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The purpose of this paper is to offer empirical evidence on whether and how the work experiences of employees in China influence their union-related attitudes and behaviours.

The authors developed a mediated moderation model to examine how job satisfaction and labour relations climate interactively affect union participation and whether union commitment mediates the interactive effects. A total of 585 employees from enterprises in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian province of China were surveyed to verify the model.

Job satisfaction was negatively related to union participation and union commitment. Labour relations climate moderated the relationship between job satisfaction and union participation; the relationship was negative and stronger when employees perceived an adverse, rather than a favourable, labour relations climate. Further, the interactive effect of job satisfaction and labour relations climate on union participation was partly mediated by union commitment.

By empirically examining employees’ attitudes and behaviours towards unions in the Chinese context, this study confirms that unions could provide employees with alternative work resources to cope with job dissatisfaction, even in a country where unions play a “transmission belt” role between employees and employers. This study adds value to the existing base of knowledge on union practice and labour relations construction, both inside and outside of China.

Analysis of the responses of 131 local union officers to a questionnaire found that a number of variables are related to the attitudes of union leaders toward quality of worklife (QWL). Unions are morelikely to participate in a QWL program if local officers feel that unions can influence government policy, their members expect them to make progress on QWL issues, and if it is important to have good local‐member relations. Unions are less likely to participate in a QWL program if officers believe that unions are strong, feel employers favor severe tactics, and place a priority on traditional bargaining issues. For unions involved in a QWL program, union strength and perceived influence over government policy were related to positive attitudes regarding the long‐term future of QWL. For unions without QWL experience,severe management policies toward unions, and higher member expectations for local performance on QWL issues were related to more favorable attitudes toward QWL, while the officer’s tenure in position was related to a less favorable view of QWL. For locals involved in a QWL program, satisfaction with QWL increases if officers feel the labor movement needs to change its attitude and approach to problems, the labor relations climate is favorable, the local has sufficient bargaining power, and the overall performance of the local is satisfactory. The results suggest that “get tough” management policies toward unions will negatively affect union participation in and satisfaction with QWL efforts.

We present evidence regarding how a card check recognition process affects the labor relations climate during the period preceding recognition and that which immediately follows. Interviews with managers, interviews with union representatives, and surveys of workers indicate that card check typically results in a less prolonged, costly, and stressful recognition and negotiations process. Although the resulting contracts are often similar to those in other parts of a heavily unionized corporation, sometimes they reflect a different business context – and hence are somewhat more favorable to employers without being substantially less favorable to employees. This reality is reflected in the positive reaction of the U.S. stock markets to union recognition by an employer through a card check process. Employers make card check agreements primarily for business reasons, and investors respect their judgment as to the impact of such agreements on the bottom line.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the evidence for trade union renewal in the UK fire service. Its aim is to consider two main questions: “How have union‐management relations and the industrial relations climate been affected by management reforms?” and “To the extent that there is deterioration in the IR climate, has this had an effect on union leadership style and also on union commitment and participation amongst ordinary members?”

The paper draws on interviews with managers and union representatives and a survey of firefighters in the north of England.

The research finds that a marked deterioration in the industrial relations climate led to changes in union leadership and to an increase in union commitment and participation amongst ordinary members. The poor climate created the conditions for union renewal by bringing forward union activists with more inclusive styles and by raising membership awareness of the need to vigorously defend their existing terms and conditions.

There is a research gap in the industrial relations literature on how industrial relations climate impacts on the renewal of workplace trade unionism.

This paper helps to fill the research gap in the industrial relations literature on how industrial relations climate impacts on the renewal of workplace trade unionism.

Feelings about conflict in labor relations are determined by both the objective conditions surrounding the dimension of labor relations and their subjective evaluation. This study aims to examine features of the subjective evaluation factors in labor relations for new generation employees born in the post-1980s, transitional China, and to explore the conflict reduction strategies in labor relations.

