stronger together

This paper was presented at the European Group on Organizational Studies colloquium, sub theme 38: social movement unionism, in Bergen Oslo, 7-9 July 2006.

Abstract: Union revitalisation strategies in industrialised countries include attempts by unions to reach out to community organisations and engage in community unionism.  One form of community unionism is the long term coalition between unions and community organisations.  This paper develops a definition of community and community unionism, identifying three key elements that vary coalition practice – organisational relationships, common concern and multi-scalar capacity.  These elements are explored in a comparison of the public education campaigns in NSW and the Ontario Health Coalition in Ontario.  I find that both case studies develop successful and sustainable forms of community unionism, while also reflecting stark variations in these three elements.  I use these two case studies to speculate about how variations in community unionism operate.  For instance I argue that there is an ‘agenda-participatory’ form of community unionism, evident in the public education campaign, where there was strong common concern and multi-scalar capacity without a strong structure of organisational relationships.  I argue there is a ‘structure-participatory’ form of community unionism, in the Ontario Health Coalition campaign, where there was a strong organisational structure and multi-scalar capacity without a deep common concern connection.  The paper highlights that while each of these forms of community unionism contribute to union power, they provide unions with different sources of power and achieve their success as coalitions in different ways.

Download full text: Tattersall Common themes in Coalitions