations (where they already exist) is called for: both with regard to informal sector workers and women workers.
It seems logical that in pursuing a developmental role the unions would align themselves with development partners. The ever increasing NGO community is the natural candidate. NGOs have been interfacing with sectors in the labour market such as domestic workers, female micro-entrepreneurs and the working poor. This is not an easy alliance, since the NGOs and trade unions can be driven by B personalities and micro political processes for which protecting "social tuft" is an end in itself. However there are advantages for both parties. The trade union can offer technical, administrative and infrastructural support. The union can also share access to their extensive international networks of donors and researchers. An important advantage of a trade union presence is the fact that the union has a legal personality and institutional history whereas some of the NGOs are still in an embryonic stage and sometimes unable to enter into formal agreements with state agencies and international organizations. Unions also have access to financial resources from several sources such as membership dues, development aid grants and international trade union assistance. Trade unions also own and operate publishing facilities, cultural centres and other money spinning services. It would be a sign of the union's commitment if it would commit a fraction of its budget towards the goal of organizing part-time and causal workers in the informal sector --women and men-- and building alliances with NGOs and informal sector workers.
Relations between trade unions and NGOs tend to be ad hoc and issue-specific without any long term program and institutional linkages. Future co-operation should take on a more concrete institutional form. Specific union departments (organization, community relations) should be entrusted with building alliances with part-time, casual workers and their representative organizations. In some cases this may require organizational reform to create internal departments for such work.
ACTION
It is obvious that in the face of such a heterogeneity of challenges, the trade unions' reply cannot be but multipronged: retaining those aspects of the old strategies that were good and devising new ones where the old had lost their erstwhile strength. In what follows we have singled out for further attention a number of action strategies. This does not mean that other strategies should not equally be considered. It certainly does not mean that old and tested strategies should be discarded. Indeed, the danger exists that an over-emphasis on the "new" (e.g., the new face of work, or the new type of work organization) will lead to a disregard of the "old". But "old" faces of work still abound, and Taylorist work organization has not vanished from the workplace. Therefore, collective bargaining, for instance, or grievance handling should not be left to gather dust or become blunt. The following suggestions should therefore be seen as recommendations, in addition to, or improvement of existing strategies, not in replacement thereof.
Action
· human resource development & trade unions
Education and training has for long played a major (if not dominant) role in the activities of trade unions. There is hardly a trade union (or union centre) without a "workers' education" department. Workers' education is an activity for which trade unions attract support: from members, sometimes from governments, national bi- / tri- partite fora, as well as from the international donor community (including ITSs and international trade union confederations).
Topics usually covered in workers' education courses focus on the trade union itself and its functions (trade unionism, recruitment, collective bargaining, industrial democracy, promotion of health and safety), and the union environment (labour legislation, labour standards).
As a result of adjustment programmes, industrial restructuring, labour market deregulation, changes in work organization and labour-management strategies, traditional roles and strategies for trade unions have lost much of their erstwhile strength. In this light trade unions might want to reconsider their approach to workers education.
New skill requirements for workers have arisen to which education and training organized by the union might have an answer (without losing focus on the traditional areas of attention).
Such training and education could address the following:
- Entry skill requirements for formal sector employment are increasing: in number of industrial sector unskilled manual work is being phased out.
- New manufacturing strategies in the formal sector require a labour force with a higher skill profile than before.
- Formal sector (public and private) employment in large units is on the decline. Medium and small scale enterprises require a different skill level from their workers.
- In the informal sector people, rather than find a job, have to create their own jobs. As far as skill is concerned, this demands new capacities (e.g. entrepreneurial skills).
- Once a job is created it has to be sustained: again, this demands capacities which workers traditionally were not required to have.
To ask from trade union to covers all these fields on their own is stretching the abilities of the union workers' education departments too far. But alliances with already established training institutes could be helpful. Networking with local and communal educational institutions might provide extra resources in a time when state education and training has come under pressure. Trade union insistence through bi- or tripartite initiatives might bring into the education and training field players which hitherto were marginal.
An analysis of what existing providers are doing has to precede any strategic trade union decision:
- what is the role of state sponsored educational institutions (literacy, general education, vocational training)
- what is the role of private institutions and NGOs (literacy, general education, vocational education, specific skill training courses)
- what are employers doing.
