Trade Union Revitalisation Theory
Studies on union revitalization and organizing identify three main organizing strategies: “organizing model,” “service model,” and “partnership model.”
Organizing model aims to activate unions internally and externally. Unions taking this strategy promote involvement of rank-and-file members in union activities at the workplace level (internal organizing) and engage in organizing campaigns of unorganized workers by activists and some of rank-and-file members (external organizing). [NB Requires an open, democratic, grass roots controlled union]
Unions whose strategy is based on service model regard themselves as service providers and their existing and potential members as “clients.” In organizing campaigns, they attempt to recruit new members by appealing to the quality of services they provide [e.g. shiny union credit cards].
And unions taking partnership model as their organizing strategy seek employers’ consent in their efforts to organize new workplaces. These unions typically sign partnership agreements [‘sweetheart deals’] with employers on labor-management cooperation and productivity improvement.
Akira Suzuki
Ohara Institute for Social Research,
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