Highly formalized models of union behaviour have been developed and are widely used within neo-classical economics. This approach is justified by the argument that most goals pursued by unions can be reduced to a wage (or wage-equivalent) - employment trade-off. However, the strong assumptions...

Shop stewards are crucial to the vitality of unions, yet our understanding of why workers take on this important role is incomplete. This qualitative study seeks to contribute to addressing this gap by exploring the factors that influenced workers to become shop stewards in three dissimilar...

The Australian Labor government's recognition of collective bargaining under its Fair Work Act 2009, and its efficiency drive from late 2011 across the Australian Public Service (APS), presented the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) with an opportunity to explore means of union renewal...

Faced with continued decline in membership, unions and researchers have sought to identify those factors that could contribute to reversing union decline. This article explores this issue, using a unique data set drawn from a survey of union officials. We examine the relationship between various...

Trade unions in nearly all developed countries are facing major difficulties in maintaining membership levels and political influence. The U.S. labour movement has been increasingly attracted to an organizing model of trade unionism and, in turn, this response has caught the imagination of some...

This article examines the recent changes to the federal legal regime that controls the taking of protected industrial action in Australia. It considers the impact of both the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 (Cth) and the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act...

Employee Involvement (EI) programs should mainly appear either where "workplace transformation" occurs or where managers create a "disposable workplace." Cluster analysis of Australian workplace data supports the notion that transformed and disposable workplaces are distinct from each other and...

Management and union negotiators have the choice of adopting competitive or problem-solving strategies to find acceptable outcomes but they may also have to yield, a process which is less clearly understood. Competing, problem solving and yielding have to be conveyed to those sitting across the...