Lorenzo Frangi

Unfolding the growing confidence in Latin American unions: a longitudinal analysis

The relevance of unions in labour dynamics has been widely explored. However, little attention has been given to the relationship between society, broadly considered, and unions. Drawing on this perspective, this paper offers a longitudinal analysis (2004-2009) of the social confidence in unions in 17 Latin American (LA) countries. Despite the different union specificities in these countries, we focus on the most important common aspects of these unions, through a historical lens. This analysis allows us to develop some hypotheses about the tenets of the growing level of confidence in unions. We test them through a double-level empirical regression model based on Latin Barometer surveys and national economic indicators. The economic perception and the political and trustful orientations of the citizens play an important role in their confidence orientation towards unions.

‘Are you a union member?’ Determinants and trends of subjective union membership in Italian society (1972–2013)

This article analyses so-called ‘subjective union membership’ among employees and non-employees in Italy between 1972 and 2013. Unlike trends drawn from administrative data (‘objective membership’), subjective membership, based on the declaration of the respondent, takes into account respondents’ awareness of being affiliated to a union, their sense of belonging and the social desirability of stating their membership status. Instrumental and ideational rationales inform our cross-sectional and longitudinal hypotheses. Using an ITANES pooled dataset based on 11,073 observations over 40 years (1972–2013), two major findings emerge. First, only a minority of politically engaged left-wing individuals have maintained the same probability of declaring themselves union members since the early 1970s. Secondly, subjective membership has sharply decreased over time not only among employees, but also – in clear contrast to administrative data – among non-employees. Subjective measures are thus particularly useful in improving our understanding of union membership.

Confidence in Brazilian Unions A Longitudinal Analysis

Although unions in Brazil are marginally effective in defining the employer-employee relationship, confidence in unions is high and exhibits a positive trend over time. A logistic regression model based on the Latinobarometer data series (1996–2009) empirically verifies that unions’ state embeddedness really does matter in explaining confidence in unions in Brazil (i.e., confidence in government, especially during the Lula presidency, has a significant positive effect). Moreover, people who have a negative perception of their personal economic situations and are less trustful of others are more inclined to have confidence in unions. Não obstante o efeito bem limitado e marginal dos sindicatos na determinação das relações entre o patrão e o empregado, se mantem alto a confiança nos sindiatos e essa confiança mostra uma tendência positiva no decorrer do tempo. Um modelo de regressão logística baseado no série de dados Latinobarómetro (1996–2009) verifica empiricalmente que a integração dos sindicatos no Estado importa para explicar essa confiança neles, dado que a confiança no governo, sobretudo durante a presidência do Lula, tem tido um efeito positivo. Além disso, as pessoas cuja percepção da sua situação econômica pessoal seja negativa e que tenha menos confiança nos outros inclinam mais para confiar nos sindicatos.

Overturning Italy’s Article 18: Exogenous and endogenous pressures, and role of the state

Since 1970 Article 18 provided important employment protection for workers in larger firms in Italy. Its core aspect (i.e. reinstatement in the case of unfair dismissal) was recently overturned by the Jobs Act for employees hired after its approval. To explain Article 18’s abolition, the authors assess the explicative power of (1) stronger exogenous pressures from economic international institutions, and (2) weaker endogenous pressures from unions and business organizations. Documentary analyses and semi-structured interviews with key informants reveal that while these two forces are critical, they tend to ‘read off’ the state policy decision making role, which, the authors argue, is central to explaining the overturning of Article 18.

In Unions We Trust! Analysing Confidence in Unions across Europe

Public institutions and trade unions in particular are often portrayed as facing a deep crisis. In order to better understand to what extent unions are still perceived as legitimate institutions from the society as a whole (working and non-working individuals), we analyse the determinants of confidence in unions across 14 European countries between 1981 and 2009. Confidence in unions is explained through individual-level variables (by a rational and an ideational mechanism) and contextual-level factors (relevant economic and employment relations characteristics). Using data from the European Values Study (EVS) merged with contextual datasets, we develop a series of regression models to examine the main determinants of confidence in unions. We demonstrate that confidence in unions cannot only be traced back to the support from members and left-wing oriented individuals but it is also related to non-working individuals and vulnerable social groups, in particular when confronted with economic shocks. Our findings challenge both the ‘crisis of confidence’ in institutions and the ‘crisis of unionism’ narratives. Implications for union representation and organizing strategies are discussed.