Ramon Alós

Psychosocial risk exposures and labour management practices. An exploratory approach

Aim: The purpose was to explore the relationship between psychosocial risk exposures and labour management practices (LMP), as indicators of work organization and pertinent features for primary preventive intervention. Methods: Cross-sectional study of a representative sample of salaried working population in Spain (n = 7,612). Information was obtained in 2004-2005 using a standardized questionnaire administered through personal interviews at the household. Questions on working conditions were used to establish LMP indicators and the psychosocial exposures data were obtained on the basis of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) I (ISTAS21). A multivariate description was performed through multiple correspondence analysis, and associations between LMPs and psychosocial exposures were assessed by ordinal logistic analysis adjusting for age and sex. Results: Correspondence analysis showed a good-bad coherent pattern regarding both psychosocial dimension and LMPs, though several LMPs categories were placed in the centre. Among the 14 possible associations of each psychosocial scale with LMP variables, several scales showed significant associations with more than eight LMP variables. Most relevant results referred to the LMP variable ‘‘Consultative and delegative participation in methods’’. Conclusions: In line with previous research, psychosocial exposures were associated with LMP. LMP may constitute a step on a pathway from work organization to health. Our exploratory work suggested that good psychosocial exposures were related to participatory working methods, being hired with a permanent labour contract, not being made to feel easily replaceable, having superiors with non-authoritarian and non-aggressive manners, not being threatened with dismissal, upward functional mobility, being paid according to the number of working hours and occupation, working between 31 and 40 hours per week and in regular morning shifts. Hence, the more these features became part of LMP in the workplace, the better the psychosocial work environment would be.

Effects of prison work programmes on the employability of ex-prisoners

This paper presents the results of a study that links information from the prison system with information from the Spanish Social Security System in order to study the employability of former inmates of prisons in Catalonia, Spain. Few studies of this type have been carried out in the world and this is the first in Spain. The results show that 43.6 percent of ex-prisoners find a job after serving their sentence, but their integration in the labour market tends to be fragile, confirming that it is a very vulnerable group. It was also found that prison work has a favourable effect on employability and that vocational training has a lesser or no effect.

Diversity in Trade Union Membership: A Typology Based on the Study of a Spanish Trade Union

While existing literature on the changing nature of trade union membership concentrates on unidimensional differences between members, this article proposes a multidimensional typology, which considers demographic characteristics as well as labour market position and length of union membership. Our results allow the identification of different member profiles; these are significantly associated to differences in employment conditions, work participation, job satisfaction and union activism. In the last section of the article, we discuss the practical implications that these different member profiles may have for union policy and organisation.

Los perfiles de la afiliación sindical. Una propuesta metodológica a partir de un estudio de CCOO en Cataluña

?Se han adecuado los sindicatos a los cambios producidos en el campo economico y laboral? ?Hay un deficit de representacion entre los nuevos colectivos laborales? Para abordar la respuesta, el articulo expone el resultado de un analisis multivariado, del que se deduce la existencia de cuatro tipos de afiliacion dentro de una organizacion sindical espanola. El articulo explora la calidad de vida en el trabajo y la satisfaccion laboral de cada uno de estos tipos de afiliados. El trabajo parte de la idea de que la composicion de los sindicatos no es homogenea y tampoco lo son sus condiciones de trabajo y ocupacion, por un lado, o su propension al activismo sindical y la participacion en la representacion de los trabajadores, por otro.

Membership duration in a Spanish union: A survival analysis

This article presents an analysis of the characteristics that are associated with union membership duration using data from the membership registers of the largest Spanish trade union: Comisiones Obreras (CCOO, Workers’ Commissions). Making use of survival analysis techniques, the results indicate that the shortest membership durations and the highest risks of leaving are associated with workers with poor employment conditions, mainly youth and foreigners, as well as those in firms, economic sectors, and territories where the union has a rather weak presence. As workers in these situations represent the majority of both current joining and leaving rates, the article concludes that retention policies should focus on the early stages of union membership.

La representación sindical en España: cobertura y límites

The objective of this article is to make an approach to the unitary representation system in the company in Spain, from a statistical exploitation of union elections data. The analysis aims to discover aspects such as the scope of the unitary representation, participation of employees and unions electoral audience, in order to define their representativeness and legitimacy. Our work focuses on the analysis of the last three election periods (2003-2007, 2007-2012 and 2012-2015), in order to assess the impact of the economic cycle on the representation of workers.