Ball, Chris ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7743-4577 and Flynn, Matthew (2021) Trade union responses to ageing workplaces: lessons from the UK. Work, Ageing and Retirement:waaa033. ISSN 2054-4650 (Online) (doi:10.1093/workar/waaa033)

Plain Text (Accepted manuscript - 12 month embargo) 30458_BALL_Social_dialogue_and_active _ageing final.docx - Accepted Version Download (88kB)

Abstract

In 2017, European-level unions and business associations agreed a framework for national and workplace level employers and union representatives to take collaborative action to design workforce responses to demographic ageing. This article discusses how unions are responding to pressures to extend working life in the United Kingdom (UK). Drawing on industrial relations and social movement literature, it argues that unions pursue the twin strategies of working in partnership with like-minded employers to reorient workplaces towards an age friendly model while organising and campaigning with members to secure conditions consistent with active and healthy ageing. Resisting an erosion of pension and retirement rights and extending employment protection are examples of this approach, but numerous lower profile initiatives by workplace representatives are also reflective of their having an age friendly agenda. Using qualitative data from focus group discussions with union representatives in two sectors, the article shows that union responses are rooted in both of the dominant models of British unionism - the organising and partnership models - and argues that literature on social movements helps to understand how union representatives reconcile the competing pressures.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Ageing workforce, trade unions, age friendly work, social dialogue, active ageing,
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Business Faculty of Business > Centre for Work and Employment Research (CREW)
Last Modified:	15 Jan 2022 01:38
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/30458

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