A distinction has to be made in education and training which improves the position of a worker within employment, and education and training which improves the position of a worker in the labour market. It is in the latter field (strengthen the position of persons in the labour market) that trade unions face challenges. Education and training activities in this field might well help to mobilise old and recruit new members.
· Employment (in the formal sector) is no longer of a life-time nature as a result of which workers will appear more often in a labour market which already has become more competitive. Trade union sponsored education and training activities might give members value for their subscription dues, and be an extra attraction for non members to join.
Trade union efforts could also be addressed to ensure compatibility of diploma's: training given by one individual firm is to become recognised across the industry so that skills will be regarded as portable and workers might be provided with career paths.
· The position of trade union in the informal sector is precarious: a trade union presence as provider for training might well boost the union's chances (not only for retrenched workers/members, but also for new members).
What the HRD strategy seems to suggest is that trade unions adopt a more developmental role (proactive) rather than a strict bargaining function (reactive) in the process of industrial change.
Action
· recruitment - retention - mobilisation
Solidarity played an important role in the recruitment of trade union members. With the dispersion of the working people-some would even argue, the demise of the working class as a class--, the occurrence of multiple jobs and the resultant multiple identities--recruitment needs a more active and certainly more varied approach. Trade union organizers need training to accomplish this. Collective bargaining in itself might not be enough to recruit members: the public good the agreement represents is available also for non members. Moreover, collective bargaining issues only cover part of the needs of working people whose identities are no longer solely formed by a the factory regime.
Unions have relied on the collective bargaining agreements as a means to retain their membership. A more active approach towards already existing members, an active and open dialogue between trade union leaders and rank-and-file might improve the latter's willingness to act in times of need. In other words: a new and invigorated approach to new and existing membership will improve (where necessary) trade union democracy and increase the changes for worker mobilisation (when necessary).
Action
· research
Research capacity within trade unions --especially in a developing context-- is often low. In addition, the analysis of labour relations practices at industry and labour market changes are sometimes substituted for international political economy material and superfluous non-empirical communiqués attacking macro economic planning and the political and business elite. While this is understandable given the political trajectory of many a national labour movement, it is not a replacement for sound empirical data upon which the union can chart a future course of action. To this end it might be wise to strengthen trade union research departments (both through generating own in-house capacity, as well as through alliances with existing academic institutions, labour think-tanks, NGOs, etc.), to provide:
- labour market analysis
- labour policy analysis
- systematic collection and analysis of empirical data on work organization
- systematic collection and analysis of data on desires and demands from members as well as from workers in general (i.e. non-members)-- one way to query members is to administer questionnaires to all members attending education / training in which the trade union is involved
- data collection on trade union organization and other worker organization (e.g. enterprise based workers' committees / councils -- and the interaction of both institutions
- collection and analysis of socio-economic data; industrial sector data
- co-ordinate with national statistical office; employers associations, NGOs.
Trade unions now seem to have become aware of the need to organize workers in a-typical employment relations, in casual and/or informal settings. Indeed, the current effort by IILS to establish a network on organized labour seeks to gather information as to how unions have accomplished this. There seems to be an acceptance that the growth of atypical forms of employment is a new phenomenon which requires totally new ways and means of recruitment and mobilisation patterns. Yet, women have experienced these atypical forms of labour already for a long time, and indeed, they experienced this mostly outside the ambit of trade unions. Sometimes by design --as in free trade zones / export processing zones-- sometimes by trade union neglect. At the same time, women have been able to set up forms of organization to further their interests -- including through neighbourhood and community organization, such as SEWA (in India), SEWU (in South Africa), and others.
An assessment on the rich experience of women organizing in these circumstances might help to provide insight into what lessons could be learned, what might be replicated and what not.
Afterthoughts
· attitude & culture: trade unions and adversarialism
We contend that before any real advancement can be had, trade unions must restructure away from the historically and culturally imposed features signalled in this paper. Trade unions should take one step back and reflect, there will be a bleak future for trade unions if they go to organize with the same attitude and culture of old, such as raw adversarialism. The way forward is to organize but with a newer emphasis towards on the one hand playing a role in production while reserving the right to conflict.
