Post on 23-Dec-2015
A twofold unsatisfied demand for organising? The opinion of youth representatives at the ETUC level and union confederations’ representing and recruitment efforts for youth
Annual TURI conference – 14 May 2011
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Presentation overview
● Part I: young workers and unionisation● Some observations on unionisation● Explanations: attitudes versus labour market structures
● Part II: survey results● Structures for representing young union members● Perceived importance of organising campaigns● Responsiveness of the union confederation● Attracting and recruiting young workers
● Conclusion
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Unionisation in Europe – general observations (1)
kvandaele©etui.org (2011) A twofold unsatisfied demand for organising?
Chart 1.2: Union density, membership and non-membership, EU27, 2000-2008
27.826.9 26.5 26.4
25.725.1
24.423.8 23.4
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10,000
20,000
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2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
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151617181920212223242526272829303132333435
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union members non-members union density rate
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Unionisation in Europe – general observations (2)
kvandaele©etui.org (2011) A twofold unsatisfied demand for organising?
Chart 1.3: Union density by country.2000-2008
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SE
DK FI
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MT SI
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RO IT IE
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% o
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ependent labour f
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2000 2008
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Observations on union membership of young workers
● Lower unionisation among young workers than among their older counterparts● But ‘generation gap’ is not new
● Union membership has fallen more rapidly among the young
● More workers have never experienced union membership, particularly among the young (e.g. Germany and UK)
● Age is ‘a more important determinant of who joins trade unions now that it used to be’ (Machin 2004:430)
● ‘Most problematic group of workers to unionise’ across Europe (Pedersini 2010:13)
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Union density by age group
kvandaele©etui.org (2011) A twofold unsatisfied demand for organising?
Chart 1.6: Union density by age group, mid 2000s
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SE FI DK BE SI LU IE IT AT UK EL DE NL PL HU ES FR
15-34 35-54 55-64
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Young workers and unionisation – Ireland (source: CSO)
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10
20
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1994 2001 2007
15-19
20-24
25-34
35-44
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Young workers and unionisation – Sweden (source: Kjellberg 2009:484)
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1990 1993 2000 2008
16-24
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45-64
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Young workers and unionisation – UK (source: BERR)
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15
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1995 2000 2005 2008
16-19
20-24
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30-34
35-39
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Young workers and unionisation – explanations
● Lower unionisation among young workers means... ● Ageing of unions● Vulnerable to attacks on biased representation
○ Cf. Mobilisation potential of pension politics (e.g. governmental reforms with regards to early retirement schemes)
● Limiting generational renewal
● Explanations are diverse for lower unionisation are diverse
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Age-effects for lower unionisation rate among young workers
● Young workers are difficult to organise for various reasons
● Positive age-effects● The more experienced on the labour market, the more likely than one is a
union member● Older workers have more interest in job security and see union
membership as an implicit insurance against lay-off
● Concave age-effects ● Union membership is increasing at a decreasing rate (with a maximum in
mid- to late 40s) and possibly falling at the end● Various reasons why older workers leave the union (e.g. higher
employment protection, promoted to managerial jobs...)
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Cohort-effects for lower unionisation rate among young
● Unique experiences and socialisation of each cohort● Parental socialisation thesis● Attitudes of peers
● Today: lower identification with unions due to different socialisation than former generations
● Assumption: individualisation and decline of collective frames of reference > unions are ‘outmoded’ institutions
● Empirical evidence for individualisation assumption is not convincing● Engagement in other forms of political activity seems to go hand in hand with
unionism● Less favourable attitudes among youth towards unionism?
