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Trade Union Ambivalence Toward Enforcement of Employment Standards as an Organizing Strategy

  • Ingrid Landau and John Howe
Published/Copyright: February 14, 2016
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Theoretical Inquiries in Law
From the journal Theoretical Inquiries in Law Volume 17 Issue 1

Trade unions in Australia have long played an important role in the enforcement of minimum employment standards. The legislative framework today continues to recognize this enforcement role, but in a way that is more individualistic and legalistic than in the past. At the same time that the law has evolved to emphasize the representation and servicing role of trade unions, the Australian union movement has sought to revitalize and grow through the adoption of an “organizing model” of unionism that emphasizes workplace-level activism. This Article explores how these seemingly opposing trends have manifested themselves in the enforcement-related activities of five trade unions. Considerable diversity was found among the unions in relation to the extent to which and how the unions performed enforcement-related activities. However, all five unions spent significant time and resources on monitoring and enforcing employer compliance with minimum standards and saw this work as a core part of what they do. The case studies suggest, however, that the way in which this work is undertaken within unions and by whom has changed significantly in recent decades. While there was evidence that enforcement work was used tactically by unions in certain cases, this was largely on an ad hoc basis and there was little indication that the enforcement work was integrated into broader organizing objectives and strategies. Overall, the unions were ambivalent, if not skeptical, as to the capacity for enforcement work to grow unions through building workplace activism and collective strength.

Published Online: 2016-2-14
Published in Print: 2016-2-1

© 2016 by Theoretical Inquiries in Law

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Theoretical Inquiries in Law
  2. Research Article
  3. Introduction: Labor Scholarship in an Era of Uncertainty
  4. Research Article
  5. Reframing the New Deal: The Past and Future of American Labor and the Law
  6. Research Article
  7. The Right Not to Have Rights: Posted Worker Acquiescence and the European Union Labor Rights Framework
  8. Research Article
  9. Organizing: Should the Employer Have a Say?
  10. Research Article
  11. Workplace Democracy and Democratic Worker Organizations: Notes on Worker Centers
  12. Research Article
  13. Organizing Workers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico: The Authoritarian-Corporatist Legacy and Old Institutional Designs in a New Context
  14. Research Article
  15. Organizing Workers in “Hybrid Systems”: Comparing Trade Union Strategies in Four Countries — Austria, Germany, Israel and the Netherlands
  16. Research Article
  17. Trade Union Ambivalence Toward Enforcement of Employment Standards as an Organizing Strategy
  18. Research Article
  19. Unionizing Subcontracted Labor
  20. Research Article
  21. The Untamed Politics of Urban Informality: “Gray Space” and Struggles for Recognition in an African City
  22. Research Article
  23. Informal Workers’ Aggregation and Law
  24. Research Article
  25. Active Industrial Citizenship of Domestic Workers: Lessons Learned from Unionizing Attempts in Israel and the United Kingdom
  26. Research Article
  27. Organizing in the Shadows: Domestic Workers in the Netherlands
https://doi.org/10.1515/til-2016-0008

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Theoretical Inquiries in Law
  2. Research Article
  3. Introduction: Labor Scholarship in an Era of Uncertainty
  4. Research Article
  5. Reframing the New Deal: The Past and Future of American Labor and the Law
  6. Research Article
  7. The Right Not to Have Rights: Posted Worker Acquiescence and the European Union Labor Rights Framework
  8. Research Article
  9. Organizing: Should the Employer Have a Say?
  10. Research Article
  11. Workplace Democracy and Democratic Worker Organizations: Notes on Worker Centers
  12. Research Article
  13. Organizing Workers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico: The Authoritarian-Corporatist Legacy and Old Institutional Designs in a New Context
  14. Research Article
  15. Organizing Workers in “Hybrid Systems”: Comparing Trade Union Strategies in Four Countries — Austria, Germany, Israel and the Netherlands
  16. Research Article
  17. Trade Union Ambivalence Toward Enforcement of Employment Standards as an Organizing Strategy
  18. Research Article
  19. Unionizing Subcontracted Labor
  20. Research Article
  21. The Untamed Politics of Urban Informality: “Gray Space” and Struggles for Recognition in an African City
  22. Research Article
  23. Informal Workers’ Aggregation and Law
  24. Research Article
  25. Active Industrial Citizenship of Domestic Workers: Lessons Learned from Unionizing Attempts in Israel and the United Kingdom
  26. Research Article
  27. Organizing in the Shadows: Domestic Workers in the Netherlands
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