At the heart of our policy recommendations is the imperative for change in the patterns of behaviour and attitudes of trade unions. Such change constitute the invisible prerequisites for institutional efficacy. The strength of institutions does not only derive from B formal arrangements, but from an "invisible" web of values and perceptions of the key actors within such institutions. The future of unions is inextricably linked to cultural changes in their approach to work and employment. What is required is not just policy shifts, but changes in the behaviour of trade unions. For example, there must be a move away from the reactive protest or permanent opposition model. While conflict is inevitable it cannot be an end in itself. The longer it takes unions to come to terms with such issues, the more time they waste in terms of adjusting to the changes and promoting their members interest.
Several commentators have indeed advanced that trade unions have to adopt a new strategy towards employers. The argument is that this new strategy should be premised on the idea that trade unions have to accept (some) responsibility for production and, therefore, have to shed a blanket adversarialism. Reasons for so doing vary. On one end of the spectrum it is argued that unions have become so weak that they are no longer in a position to Bly object management's initiatives. On the other end it is argued that the current times call for a pro-active intervention from unions to shape the agenda and set -together with management--the pace of change. In between there is a variety of positions. This fluidity is well captured by the words of John Monks, General-Secretary of the British TUC who observed that trade unions knew well how to fight the bad employer, yet had no answer yet what to do with the good one. This more co-operative form of trade unionism is sometimes dubbed "strategic unionism" when it applies to enterprise and shop floor level; at broader levels one find terms like "social concertation", or -with more negative connotations--(state) corporatism.
The adversarial attitude discussed so far is aimed at employer or manager. An aspect of the traditional adversarial attitude which is not dealt with in the literature is the hostile attitude quite prevalent in trade unions towards the non-member. Based on notions of solidarity and the abhorrence towards "free-riders" the non-member is seen as a traitor of the good cause. A person who is to be mistrusted, and avoided, but better even ostracised. In addition, every alternative channel of worker representation could equally expect a very cold shoulder from the union: workplace workers' committees or works councils which are set up independent from trade union structures are usually described by trade unions in terms akin to 'enemy from within' for the working class.
In a traditional setting in which large scale enterprise was dominant such an approach might have made sense. Although arguments have also been forwarded that this adversarial attitude was not very helpful in strengthening shop floor worker representation. Experience showed that where union and works' council worked together (regardless of formal union membership of the latter) both institutions gained: the works council functioned better and could concentrate fully on its task of representing workers; the union recruited more members and knew better what its members wanted.
In current times, the adversarial attitude seems not only to be old fashioned but counter productive: changes in industrial organization (leading to the demise of the importance of the large enterprise) and in work organization (introducing fragmented internal labour markets), the advance of atypical employment contracts and the new face of labour, i.e. women workers, young workers and migrant workers, as well as the growing importance of informal sector work would seem to require a more open attitude to working men and women who are not union members. To reach these workers in a meaningful way several suggestions have been given to the unions: from striking alliances with other groupings representing worker interest, like NGOs to community unionism. Neither of these approaches are being helped if the trade union persist in brutally writing off non-members as "traitors of the cause".
· internal governance: internal democracy, organization & government
Trade unions have for long been credited for being democratic organizations. Indeed, internal governance of trade union is based on the regular election of the main office-bearers who in turn have to liaise often and directly with councils composed of elected representatives of trade union membership. In this way a two-way flow of communication --from the top to the bottom and from the bottom to the top-- is ensured within the union organization.
At the same time, criticism can be found about the way this blueprint for democratic governance works out in practice. Membership involvement in union affairs is not always forthcoming, nor always actively solicited. In some cases membership mobilisation takes places only during periods of negotiation for collective agreements. Members' trust is vested in the trade union leadership during the (often prolonged) period between the negotiation of one contract to the other.
However, sometimes members have to vote with their feet as a last resort to make their voice heard within the union. Sometimes, clogged internal communication channels lead to members' apathy. The loss of creative energy, not to speak of the fragmentation of the union movement, is a loss which should be avoided.
The trade union's internal organization is often solely geared towards the need of the union's involvement in collective bargaining. Opportunity for other activities in the members' interest are either absent, or are accorded so little status within the union that neither an officer nor an union official would like to be seen near these.
With the increasing heterogeneity of membership, as well as the increasing multiplicity of members' identity even more than before, it is imperative for trade unions to have an open and sustained dialogue with their members. Trade unions should exert efforts to find out actively from members what their desires and wishes are and not only rely on the ballot box to seek members' opinion.
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