Labor Studies Journal

Attempts to revitalize trade unions in the UK have had mixed results, leading to calls for more radical organizing strategies. This paper examines a recent organizing campaign in the UK public sector that involved a shift from an approach that focused on the development of rank-and-file leadership and worker engagement to one that prioritized member recruitment. The paper argues that a focus on recruitment is not necessarily inimical to union revitalization, but this depends on the extent to which it is used to develop new activists and to strengthen the ability of local unions to provide effective representation.

This paper examines media coverage of sports labor issues from a political economic perspective by analyzing New York Times coverage of the 2011 National Football League lockout. We find that sports labor issues are framed in a manner consistent with findings by scholars such as Martin (2004), Schmidt (1993), and McChesney (2008). In particular, the media cover labor from a consumer-based perspective, simplify the conflict between players and owners as being disagreements between “millionaires and billionaires,” and focus more on offers made by owners to players than on owner demands. Other expected findings, such as media denigration of player labor and a general focus on player finances rather than owner finances, were not evident.

In the Supreme Court of Canada case known as Fraser, the Court determined that the statutory scheme governing labor relations for agricultural workers in Ontario was constitutional, despite lacking an effective mechanism for collective bargaining, a right that has had some (modest) constitutional protection since 2007. In the wake of this much-maligned decision it is unclear whether or not Charter litigation is capable of meaningfully protecting labor rights. However, in light of labor’s apparent commitment to litigation, this article explores a very modest claim about the potential of the labor movement to harness the Supreme Court’s reasoning in Fraser in support of constitutional protection for minority unionism.