It takes two to tango: Reconceptualizing union power and union effectiveness in a relational perspective

Abstract

This paper reports on a public transport company in which local unions, by repeatedly threatening to strike, managed to significantly enhance their negotiating position and exert considerable power over their management. While extant literature has mostly paid attention to ‘weak’ unions struggling for renewal and revitalization, the present study rather explores a situation in which unions manage to become ‘strong’ by making aggressive uses of power, as well as the implications for union effectiveness. It is shown that management deficiencies can provide unions with unprecedented opportunities for exerting power, yet hamper their ability to reach greater effectiveness as the absence of an engaged managerial line makes it difficult to secure decisions favouring workers and the organization. This paper contributes to theory on union power and effectiveness by offering an alternative to the resource-based view of union power that has been prevalent in prior research. Union power and effectiveness in the workplace appear to be deeply rooted in the power relations that unions sustain with other organizational actors, demonstrating the relevance of a relational perspective that goes beyond union-centred action, resources and capabilities to include the complex dynamics of their interactions with other organizational actors.