Cultivo de Stevia rebaudiana en la actualidad

This study looks at the organisation of women in the union at

workplace level and their involvement in collective bargaining.

There is not an abundance of literature on this subject, and rather

than discuss the few studies which are available here, the aim, in

this chapter, is to place this paucity of information and analysis

within the broader context of industrial relations as an academic

discipline in this country. It is, therefore, a "lack of

literature" review, and an attempted explanation.

As it happens, the literature in the mainstream of industrial

relations is not entirely silent on the issue of women in trade

unions. Indeed it may be more accurate to say that their absence

is less a consequence of being unconsciously over-looked, rather

than a result of being (consciously) viewed in a particular kind

of way. Not just in general, but, more importantly, in relation

to whatever subject matter has been of major concern to industrial

relations practitioners at different times in the post-war period.

The work of three such authors is, therefore, examined here. Their

work has been, and remains, central in the field of industrial

relations; the main interest of each reflects what has at some point

grown to be the focus of strong,general political concern over the

last thirty years.

George Bain is noted for his work on the question of trade white-collar

union growth, the development of/unionisation and changing patterns

of membership. Hugh Clegg, responsible for the Report of the

Donovan Commission in 1968, has been a central figure in discussions

about workplace organisation and the development of collective

trade union government and structure.

None of these authors has made the position of women in trade

unions a particular focus of concern. Those who have done so

may be viewed as exceptional; which may be all the more reason why

work on the mainstream should be examined for whatever views/

explanations of the position of women which are offered. Moreover,

all three of the authors chosen, recognise , in some degree, the

problematic we are concerned to explore.

First , there is the slow and uneven development historically

of proportions of women unionised. That is, their peculiar

membership patterns which differ from those of men. Secondly, there

is the persistent problem of women's slower and again, uneven,

patterns of participation and representation within trade union

structures.

The analysis offered by the authors whose work we are examining,

both reflects and establishes the dominant (although by no means

static) approach to, conception of, and explanation for these problems

in the field of industrial relations. Before identifying the main

elements of these, it may, to begin with, be worth noting two

general features of the kind of approach, conception and explanation

which can be found throughout the literature.

First, the approaches which are adopted. These tend to fall

into two main groups: women are a problem when they do not join

trade unions; and women are a problem when they do join trade unions.

Unpromising as this might seem, interest in the literature examined

here is justified because of the underlying recognition that women

do have some kind of distinctive relationship to trade unions and the

A second general feature of the literature characterises the kind

of explanations which are provided. Authors usually want to

emphasize either woman-related features or job-related features

or union-related features, and fashions in this have tended to change.

Women's low level of unionisation

American industrial relations practitioners who adopted a systems

approach, began building models in earnest in the 1950's, in order

to isolate the main factors which might appear to have a determining

effect on whether trade unions "grew" or not. The context of this

work was that the proportion of the unionised workforce in America

was low and falling. This appeared to be related to massive changes

in the structure of the economy, leading to changes in the occupational

structure and in the composition of the labour force.

Women make a regular appearance in this literature and the issue

is nearly always presented in the same kind of way. This is a

typical example from Shister (1953):

"The sex of the relevant work group will influence their propensity both to organise

and to stay organised. While the proportion

of females 'permanently* in the labour market has been increasing, many women, if not most - look upon work experience as a temporary interlude between school and marriage or school and the

rearing of a family. The problems they confront

in the labour market, even though they may b e serious, are viewed as temporary and transient

matters. This entails indifference towards

unionism. The large proportion of women in

retailing for example, has certainly been one of the obstacles to any large-scale unionisation of this industry". p.421 (My emphasis).

The explanation given here, apart from its totally unsubstantiated

and many other writers have contended that women are neither

career-oriented nor hold strong attachment to the labour force

and are therefore, highly resistant to union organising efforts.

But by the 1960's dependence upon this kind of explanation had

become less fashionable and we begin to hear much more along the

lines of Bernstein (1954) who explained the low unionisation of

women in terms of "the jobs held by women in sales, service and

office occupations, rather than their sex". This inclination to

stress structural features of employment rather than attitudinal

(normative) aspects of the workers has been the one adopted by

George Bain who extended the American interest in union growth

to Britain.

We can divide the body of Bain's early work in terms of two

themesi White collar unionism and overall aspects of trade union

development such as aggregate size, industrial coverage and

membership density - particularly in relation to changing employment

trends. The earlier worry in the context of the Donovan Commission -

which assumed a close relationship between the trade unions on the

one hand and the effectiveness of the Government and the country's

economic performance o n the other - was that the power and influence

of the trade union movement may be in decline. Largely due to the

shifting employment structure and changing composition of the labour

force - away from strongly unionised and towards weakly unionised

areas - the unions, it was feared, might become "the representatives

of a declining industrial minority". McCarthy (1962). However,

after 1968 there was a general resurgence and attention was switched

to examining the "causes" and identifying the determinants of union

growth, largely by establishing statistical correlations.

