Mapping the frontier of theory in industrial relations: the contested role of worker representation

Abstract

The widespread decline of trade unions and the emergence of various alternative forms of worker voice and representation have posed a challenge to the field of industrial relations and generated significant rethinking of the future directions for this field of study. In this article, we examine how well industrial relations meta-theories, when combined with efforts to build middle-range theories, provide distinctive explanations and different predictions for the alternatives that have emerged to date to fill the void. We propose new directions for theory and research that expand the range of actors or institutions that shape employment relations and include social identities outside of the employment relationship as the basis for mobilizing collective actions and voice. Finally, we suggest using these theoretical arguments to test among alternatives as a means of revitalizing and reshaping industrial relations as well as carrying forward the problem-solving norms that have characterized the field since its inception.

Civil Governance in Work and Employment Relations: How Civil Society Organizations Contribute to Systems of Labour Governance

“…The research findings also have implications for conceptualizing the role of CSOs which, as new and emerging actors in work and employment relations (Heery and Frege 2006;Williams et al 2011a;Wood and Cooke 2014), is often conceived largely as concerning the provision of voice and representation to workers in precarious part of the labour market, particularly by means of lobbying and campaigning activities designed to influence public policy (Heery et al 2012(Heery et al , 2014Tapia et al 2015). This political orientation reflects the lack of direct regulatory leverage enjoyed by CSOs over matters such as wage rates.…”

“…Within national-level settings, however, much of the attention which has been devoted to the regulatory role of CSOs relates to how they give working people, particularly those in precarious employment, voice, representation and protection, mainly through efforts to influence state policy (e.g. Heery et al 2012Heery et al , 2014Tapia et al 2015). Given their location outside of employing organizations, their regulatory purchase, over matters like wage rates, is often viewed as being rather limited (Williams et al 2011a).…”

“…Much CSO activity is, as has already been mentioned, directed at enhancing worker representation and voice, especially manifest in efforts to influence state policy (e.g. Heery et al 2014;Tapia et al 2015). Moreover, the role of CSOs in influencing the policies and practices of firms, especially at transnational level, through involvement in private regulatory arrangements (e.g.…”

“…Bartley 2007;Gunningham 2009;Williams et al 2011b), the approach we take to demonstrating how CSOs try to influence labour standards within national settings, by focusing on civil governance, provides an integrated, and thus more satisfactory way of conceiving their role, in a way that addresses calls for studies which extend the conceptual terrain of work and employment relations (e.g. Tapia et al 2015).…”

“…Second, the decline of trade unions, the traditional representative agents of working people, mean that the activities of new and emerging actors in employment relations, including CSOs, have attracted more attention (e.g. Heery and Frege 2006;Tapia et al 2015;Williams et al 2011a).…”