The Unexpected Survival of Employer Collective Action in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The study of employer collective organizations has been revitalized recently but the most effective mode of theoretical analysis is debated. This article applies Schmitter and Streeck's competing logics of membership and influence framework to employer organizations in the United Kingdom. While literature using this framework argues that employer collective bodies are likely to prioritize the logic of influence by influencing the state through partnering with governments, we find that the opposite happened in the United Kingdom. Changing political economy meant that the logic of influence decayed in salience although did not disappear. Employer organizations prioritized instead the logic of membership to ensure survival.

Empirical challenges in the study of employer associations and their representativeness

“…(2019, 2020); Demougin et al. (2019) for the United Kingdom, Helfen (2012) for Germany). In Germany, for example, some EAs started to offer ‘bargaining‐free membership’ to their members, allowing them to benefit from offered services, while avoiding the obligations arising from industry‐level collective agreements (Behrens & Helfen, 2019).…”

“…Applying this framework, Demougin et al. (2019) show that, following the decline of tripartite bodies and collective bargaining, UK EAs adapted and shifted from the logic of influence to the logic of membership, offering to their members a broader range of services.…”

“…In contrast, employer associations (EAs) have remained little studied, with most research being qualitative and focused on organizational strategies (see, e.g. Behrens, 2004; Brandl & Lehr, 2019; Demougin et al., 2019; Gooberman et al., 2020; Sheldon et al., 2016; Sheldon & Thornthwaite, 2004; Silvia & Schroeder, 2007). This asymmetry is found even for countries where bargaining occurs primarily at the industry or national levels, for which the role and representativeness of trade unions and EAs may be considered as equally important.…”

Somewhat more than path dependence: The Spanish employers’ peak organisation and social dialogue in light of the crisis of the industrial relations system

“…On the other hand, the literature has addressed the new strategies for obtaining resources that are being engendered by economic liberalisation and deregulation, occupying the attention of affiliated companies to the detriment of the functions of general representation, above all in liberal economies such as the United Kingdom (Demougin et al, 2019a). This is also the case, although to a lesser extent, in economies that have tended more towards coordination.…”

“…Furthermore, the CEOE has shown internal dependence on the resources offered to it by the system. On the other hand, the data help incorporate the Spanish case into the international analysis of the response and adaptation of employers’ associations to the widespread trends of liberalisation and deregulation of labour markets (Behrens and Helfen, 2016, 2019; Demougin et al, 2019a, 2019b; Ibsen and Navrbjerg, 2019; Signoretti, 2016).…”