Union decline is continuing throughout the county based in
political, economic, and cultural changes. As alternative models to traditional
unionized environments a management based system appears to be favored by
employees. According to a paper from Goddard and Fredge (2013) from Cornell
University, a management based system has positive employee impression in much
the same way as traditional unionization. Yet when bureaucracy makes its way
into these systems their effectiveness is diminished.
As unions decline some have argued that a management vacuum
has been created that has been filled in part by legal changes as well as some
employer modifications. However, there is a possibility that new models of
democratic management may come forward that balance the needs of workers and
their employer. Through the use and development of formal employee
participation structures it may be possible to implement union alternatives.
Work-councils or management-established systems give a voice
to employee concerns. The problem legally is that at times they can be
challenged through the Wagner-Act as intruding on union rights. The author
argues that where they have been established they appear to have a level of
success. The key for employers is to ensure they do not act as “labor
organizations” but more as advice councils that influence the decisions
organizations make.
When complaints arise they generally are handled under the
NLRB. It is up to the unions to argue that they are impinging on their rights to
organize. NLRB officials are not always interested in dealing with the ambiguity
of such challenges and when sanctions are applied they are generally
ineffective as a deterrent. Therefore, it is expected such systems will
continue to grow as a union alternative.
The researchers used a national survey of 1,000 adult
working age participants. They found that unions offered democratization of
workplaces by raising worker status, they generally supported a more bureaucratic
structure, and where unions were present there was more distrustful of
management. The work-councils appear to be replacing unions, are evaluated by
employees as or more positively than unions, and have some influence on wages
and benefits. The authors indicated that in places like Canada work-councils
appeared to be acceptable substitutes.
The report doesn’t indicate this but unions, work-councils
and associations serve similar functions for employees and are embedded into
their identity as an employee. Developed rules, norms, and values influence
workers perceptions and in turn their behavior. Employers may consider the tertiary
benefits of work councils through the democratization possibilities of ensuring
employees rights are secured through systematic justice, the possibility of drawing
employee participation into solving workplace problems through participation,
and social sense of identity that often results once norms and values have been
habituated. Such systems may be considered an enhancement to organizational
development as well as a possible alternative to more formal unionization.
Godard, J. and Frege, C. (2013). Labor unions, alternative
forms of representation, and the exercise of authority relations in U.S.
workplaces. ILRReview, 66 (1).
