The association between union membership and perceptions of safety climate among US adult workers

Wong, Su-Wei; Lin, Hsien-Chang; Smith, Todd D.

doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2020.105024

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Furthermore, unionized workers tend to be provided with greater education and awareness around labor rights and working conditions; union organizations often advocate for minimum safety and health standards [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ]. An article by Le and colleagues on the association between union membership and perceptions of safety climate among US adult workers across industries found that unionized workers had worse perceptions of their workplace safety climate compared to non-unionized workers [ 41 ]. However, the approach to addressing ERI should not be to discourage union membership as there are known benefits of it (e.g., higher wages, safer working conditions) [ 42 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effort–Reward Imbalance among a Sample of Formal US Solid Waste Workers

Levy

Shkembi

Sturgis

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Background: Solid waste workers are exposed to a plethora of occupational hazards and may also experience work-related stress. Our study had three specific hypotheses: (1) waste workers experience effort–reward imbalance (ERI) with high self-reported effort but low reward, (2) unionized workers experience greater ERI, and (3) workers with higher income have lower ERI. Methods: Waste workers from three solid waste sites in Michigan participated in this cross-sectional study. We characterized perceived work stress using the short-version ERI questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and linear tests for trend were assessed for each scale. Linear regression models were constructed to examine the relationship between structural factors of work stress and ERI. Gradient-boosted regression trees evaluated which factors of effort or reward best characterize workers’ stress. Results: Among 68 participants, 37% of workers reported high effort and low reward from work (ERI > 1). Constant pressure due to heavy workload was most indicative of ERI among the solid waste workers. Union workers experienced 79% times higher ERI than non-unionized workers, while no significant differences were observed by income, after adjusting for confounders. Conclusions: Organizational-level interventions, such as changes related to workload, consideration of fair compensation, and increased support from supervisors, can decrease work stress.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effort–Reward Imbalance among a Sample of Formal US Solid Waste Workers

Levy

Shkembi

Sturgis

et al. 2022

IJERPH

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Overall, our study constitutes an important contribution to promoting the emergence of a genuine organizational psychology in the trade union context, thus universalizing this branch of the discipline and enhancing its prestige in work and organizational psychology. It is to be hoped that organizational psychologists will now gradually increase their engagement with trade unions and design and implement interventions able to demonstrate the potential value of their discipline in this particular setting, as some are already doing (Martínez-Iñigo et al 2020;Le et al 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying Work and Organizational Psychology in the Field of Labor Relations: Exploratory Study in Trade Unions in the Basque Country

Ulacia

Smith-Etxeberria

Beldarrain-Durandegui

2022

Social Sciences

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Historically, the relationship between work and organizational psychology and trade union organizations has been one of mutual indifference and neglect. The aim of this study is to explore whether trade union members’ social representations of organizational psychology affect their organizations’ engagement with this discipline, conditioning their ability to derive benefit from its findings. In a sample of 448 members of the four main trade unions of the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain, social representations of six concepts relating to Psychology or Trade Union Activity were explored using the free association technique. Forty-five categories were created and their frequency and percentages were calculated. In addition, the means of the categories shared by the representations of two different concepts were crossed and statistically tested. Although some associations were found between the representations of the two sets of concepts, most were non-significant. These results highlight that the structure of the representations of Psychology gives only a partial explanation for this lack of connection. The implications of the study and its limitations are discussed, and some recommendations for future research are proposed.

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“…The impact of union representation in achieving the best OHS outcomes is widely recognised (Frick, 2011 ), although arrangements with either union or non‐union HS representatives are found more effective than workplaces without any arrangements (Nichols et al, 2007 ). Union membership is a key determinant of a positive safety climate (Le et al, 2021 ) and workplaces with union representation tend to report more injuries than non‐unionised workplaces (Fenn & Ashby, 2004 ). The presence of union HS representatives is found to reduce the level of risk perceived by managers and workers while encouraging OHS compliance (Bryson, 2016 ).…”

Section: The Uk Ohs Representation Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of union health and safety representatives during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A case study of the UK food processing, distribution, and retail sectors

Cai

Moore

Ball

et al. 2022

Industrial Relations Journal

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The association between union membership and perceptions of safety climate among US adult workers

Abstract: Highlights Propensity-score matching reduced selection bias between unionized and non-unionized workers. Unionized workers reported lower means on resource adequacy, supervisor and co-worker support. The association between union membership and perceived safety climate was negative.

Cited by 9 publications

References 83 publications

Effort–Reward Imbalance among a Sample of Formal US Solid Waste Workers

Effort–Reward Imbalance among a Sample of Formal US Solid Waste Workers

Applying Work and Organizational Psychology in the Field of Labor Relations: Exploratory Study in Trade Unions in the Basque Country

The role of union health and safety representatives during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A case study of the UK food processing, distribution, and retail sectors

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