Labor Studies Journal

Many labor scholars, today as in the past, advocate greater partici pation by members in decision-making as a cure for what ails the labor movement. A review of experience with such participation, however, shows that it has different consequences in different settings, and that it rarely performs as advocates would like. Four historical types of partici patory unionism can be distinguished: radical, craft, classic industrial, and comanagement. The first three have had many exemplars and have long since revealed both their advantages and their limitations; the last is the least developed and most related to current management trends, and therefore worth better understanding.

This article provides a theoretical and legal overview of the issue of "minority unions" or "members only" unions that attempt to represent workers in the absence of a majority status or a legally protected right to engage in collective bargaining. Differences between the public and pri vate sectors are noted. The claims of minority union advocates are then compared with the experience of the Communications Workers of America in their effort to construct a minority union at the NCR Corporation. This article concludes with an analysis of the potential value as well as the limitations of this form of organization for unions, including how this approach might be used strategically.

This study investigates the effectiveness of structured union out reach activities at manufacturing extension centers. An analysis of inter view and survey data from three centers that participated in a labor out reach pilot program indicates that while the program was successful in increasing union leader awareness of the extension services, several struc tural and political obstacles limited its overall effectiveness. Union out reach programs were most successful at centers that engaged in long-term change interventions, integrated labor outreach into their overall opera tions, had local/regional union support for the program, and subsidized the services offered to unions.

May 17, 1999 was a day of celebration for Fiji's workers and trade unions. The Fiji Labour Party and its coalition partners had won a land slide victory in the general election. This paper examines the Coalition Government's reform efforts over the past year. It looks at the dilemmas faced by the People's Coalition as they attempted to reverse the previous government's rapid economic restructuring involving trade and labor market deregulation and large-scale privatization of public services. Gov ernment efforts to strengthen the position of labor and industrial democ racy through changes in labor legislation and the restoration of the Tri partite Forum are discussed along with the unions' response to the labor- friendly political environment. It concludes with the horrifying events of May 2000 when a group of armed men stormed the Parliament and de clared a new Government and discusses how the country's unions are leading the struggle for a return to democracy.