5

Two questions addressed in Bain's work are of interest to us

here. First, is a high proportion of women in the workforce

associated with a low level of unionisation? And secondly, what

are the political implications of the growth of white collar

unionism?

In respect of the first question, two papers may be mentioned:

First, Bain and Price (1976) (which updates an earlier article

Bain and Price (1972)), and second, Bain and Elsheikh (1979).

The first merely "charts" changes in female share of employment

and increasing union membership and density with tables - but there

is no discussion of the findings at all. In the second paper we

have a regression analysis (but still no discussion) to test the

proposition that the higher the proportion of women (especially

married) in an industry, the lower the level of unionisation is

likely to be (i.e.Shister's proposition, s e e above).

The results are equivocal, but do seem to suggest that there

definitely is some kind of effect due to sex. For in a discussion

about "age effect" and "sex effect", the authors state:

"Although females per se tend to have a negative effect on unionisation, age per se tends to have a positive impact, and ... the age effect may have cancelled out the sex effect". Bain & Elsheikh (1979).

and, further on:

"The negative impact of women upon the inter­ industry pattern of unionisation is less strong now than it was twenty years ago". Ibid .

So, presumably, it was there once and still exists. Once again a

"depressing” effect on unionisation associated with women has been

Two questions addressed in Bain's work are of interest to us

here. First, is a high proportion of women in the workforce

associated with a low level of unionisation? And secondly, what

are the political implications of the growth of white collar

unionism?

In respect of the first question, two papers may be mentioned:

First, Bain and Price (1976) (which updates an earlier article

Bain and Price (1972)), and second, Bain and Elsheikh (1979).

The first merely "charts" changes in female share of employment

and increasing union membership and density with tables - but there

is no discussion of the findings at all. In the second paper we

have a regression analysis (but still no discussion) to test the

proposition that the higher the proportion of women (especially

married) in an industry, the lower the level of unionisation is

likely to be (i.e .Shister's proposition, see above).

The results are equivocal, but do seem to suggest that there

definitely is some kind of effect due to sex. For in a discussion

about "age effect" and "sex effect", the authors state:

"Although females per se tend to have a negative effect on unionisation, age per se tends to have a positive impact, and ... the age effect may have cancelled out the sex effect". Bain & Elsheikh (1979).

and, further on:

"The negative impact of women upon the inter­ industry pattern of unionisation is less strong now than it was twenty years ago". Ibid .

So, presumably, it was there once and still exists. Once again a

"depressing" effect on unionisation associated with women has been

6

It is in the work on white collar unionism, Bain (1970), that

we find the most discussion of women and unionisation in the section

headed SEX in Chapter IV. Sex is considered as a factor which

could help to explain the "pattern of white collar unionism".

The issue is important for analysts concerned to draw out the

political implications of shifts in the composition of the organised

sectors of the labour movement, thus interest had already been shown

in the question (problem) of women. Blackburn (1967) had suggested

that characteristics of female employment, for example, the

discontinuity and supplementary nature of their earnings, reduced

women's "commitment" to work, thereby increasing their indifference

to trade unionism. Lockwood (1958) on the other hand, disagreed

with the conclusion that it was the sex ratio which caused differences

in degree of unionisation:

"Clearly, the factor of sex is of relatively small importance among the conditions affecting

unionisation. In other words, the differences

between different types of clerical employment are much more significant than differences in their sex composition", p.153 .

Bain joins in the debate, but sits on the fence in relation to

these conclusions.

"Lockwood's findings are sufficient to indicate the inadequacy of generalisations about women having a dampening effect on the level of unionisation, but they are not sufficient to discount his argument completely". B a i n (1970)

p.40 (my emphasis). '

Because, says Bain, "It is common knowledge that the density of

unionisation is much less among women than among men ... There

is a correlation between low union density and a high proportion

that Lockwood was short of, Bain accounts for differences in

the degree of unionisation associated with sex in terms of the

different patterns of male and female employment across industries

and firms. Smaller firms and industries with low employment

concentrations are associated with lower unionisation and proportional

more women just happen to be employed in these areas. He concludes:

"Density of unionisation and proportion of women have no significant connection with each other except through their separate relationships to a third variable, the degree of employment

concentration". Ibid p.43 .

The problem with this analysis is that while Bain's results

tend to show there is an independent "sex effect", his conclusions

say there is not. (i.e. that it has nothing to do with the fact

that they are women, it is to do with where they are employed).

