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Community Organizing and Employee Representation

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  • Paul Osterman

Abstract

The decline in the scope and power of American unions has led to a search for new strategies and new organizational forms to better succeed in representing the interests of employees in the labour market. This paper examines the role of community‐based organizations of the sort that proved so powerful during the Civil Rights Movement. The subject of the paper is a strong national network of community organizations that is neighbourhood‐based and draws heavily on churches and other community institutions. The organizations are put together in neighbourhoods, yet they also wield power at the city and state levels. The paper describes the organizations and examines and assesses their labour market policies. The second part of the paper takes up organizational issues and, in particular, describes how the structure and culture of these organizations enable them to avoid some of the organizational perils that have befallen unions and other social movement organizations. The paper concludes by comparing these organizations with traditional unions and by discussing their prospects for growth as well as their limitations.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Osterman, 2006. "Community Organizing and Employee Representation," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(4), pages 629-649, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:44:y:2006:i:4:p:629-649
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2006.00517.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Peter S. Fisher & Alan H. Peters, 1998. "Industrial Incentives: Competition among American Cities and States," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number ii, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Pauline Dibben, 2010. "Trade union change, development and renewal in emerging economies: the case of Mozambique," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 24(3), pages 468-486, September.
    2. Deborah Foster & Patricia Fosh, 2010. "Negotiating ‘Difference’: Representing Disabled Employees in the British Workplace," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(3), pages 560-582, September.
    3. Christine A. Riordan & Alexander M. Kowalski, 2021. "From Bread and Roses to #MeToo: Multiplicity, Distance, and the Changing Dynamics of Conflict in IR Theory," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(3), pages 580-606, May.
    4. Bernard Arogyaswamy & John Hunter, 2019. "The Impact of Technology and Globalization on Employment and Equity: An Organizing Framework for Action," International Journal of Global Sustainability, Macrothink Institute, vol. 3(1), pages 49-72, December.
    5. Ian Kessler & Stephen Bach, 2011. "The Citizen‐Consumer as Industrial Relations Actor: New Ways of Working and the End‐user in Social Care," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 49(1), pages 80-102, March.
    6. Ian Fitzgerald & Jane Hardy, 2010. "‘Thinking Outside the Box’? Trade Union Organizing Strategies and Polish Migrant Workers in the United Kingdom," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(1), pages 131-150, March.
    7. Jane Hardy, 2015. "Explaining ‘varieties of solidarity’: labour mobility and trade unions in an enlarged Europe," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 21(2), pages 187-200, May.
    8. David WEIL, 2008. "A strategic approach to labour inspection," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 147(4), pages 349-375, December.
    9. Şafak Tartanoğlu, 2015. "Beyond informality: effectiveness of a new actor for representing call centre workers in Turkey," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5-6), pages 381-397, November.
    10. Laura C. William, 2016. "The implementation of equality legislation: the case of disabled graduates and reasonable adjustments," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 341-359, July.
    11. Joyce Jiang & Marek Korczynski, 2024. "The Role of Community Organisations in the Collective Mobilisation of Migrant Workers: The Importance of a ‘Community’-Oriented Perspective," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(2), pages 339-357, April.

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