Turner 1991

Turner, Lowell. 1991. Democracy at Work: Changing World Markets and the Future of Labor Unions. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.

Big question:  sure, there is union decline, but not everywhere and not to the same extent (some places fine!)  why not?

The argument:  “Markets matter, but so do Institutions”

• markets are more interdependent, competitive, and change faster than ever before (led by Japanese)
• work reorganization has also become an important issue for bargaining
• wages still important
• but now unions/workers not interested in ‘just letting managers manage’
• local reorganization means more bargaining done at local level, hard to ‘upscale’ bargaining
• the decline in number of workers (thanks to productivity increases) is a slightly better explanation for union decline than manager opposition
• explanation for differences across countries, however, lies in “the way interest representation is institutionalized, or more precisely, the structures that represent workers’ interests.” (12)
• where unions already had power in managerial areas, unions doing OK
• W. Germany there are statutes, which protect union’s autonomy
• Japan ‘collaboration’ is simply a practice, not a law, thus it is more on management’s terms
• in Sweden, corporatists bargain allowed unions to used political clout to increase their ability to be a part of management in 1980s
• doing well despite not having historical role in management
• US, Britain, France, Italy have neither, see big declines
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