This diploma thesis deals with the issue of trade unions and collective bargaining in the Czech Republic. It discusses the history of trade unions and their regulation. It then examines in more detail the scope and powers of labor unions, collective bargaining, collective agreements and collective disputes. The practical part of this thesis analyses a practical example, a real dispute dealing with calculated establishment of trade unions and based on surveys it draws the advantages and disadvantages of this institute. It includes general public's point of view on the issue of trade unions and their competencies. In the conclusion the author expresses her opinion on the current state of trade unions in the Czech Republic and outlines their future development.

Abstract Background & Problem: During recent years there have been disclosed instances of labor union representatives wrongfully using the members’ funds. Considering the nature of the labor unions this kind of behavior is surprising, and therefore there is an interest in what motivates these representatives in their actions. Agency theory and Stewardship theory suggests two opposing views of corporate governance and motivation. The authors of this study attempt to contribute to this discussion by exploring the environment within labor unions.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore whether the management representatives within labor unions are acting as agents or stewards as well as whether they are perceived as such in the eyes of the members. Method: This study is based on a deductive research approach using a qualitative research strategy. The primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews from representatives of the unions as well as members of the unions. This was complemented with information from the websites and documents from the labor unions. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the findings. Conclusion: This study concluded that the representatives of the different labor unions are leaning more towards acting as stewards rather than agents and that they are perceived as such by the members.  The authors found that there was a lot of focus on member recruitment and the importance of recognizing what type of relationship that exists.

As a result of the increasing mobility of labor globally, trade unions find themselves at a crossroads. Although labor migration has become a common feature of labor markets, it poses a threat to trade unions’ collective agreements by speeding up the downward pressure on wages and employment conditions. Yet recruiting migrant workers may help unions to reverse the trend of declining membership rates and protect collective agreements. Hence, trade unions must take a position toward labor migration and thus face a range of dilemmas surrounding inclusion. Therefore, this thesis aims to investigate trade unions’ development of strategic responses to include migrant workers. The study is conducted in the form of a comparative case study, where seven Swedish blue-collar unions serve as subjects of study. The focus is specifically on the work of local trade union chapters. The main findings include that concrete strategies focusing on the recruitment of migrant workers are rarely in place, and that local union representatives work according to a case-by-case approach. Moreover, sectoral differences do not seem to have any particular influence on trade union practices in this regard.

Magister Legum - LLM / In the history of labour relations, trade unions have played a major role in protecting the rights of employees and improving their working conditions. They have defended their members against exploitation by employers. They have promoted the establishment of labour legislation, which in some countries is quite comprehensive. They represent the interests of employees in the collective bargaining process. Albertyn describes trade unions as"institutions which advance democracy, co-operation, peaceful resolution of disputes and nonviolent negotiation (and which) are intrinsically worth preserving and protecting".' It is selfevident that a trade union needs strength to achieve these purposes. However, trade unions areweakened by the fact that it is not only union members who enjoy the benefits of their achievements, since non-members do the same and some employees thus try to avoid the burdens of trade union membership. It is therefore understandable that trade unions attempt to decrease the numbers of these so-called "free riders". Besides the pressure that can be brought to bear by fellow employees in the workplace, union security arrangements, such as the closed shop or the agency shop, represent another traditional method of strengthening trade unions. The free rider problem, however, is only one of many arguments used in the debate by those who support the establishment of closed shops.

This study aims to investigate if there has been a shift over the last 25 years in the discourses on how trade unions are being discussed in Swedish print news media. More specifically, I will investigate whether a social change and change in power relations of trade unions can be detected in the discourses. The questions that guide this study are (1) How have discourses and discursive practices around news media reporting on unions and their role in society changed over the last 25 years? And (2) What kind of power relations can be detected in these discourses? 52 articles from four different print newspapers within the period of 1995–2019 and six semi-structured narrative interviews with union representatives, labor market reporters and think tank representatives compose the study’s material. From the material, three central themes could be extracted and analyzed with the theories of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and power resource theory (PRT). These themes are (1) the coverage of trade unions’ abilities and agencies, where union initiatives rarely are covered and unions, in general, have faded into more of a commentating role. (2) The discourse of the Swedish model serves as a discourse of power and highlights the alliance of unions and employers’ organizations. And lastly (3) how the reporting has moved away from a collective focus to a focus on the individual in the labor market. Conclusively, the study highlights the relational aspects of power and question whether the Swedish model is contra-productive on the part of labor, as the lack of conflicts fails to draw attention and thereby also fails to create a widespread and collective understanding of what unions are and do. / Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka det skett en förändring i hur man talar om facket i svenska tryckta nyhetsmedier under de senaste 25 åren. Mer specifikt kommer jag att undersöka om en social förändring och förändring av maktförhållanden kring fackförbunden kan utläsas ur diskurserna. Frågorna som leder denna studie är (1) Hur har diskurser och diskursiva praktiker kring nyhetsmediernas rapportering om fackförbund och deras roll i samhället förändrats under de senaste 25 åren? Och (2) Vilken typ av maktförhållanden kan utläsas i dessa diskurser? 52 artiklar från fyra olika tidningar inom tidsperioden 1995–2019 och sex semistrukturerade narrativa intervjuer med medarbetare på fackförbund, arbetsgivareorganisationer och tankesmedjor samt arbetsmarknadsreportrar utgör studiens material. Från materialet kunde tre centrala teman extraheras och analyseras med teorierna kritisk diskursanalys och maktresursteori. Dessa teman är (1) rapporteringen av fackförbundens agens och förmåga. Fackliga initiativ rapporteras det alltmer sällan om de har i allmänhet fått en mer kommenterande roll än en agerande roll. (2) Diskursen kring den svenska modellen som fungerar som en maktdiskurs och underbygger alliansen mellan fackförbund och arbetsgivarorganisationer och legitimerar deras maktposition på svensk arbetsmarknad. Och slutligen (3) hur rapporteringen har skiftat från ett kollektivt fokus till ett fokus på individen på arbetsmarknaden. Sammanfattningsvis belyser studien de relationella aspekterna av makt och lyfter frågan om huruvida den svenska modellen skulle kunna vara kontraproduktiv för fackförbundens räkning. Detta eftersom bristen på konflikter leder till mindre mediauppmärksamhet och därmed inte bidrar en utbredd och kollektiv förståelse kring vad fackföreningar är och gör.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the relationship between union’s indicators namely union density rate and collective bargaining coverage rate, and the unemployment rate. I have conducted an empirical analysis on 34 OECD countries grouped into three groups based on their bargaining systems. The results indicate that there is no linear relationship between union density and collective bargaining coverage, and the unemployment rate in countries which have centralized co-ordinated, organized decentralized but co-ordinated bargaining systems and that those systems do not have influence on the way unions affect unemployment rate. However, the predominatly centralized but weakly co-ordinated system indicates to have a positive effect on the way unions affect unemployment rate and union density /collective bargaining coverage are positively related with the unemployment rate in this group. I try to argue for possible reasons for these findings.

