Labor Relations in the Innovation Economy

Some workers in the knowledge economy do not see a need for trade unions. They are better educated and better able to represent themselves . They are in high-quality employment, working for companies with enlightened management where workplace relations may be excellent .

The Irish unions have accepted this view. The type of seemingly ideal situation they had in the 1970s, when members were delivered to unions by their employers through rigid agreements, is gone.

The cultural revolution in the Irish trade union movement is such that the leadership believes they have a role to play. The key elements of speed and risk that underpin the global Innovation Economy have been taken on board by progressive elements in the labor movement. In certain cases, unions have taken initiatives in promoting new modes of workplace organization.

Tom Wall

Analog Devices was a unionized company. They decided to build a major extension, called the unions in, and said the extension would be non-union, no hard feelings. The union pointed out that they've never had a strike and asked why. The company replied that the consultation process was too slow. So the union did a deal, fast tracked all procedures so no dispute would hold anything up, and everyone was satisfied with that.

There's been a lot of that. There are places where, at the union's insistence, we went from a highly centralized autocratic type of management structure toward autonomous team working systems, which have really worked well. The unions were proactive in putting that in place.

Workers have become highly aware of the threats to their employment, mostly from other subsidiaries of the same corporation. I've listened to shop stewards talking about Puerto Rico, where the next investment might go, saying we've got to make sure that we get it.

While labor clearly does not share all of the assumptions of the multinationals and IDA Ireland regarding the needs of the guest multinationals, it has taken a progressive and practical position.