Trade union managers: invisible actors in Trade union dramas

This paper is concerned with a group of people who are almost entirely absent from the literature on trade union governance, trade union managers. It looks at various governance models and seeks to make links between that literature and analogous literature in the management field, in particular between that on the polyarchal theory of trade union organisation and that on stakeholder management. It concludes that managers have become visible and that they seek to manage their organisations subject to a number of constraints arising in some cases from the fact that management remains a somewhat problematic concept in unions. Although the values of trade union managers result in their taking a positive attitude to the democratic process, the boundaries between their roles and the roles of elected activists in the governance structures are unclear and are consequently contested.School of Managemen

Trade Union Strength

Spanish trade unions enjoy an uncomfortable mix of high coverage and very low membership base. This state of affairs has arisen primarily because of state support for the collective representation system. Union organisation in terms of the core and its branches and system. Union organisation in terms of the core and its branches and union finances are also heavily influenced by the structure of representation. The limited facts on union membership, organisation and finance are fleshed out in this paper. The impact of unions on three economic outcomes is assessed: pay/employment flexibility; pay dispersion; productivity growth. Although the data are quite limited, there is some suggestion that whereas unions are able to resist the pressure for widening pay dispersion, they are associated with somewhat poorer productivity performance. However, this research throws up as many unanswered puzzles about unions in Spain, as it does answer the previously unanswered. There is clearly a need for a representative survey of firms or workplaces to investigate both this and other aspects of Spanish industrial relations.

Disintegration and Trade

The gravity model of trade is utilized to assess the impact of disintegration on trade. The analysis is based on three recent disintegration episodes involving the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. The results point to a very strong home bias around the time of disintegration, with intra-union trade exceeding normal trade approximately 43 times in the former Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, and 24 times in the former Yugoslavia. Disintegration was followed by a sharp fall in trade intensity. Nevertheless, there is a considerable hysteresis in economic relations, with trade flows among the former constituent Republics still between two and 30 times greater than normal trade in 1998.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39737/3/wp353.pd

Sequencing Trade and Monetary Integration

Regional integration for at least the last sixty years has focused on trade integration. Balassa’s canonical taxonomy of regional trading arrangements is often interpreted as a sequence from free trade area through customs union and common market to economic union. In the 1980s the concept of deep integration went beyond trade with its focus on policy harmonization, which came to include monetary integration, but it presupposed trade integration as the first step in the regional integration sequence. In Asia there has been very little trade integration through regional agreements - ASEAN is the most ambitious project, but even there actual achievements in trade integration have been limited. When discussion of monetary integration began in East Asia after 1997, it was in the absence of trade integration. The conventional view would see this as an obstacle to greater regional integration, but some proponents of Asian regionalism saw monetary integration as a step towards promoting trade integration, reversing the orthodox sequence. The two theoretical literatures (customs union theory and optimal currency area theory) were distinct and there remains a disconnect between the trade and monetary integration literature. This paper re- evaluates the global cross-country evidence on the relationship between trade integration and monetary union. It then applies the results to the prospects for monetary union before trade integration in East Asia, and to the consequences of monetary union for trade integration.currency union; customs union

Polish agro-food trade with European countries before and after joining EU

Foreign trade in agricultural and food products is a very important component of trade and agricultural policy. In the recent years these policies change influencing on the result of this trade and indirectly on food producers as well as consumers. The aim of this paper is look through the agri - food trade between Poland and European Union countries and the process of Poland's integration with the European Union which had an essential impact on trade between the member countries. The integration process connected with transition from a protective trade policy to a liberal trade policy was favourable for Poland. From 1989 to 2003, the volume of trade turnover in agri- food products between Poland and European Union increased over twofold. The European Union member states are main trading partners of Poland. They accounted for over half (51.6%) of the turnover in farm and food trade in 2003. The main partners on the export side are: Germany, Netherlands, Great Britain and Italy; and on the import side are Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Italy. Trade in farm and food goods with the European Union was favourable for Poland for the first time since 2003. Poland has gained trade advantages in the food sector after integration with the EU.agricultural trade, products' structure, trade agreements with EU, International Relations/Trade,

Exploring performance management in four UK trade unions

Purpose This article explores performance management in four UK trade unions. Specifically, the extent to which managers in the four unions accept or dismiss the unitarist, disciplinary and performative values that arguably characterise performance management practices. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative research design was adopted to investigate trade union managers’ interpretations of performance management. Managers were targeted because they hold the power to shape performance management practices in their specific areas. The research employed qualitative semi-structured interviews. Findings Performance management in trade unions is linked to the structure, purpose and orientation of different types of trade union. It is also linked to the wider environmental context. The trade union managers’ interpretations of performance management are linked to disciplinary and performative values. As such they are comparable to the unitarist forms of performance management described in the literature. There are moreover, similarities and differences between the approaches to performance management between trade unions and for profit or public sector organisations. Originality/Value The article adds to the emerging literature on internal trade union management by highlighting a particular aspect of human resource management

The EU offer of service trade liberalization in the Doha Round : evidence of a not-yet-perfect customs union.

While the EU is a customs union in merchandise trade (goods), it has not yet reached this stage of integration in service trade. Trade policies between individual Member States and non-Member States vary in services. Given the remaining national sovereignties in regulating service trade against other EU Member States also, the EU is not yet even a free trade area. How far the EU is from a customs union in service trade is very difficult to assess because of the non-quantitative nature of trade restrictions in this sector. This article gives a first hint of the distance from a customs union by calculating frequency indices of trade measures by refining the 1995 Hoekman index. The database is the EU's first offer in service trade in the WTO Doha round in February 2003. It emerges that the deviation from a customs union is not substantial, but still exists because of differences in national policies against non-Member States which are particularly relevant in the mode of supply via labour flows. Inter alia, policy measures comprise economic needs tests, residence and nationality criteria. The article concludes that there is reason to assume that, in the course of the Doha round negotiations, some if not most of the national measures will be given up. Therefore, multilateral trade negotiations will be instrumental in bringing the EU to a complete customs union as happened in goods trade between 1958 and 1968 when the Dillon and Kennedy rounds helped to complete the customs union in industrial goods.Internationaler Dienstleistungsverkehr; Außenhandelsliberalisierung; EU-Politik; Entwicklungsländer;

Cambodian Trade Union Leader Murdered

The Clean Clothes Campaign calls for the Cambodian government to thoroughly investigate the murder of Hy Vuthy, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC.

Regional Trade Integration in East Africa: Trade and Revenue Impacts of the Planned East African Community Customs Union

The paper provides empirical estimates for import and revenue implications that would follow implementation of the planned customs union between the East African Community member states Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. We use 2002 trade and trade policy data for the three countries to simulate the effect of the common external tariff and other trade policy changes that will follow the customs union implementation on import flows and customs revenue. We also discuss customs exemptions and the effect of the customs union implementation on balance of payments.International Trade, Regional Integration, Africa, East African Community (EAC), Fiscal Impacts, Balance of Payments Effects of Trade Integration