Suchergebnisse

Trade unions are facing problems in attracting young and well-educated people and this challenge is increasing as educational levels are rising. In many cases, a perceived increase in individualisation has resulted in trade union recruitment strategies which are increasingly oriented towards the needs of individual members. Starting from a brief discussion on individualisation and the use of market orientation methods in a trade union context, this article aims to describe how Sif, a major Swedish union, has developed a strategy that targets individuals and specific member groups. Reflecting on lessons learned from the strategy development process, the article concludes with a discussion on alternative strategies for the development of a service portfolio and recruitment activities targeting individuals and specific groups of employees.

"Die Gewerkschaften haben es schwer, junge und gut ausgebildete Personen als Mitglieder zu werben, und die Herausforderung wächst mit den steigenden Bildungsquoten. In vielen Fällen hat das Erkennen des Trends zur Individualisierung die Gewerkschaften dazu geführt, Rekrutierungsstrategien anzuwenden, die sich zunehmend auf die Bedürfnisse individueller Mitglieder ausrichten. Nach einer kurzen Erörterung der Individualisierung und der Anwendung von Marktorientierungsmethoden im gewerkschaftlichen Kontext beschreibt der Beitrag, wie die große schwedische Gewerkschaft SIF eine Strategie entwickelt hat, die sich sowohl an Einzelpersonen als auch an spezifische Mitgliedergruppen richtet. Der Autor befasst sich mit der Frage, was aus dem Prozess der Strategieentwicklung gelernt wurde, und erörtert zum Schluss alternative Strategien für die Erarbeitung eines Dienstleistungsportfolio sowie von Rekrutierungsaktivitäten, die individuelle Mitglieder und spezifische Mitgliedergruppen ansprechen." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

There is little or no tradition of action research outputs reaching the mainstream industrial relations and work sociology literatures. The aim of this research note is to address why this is so and argue for an action research agenda for work with unions that entails the researcher assuming the role of change agent to facilitate union capacity building or developing workplaces for better jobs. A key issue is how such an agenda can be advanced that does not compromise the integrity of the researcher or the quality of research output. This, we argue, is worth exploring as a means for putting union research onto a more interventionist footing. However, we also suggest that the successful pursuit of such an agenda depends on meeting a number of methodological challenges.

Based on a case study from recent innovations in the Swedish white-collar union, Sif, this article introduces and develops the concept of membership interface unionism (MIU). The concept, it is argued, captures similar trends in trade unionism as that noted in the UK by Heery and Kelly in their concept of managerial unionism. Both these recent forms of unionism are signified by closer relations between the professional organization and individual members. Membership interface unionism, however, has distinctive features that signal an explicit embrace of the practices of customer relationship management (CRM): member involvement in service development and utilization of market research; new individually tailored, proactive enabling services, often offered through Internet solutions; and more responsibilities for lay members at the company level. The first and third of these features, it is argued, are somewhat contradictory in that company-level representation has weakened. The article concludes by acknowledging the threats towards participative unionism in the apparent move towards individual service provision.