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Have young workers less favourable attitudes towards unions? (1)
● Australia: ‘significantly lower numbers of 18-24 year olds than older workers agree with statements that ‘Australia would be better off without unions’ and ‘unions in Australia don’t look after their members’ (Bearfield 2003:6)
● Canada: ‘Youths have a stronger preference than adults for unions in general, and most of that reflects the stronger desire of youths to have unions deal with workplace issues, than it reflects the exposure of youths to these issue’ (Gomez et al. 2002:539)
● Canada, UK and USA: ‘In accounting for the union density gap, we immediately see that there is greater frustrated demand for unionization on the part of youth compared to adults in all three countries’ (Bryson et al. 2005:164)
● New Zealand: ‘We find that younger New Zealand workers hold no less positive attitudes to trade unions in general than their older counterparts’ (Haynes et al. 2005:103)
● UK: ‘... young workers are more likely than older workers to believe that a union would make their workplace better, contrary to the result for all workers’ (Freeman & Diamond 2003:39)
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Have young workers less favourable attitudes towards unions? (2)
● Anglophone bias● Research on determinants of union membership● Particularly: research on organising (model) (absence of comparative
dimension)
● Non Anglo-Saxon countries● Belgium: ‘L’image du syndicat auprès des jeunes est plutôt bonne. Le fait d’être
syndiqué ou pas ne s’explique pas par une image du syndicat qui serait plutôt bonne ou plutôt mauvaise’ (Vendramin 2007:84)
● Netherlands: young workers have latent positive attitudes towards unions and do not believe that union membership is too expensive, but they have just not thought ‘in a serious way’ about being a union member themselves (Huiskamp and Smulders 2010: 205-206)
● European Social Survey reports ‘largely positive attitudes towards unions of the respondents, irrespective of their age, and the persistence and even strengthening of this conviction among employees since the early 1980s’ (D’Art and Turner, 2008)
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Alternative explanations (1)
● Labour market developments ● Labour market participation of young workers is falling due to (1) demographic
decline (but some exceptions) and (2) education levels have risen over the last decades
● Predominantly working in the private services sector● High incidence of unemployment amongst young workers – ‘a lost generation’
● Atypical forms of employment● Atypical employment contracts in often precarious conditions of work or unstable
employment situation ● Higher job mobility = (1) union membership benefits will be limited in time; (2) bad
experience at work? Dissatisfied young workers choose ‘exit’ over ‘voice’● Small workplaces (with inadequate or weak union representation)
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Alternative explanations (2)
● Union membership as an experience good● Difficult to see for non-union workers what would be the added value of union
membership● Importance of peers and family for information about pros and cons of unionisation
and of sampling unionisation
● Lower unionisation among young workers might also be the result of
● Insufficient organising efforts within unions● Weakly developed ‘organising culture’ within unions
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Starting point
● Unions are no longer considered passive recipients of their environment – believe that
● Unions should be more responsive to the needs of young workers (often working in non-traditional employment)
● Unions should encourage the involvement and participation in union affairs of (young) members
● Unions should enhance their organising efforts – to detach from their ‘institutional laurels’, especially in continental and Nordic Europe
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Aim of survey
● Aim survey: mapping and examining of representing and organising young workers across the ETUC national member organisations
● Focus on the level of the confederation● It is assumed the organising policy of confederations is of significance for
‘boosting and shaping recruitment activity at the workplace’ (Heery et al. 2003:56)
○ e.g. organising fund
● Questionnaire (in November 2008-February 2009) => members of the ETUC Youth Committee representing the youth structures of the ETUC national member organisations
● Assumption: aggregated view or opinion of ‘youth representatives’
kvandaele©etui.org (2011) A twofold unsatisfied demand for organising?
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Focus on the level of the confederation
● Focus on the confederation does not mean that rank-and-file activism and member participation play no role at all in union renewal efforts, either to the contrary
● Yet for organsing issues, member activism seems to less critical since the link with union renewal is ‘neither clear nor consistent’ (Booth et al. 2010:76)
● Authority of confederations over their affiliates differs
● Some confederations are active in specific economic sectors
● No universal logic● Unions have different identities and objectives…● …and operate in different national institutionalised contexts…● …and use a wide range of organising techniques
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Survey response
● 44 responses (of 29 different countries)
● Return rate of 53.7% covering 71.4% of overall ETUC membership
● Anglophone and continental Europe are a bit over-represented
● Characteristics respondents● 50% women● Average age: 30.4 years; ● Experience: 4.0 years (most of them are paid officers)
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Forms of youth structures (39 out of 44)
Seperate national organisation
National department
Regional youth committees
Full-time officer(s) at confederation level
Comittees at branch or sectoral level
National youth committee
0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%
13.2%
21.1%
39.5%
52.6%
52.6%
65.8%
kvandaele©etui.org (2011) A twofold unsatisfied demand for organising?
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Overview of staff within the youth structures
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● 61.3% (N=19) of youth structures have a budget; no budget is particularly the case in CEE countries
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Evaluation of budget and staff
● Sufficient?● Budget: 52.8% (N=19) disagrees (strongly); 16.7% (N=6)
agrees● Staff: 66.7% (N=24) disagrees (strongly); 8.3% (N=3) agrees
(strongly)
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Policy priorities of youth structures
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Channels for joining a union
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Number of young union members within national executive committee or council
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Specific representation and responsiveness of the confederations
● Specific representation for young union members: 61.9% (N=26); while 13 of them have the right to vote, 9 have the right to speak and 3 have only observer status
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Depth of a formal organising policy at confederation level
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Arrangement of union membership fee and advice
● 38.6% (N=17) have not introduced a lower subscription fee● No need for a youth-focused price strategy? Weighted average level of young
workers○ Without arrangement: 20.6%○ With arrangement: 12.6%
● 79.1% (N=34) provides advice to young workers regardless of union status
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Raising awareness about unions outside the workplace (1)
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Activities for attracting young workers
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Conclusion
● Young people do not disagree in principle with unions and have in general a more positive attitude towards unions
● Demand for and belief in organising campaigns among respondents
● Structures for youth representation are widespread, especially youth committees, but dissatisfaction with budget and staff
● Responsiveness of confederation is perceived as positive but● Except on organising issues ● Limited possibilities for representing young union members in executive but● A formal, more systematic and pro-active recruitment policy targeted at young workers is rather
undeveloped
● Room for improvement: underused channels and activities for raising awareness and attracting young workers
kvandaele©etui.org (2011) A twofold unsatisfied demand for organising?