Bain is able to come to a comfortable conclusion which manages to

fall in line with both the TUC ^ and modern thinking on women:

"Female employees appear to have no inherent characteristics which make them more difficult to unionise than men, or, at least, if they have, unions have been able to overcome them". Ibid p.43 .

Overall, we find the weight of Bain's explanation of the pattern

of female membership of trade unions, specifically the density

or degree of unionisation, is couched in terms of certain job or

employment characteristics which can be associated with "propensity

to unionise", rather than characteristics inherently associated with

thp job-holders themselves. One could argue that this

- 8 -

Fbr example: what are the relationships between the

different features selected? Why are women in these sort of jobs?

Why are these jobs badly organised? And, ultimately, there does

seem to be a "sex effect" which shows up in these correlations,

whether one likes it o r not. But the way the analysis is presented,

these results are passed over, and we are left to conclude that

there are really no distinctive aspects which relate specifically

to women which remain and therefore need to be examined. This

is of crucial importance from our point of view, but it is also

significant in terms o f Bain's own problematic which is concerned

with the political implications of the changing composition of

organised labour. There is a suggestion that sex-differences

have no "real effect" a t all. So the question of whether or not

the increasing female membership and density, noted in Bain & Price

(1976), could have any implications for the trade union movement,

is never raised.

Finally, if we are directed to examine employment or job-related

features alone, those w h o are looking at the position of women

are left with a problem, because of course, by now the women have

totally disappeared. They're still not in the unions, and now they're

not in the analysis either. But if the women appear merely to

disappear from the analysis of George B a i n ,they hardly seem to appear

at all in the work of Hugh Clegg.

Women's low level of organisation and bargaining

The work of Hugh Clegg is of particular interest in relation

to the approach to women in trade unions because his standard textbook

"The System of Industrial Relations in Great Britain" is thus

compared with that which is found in Clegg (1980), "The

Changing System of Industrial Relations in Great Britain".

A further reason for examining this author's works is his

particular interest in the workplace and the initial stages of

union organisation. Both books are structured in terms of an

implicit model of trade unionism, whereby the work group is

constituted as both the basic unit and the initial stage of a

process which culminates in the formation and membership of a

trade union at a later (and more mature?) stage. According to the

model, collective activity of an informal and spontaneous kind

(such as that investigated in the Hawthorne studies), first takes

place in this work group context. This gives way to"planned

collective activity" (Clegg (1972) p . 27), and from here, the

development/joining of the institution proper. This would appear

to be a useful starting point for examining sex-differences in

unionisation. Since the 1972 edition presents more information

about this, than that of 1980, our discussion draws on the

"unrevised" analysis first.

It is apparent that for Clegg, sex differences are significant

from the earliest stage. Following the conclusions of the Hawthorne

studies (rather uncritically), women are seen as not susceptible

to informal collective activity. Following on from this,for

this author, therefore, women comprise a category which is "not

predisposed to planned collective activity". (Ibid p.27).

"In most factories of any size it seems that one or more groups have a reputation for sustained activity in the industrial relations

IO

field, while others are considered

quiescent. Generally it seems that work

group activity is much lower among women and white collar employees than among male

manual workers". Ibid p.26 .

To substantiate this, Clegg cites Lupton (1963). But it

should be noted that Lupton himself was careful not to draw such

general conclusions from it:

"It would be necessary, in each case, to examine the structure and traditions of the industry in which they are working".

Lupton (1963) p.92 . (2)

Clegg also outlines a notion of strike proneness to substantiate

his thesis:

"If the number of unofficial strikes were taken as an index of work group action

(on the assumption that official strikes are evidence of formal trade union activity), then women and white collar employees strike much less frequently than male manual workers".

Clegg (1972) p.26.

Of this, we might note: that the "index" may not be the best nor

the only one to use; the "assumption" is certainly dubious; and

the subsequent generalisation, even if it follows, is not backed

by evidence or references. ^

To explain his proposition, Clegg mostly depends on Sa y les (1963)

quoting from this paragraph in Sayles' book:

" .... low prestige jobs are likely to contain larger than proportionate shares of young newcomers, low seniority employees, persons marking time until seniority brings them

promotion, unambitious individuals, and workers who intend to remain only until they can find

better jobs. Employees of these types do not

exert vigorous pressure for the improvement of

found in this quotation, he substitutes his own conclusions, thus:

"Such groups are not predisposed to planned collective activity". He goes on, "Because women are concentrated in lower grades, tend to be less career-minded than men, and have a considerably higher rate of turnover than men, work groups of women are more likely than

groups of men to come into this category", p.27. (My emphasis)

While it is clearly tenable to locate the position of women in

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