This study designed items and a scale to measure employees’ subjective evaluation bias regarding labor relations, and conducted a survey of 1,500 employees in 80 Chinese enterprises. It conducted a principal components analysis of the subjective evaluation biases, and a covariance analysis to explore differences in the common factors between employees of two generations. Comparing the subjective bias with the objective status of labor relations, as well as with employers’ expectations, this study analyzed the feelings toward conflict and conflict management strategies.

There are eight common factors in the subjective evaluation bias toward labor relations, four of which show significant differences between employees of two generations. Employers should study these differences, and apply conflict reduction measures to manage labor relations.

This is one of the first studies to propose the concept of a subjective evaluation bias regarding labor relations, and examine the common factors and features among new generation employees. It establishes a model for feelings toward conflict through four combinations of the subjective preferences and objective status dimensions. This study offers new insights for reducing workplace conflict.

Managing conflicts between employees and supervisors is a critical issue in maintaining productive labor‐management relations. This study uses the theory of cooperation and competition to specify the nature of the relationship and the flexible strategies that facilitate mutually beneficial solutions to employee complaints. Results based on interviews of supervisors and union employees in a remote site in British Columbia support the hypotheses that cooperative, compared to competitive and independent, goals promote open‐minded discussions of complaints that result in efficient resolutions which benefit both supervisors and employees. Results suggested that developing cooperative goals and open‐minded negotiation skills can help supervisors and employees to create integrative solutions to shopfloor conflicts.

The aim of this paper is to study the relationship between organizational climate and perceptions of support for innovation, considering that the relationship may be moderated by the type of labor contract the employees have. This moderating effect may have its origins in the perception of reality and the type of knowledge applied on the job. The results drawn from empirical research among 312 observations of the employees in 80 offices of a Spanish financial company enable us to verify, on the one hand, that an organizational climate characterized by support, cohesion and intrinsic recognition favors perceptions of support for innovation; and, on the other hand, that there are differences in the dimensions of climate that favor perceptions of support for innovation depending on the employees' contractual relationship with the organization.

The past two decades have witnessed several notable changes in the employee relations climate in the UK. Most obviously, there has been the dramatic decline in union membership and densities. In part this has been due to structural changes in the economy and more specifically the shift from strongly unionised heavy industry (coal, steel, shipbuilding etc) to lighter manufacturing and services. However, this merely represents a quantitative shift. Arguably, there has been as important a shift in the qualitative nature of the labour relations climate. The two, of course, are not unconnected. In a context of two major economic recessions and a more general, but not less dramatic erosion of the manufacturing base, employers' have arguably found it easier to force concessions from organised labour on a variety of issues. Allied to this, of course, has been the permissive nature of government legislation throughout the last fourteen years.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of Employee Relations is split into seven sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Design of Work; Performance, Productivity and Motivation; Patterns of work; Pay, incentives and pensions; Career/manpower planning, recruitment; Industrial relations and participation; Health and safety.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the extent to which human resources (HR) decision making is influenced by the social context of school systems. More specifically, this study draws upon organizational theory focussed on the microfoundations of organizations as a lens identify key aspects of school HR decision making at the district and school level.

Interview data were collected from district-level HR directors and local union presidents across 11 districts in Michigan and Indiana. The interviews provided information on the formal and informal aspects HR management. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed, and the constant comparative method was used to move from initial codes to higher levels of abstraction (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Strauss and Corbin, 1990). Multiple data collection methods were utilized to help validate the interview data that were collected (Stake, 2004).

The key findings show that social relationships, particularly at the school level, influence the distribution of teachers within a district. The findings support the need for closer attention to be given to the social dynamics of school systems and the impact this has on HR decision making, particular with regard to the influence of informal organizational structures and day-to-day interactions within systems.

The current body of research does not fully attend conceptually or empirically to the broader social context of a school system which shape HR decisions. Specifically, researchers and practitioners need to further address the ways that the social dynamics of school systems shape administrative decision making with regard to HR management.