This thesis aims to outline the different dynamics of strike activity and thus understand the basic principles of industrial conflicts in France in the 90s of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century. To study this problem we decided to use a dual approach. A quantitative one, which helped us to critically evaluate the statistical resources of the Ministry of Labour and to made first assumptions about decline of strike activity in France. We used as well qualitative approach in order to understand the use of strikes in various conflict situations. We tried, based on several practical examples of protests, to identify the factors and mechanisms explaining the constraints that may prevent representatives of trade unions use strikes as mobilization agents. Last but not least, our study is realized in the context of the ongoing debate in the French academic environment regarding the conversion of the repertoire of collective action. Unlike works that try to apprehend this transformation giving emphasis on the "new" forms of protest, our goal was to answer questions leading to an understanding of the conditions of continuation of the strike as a traditional way of collective struggle.

In 2020, Fridays for Future activists joined forces with public transport workers to promote a climate-friendly mobility transition in Germany called #wirfahrenzusammen. To make redistributive claims, #wirfahrenzusammen adopted organizing practices from the United States. Given that social movement studies have identified struggles for recognition and advocacy- and mobilizing strategies as dominant practices, the question arises as to why the campaigners chose to buck the trend. This study, therefore, aims to identify and explain the strategic choices by turning to campaigners' interpretations of organizing. Applying a postmodern Grounded Theory method, I analyzed five semi-structured interviews, internal documents, and public information materials. Discourse analysis enabled the conceptualization of organizing practices in terms of their scale and scope by drawing on Nancy Fraser's theory of affirmative and transformative boundary struggles. The results indicate that strategic considerations, normative convictions, and path dependency led to the campaigners' choice of organizing practices which express affirmative and transformative boundary struggles.

This thesis examines how trade unions are meeting the two-fold challenge of a fall in youth unionisation and a changed media usage amongst youth. The researcher attempts to answer this question by examining how three different trade unions (Sveriges Ingenjörer, SI, Kommunal and Hotell och Restaurang facket, HRF) are communicating with a younger generation for the purpose of recruiting them. The thesis is based on a theoretical framework derived from communications theories and practices specifically aimed at youth, as well as theories about union recruitment strategies, civic engagement and the logic of collective action (since unions represent collective interests). The researcher has applied a qualitative approach where the thesis rests on in-depth interviews with different respondents. The findings of the thesis reveal that all the unions have started to face up to the challenge of falling youth unionisation (by applying the advice put forward in literature on youth and health communications, and union recruitment literature). However, the findings note that the unions have applied the advice to varying extent, with Sveriges Ingenjörer being furthest ahead. In addition, the findings illustrate that the unions seem to be responding to the challenge of a changing media usage amongst youth. Yet, the researcher believes that the unions might do well in exploring a more participatory style of communication, since youth today have started to expect a higher degree of participation in their communication online. The findings also highlight that both Kommunal and HRF seem to be facing tougher challenges than Sveriges Ingenjörer in communicating with youth for the purposes of recruiting them because of differences between the sectors the unions organise.Finally, the findings reveal that the unions communicate with youth in accordance with Olson’s theory of logic of collective action (Congleton, 2015), which highlights that individuals will only join a union if there is an individual gain to offset the union fee.

George Marshall's speech to an audience at Harvard University in June of 1947 announced a plan that eventually made its way through the United States congress and took the form of the European Recovery Plan (ERP). The ERP distributed roughly thirteen billion dollars in aid to sixteen European countries. The ECA grew out of this program as the managerial arm of the ERP. The ECA's propaganda campaign included pamphlets, posters, radio broadcasts, traveling puppet shows, and finally 250 films created between 1949-1953. Marshall Plan Films discussed productivity, multilateral trade, and labor unions. For Marshall Planners these issues were the key to both revitalizing the European economy, and creating a self sustaining Europe. In film, Europeans could see not only the modernizing techniques, building projects, and examples of Marshall Plan, but they were treated to visions of the American lifestyle as well. This study is an attempt to explicate the meanings and messages in the Marshall Plan Filmography. The Marshall Plan launched a massive propaganda campaign in an attempt to reformat the ideals of Europeans. The Plan was ostensibly an attempt to combat Communism as well as to re-vamp the economy of Europe. However, the films presented American ideals as something to aspire to: not only in business, but also in living everyday life. By stressing consumption over conservation and massive production over craftsmanship, the films told Europeans what America thought was best for them, and what would be beneficial for their future. Marshall Planners effectively sought to make Europe into a new, more American, place to live. / Master of Arts