My brother in Hungary is doing a translation of a ministerial study and has run into a term that he is having trouble with. The study references something that translates to “employer interest representation [organizations],” who represent management in “social dialogs,” the term it uses for labor negotiations. These “employer int. rep. orgs.” are basically confederations, the management-side equivalent of what the AFL-CIO is for labor.
His questions: (1) Does any organization of this sort exist in the US? That is, if the AFL-CIO sits down to negotiate labor contracts on behalf of several unions simultaneously, is there an equivalent confederation for the various management groups for it to negotiate simultaneously with? (2) If so, what is this confederation called? Not what’s its name; what’s the term for what it is? (Yes, I know, “buncha fatcat sumbitches” pretty much nails it down, but I need something I can use in a ministerial report.)
Any help available from the Teeming Millions will be greatly appreciated.
I don’t know if any still exist, but back in the union days of the 1940s and 50s, companies and unions negotiated common contracts in some cases. A notable example would be in the early 1960s when the Newspaper Guild and New York City newspapers failed to reach agreement and all the New York newspapers were shut down by strikes simultaneously. The same thing happened in St. Louis in 1945. (the strike in Detroit in the 1990s was different because the newspapers there were under a joint agreement, and therefore were technically owned by one company.)
The closest parallel I can think of these days is when the United Auto Workers “targets” one of the the three U.S. automakers during contract negotations. To keep their competitive balance, when one automaker agrees to a contract, the other two usually follow the same contract. I don’t believe this practice has an official name, though.
I’ll take a stab at it, though my labor law is very fuzzy and history before the '70s is even more so.
The reason your inquiry might receive a negative is that your brother’s question is based on a model that does not exist in the United States currently, but does exist in countries like Mexico. This model is called corporatism. For a succint definition try:
So, on to question 1, no, there is official confederation of business or industry owners like in Mexico where you have the COPARMEX (http://www.coparmex.org.mx/index.htm). One exeption might be in the Agricultural Industry where unions like the United Farm Workers might target Farmer Co-operatives. So, on your question 2, there is really no term or name unless you consider the chamber of commerce the USA ( U.S. Chamber of Commerce | Standing Up for American Enterprise ) or the Small Business Associations. BUT, these two last organizations are in the business of labor-industry negotiations. So o o oo, I guess you could use the word “corporations”.
Thanks for the feedback kunilou and XicanoreX. I didn’t think we had anything like that in the US, but you never know until you ask.
Since these entities do seem to exist in other countries such as Hungary, Mexico, and (per the Federation of International Trade Associations) Germany, is there an established English language term for those organizations?
I will have to second FG on this one . .Trade Organization is probably as close as you will get. Though, slight nitpick, take into account that most of these orgazations are mostly lobbying organizations (or very POWERFUL lobbying organizations) and are not in the business of labor-industry negotiations as in Mexico. For example, in Mexico, you will have a meeting between the government, COPARMEX, and CTM (the labor federation) in which they hash out the wage increases or freezes. Whatever they decided was legally binding. So, that’s why trade organization is a good term, but . . .
XicanoreX
I’m not sure, but you may be talking about company unions. Before they were outlawed in 1939, companies were free to create sham unions to compete with the real thing. The company would handpick the officers of the company union, and their puppets would do management’s bidding. Thus they had the illusion of collective bargaining, but the company commanded both sides of the table. They are still legal in Japan and some other countries.
The Frumious Bandersnatch, in Canada there can be sector-wide bargaining, between councils of trade unions and groups of employers. This type of labour relations is often found in the construction industry, where there is a great deal of mobility from job site to job site, and the usual model of certification based on the workplace doesn’t work too well.
See for example the Labour Relations Act of Ontario. The term used there is simply “employers’ organisation”:
True . .though we are digressing a bit from the OP’s query regarding the term for such employer organization. Though, Trade Organizations is pretty close.
Also, to repeat, this also occurs in the californian agricultural industry where the UFW has held meetings with Farmer Coops.
Some information may be found at:
Thanks to all for your input. Looks like “Trade Organization” comes closest to filling the bill and getting the point across. I think that’s what he is going to use for now. Thanks again.