Union suppression and union substitution strategies of multinational enterprises in Ghana

This article complements the literature by furthering the understanding of an ‘African dimension’ of multinational enterprise (MNE) union avoidance. The evidence suggests that MNEs engaged in both union suppression and union substitution strategies by (i) exploiting young employees' apathy to p...

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Main Authors: Dayaram, Kantha, Ayentimi, Desmond, Burgess, John
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2019
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/76094
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author Dayaram, Kantha
Ayentimi, Desmond
Burgess, John
author_facet Dayaram, Kantha
Ayentimi, Desmond
Burgess, John
author_sort Dayaram, Kantha
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This article complements the literature by furthering the understanding of an ‘African dimension’ of multinational enterprise (MNE) union avoidance. The evidence suggests that MNEs engaged in both union suppression and union substitution strategies by (i) exploiting young employees' apathy to promote opposition and indifference for union organisation (evil stuff), (ii) implementing union member‐centred employee retrenchment (fear stuff), (iii) using enterprise‐level collective bargaining arrangement to suppress union bargaining power (fear and fatal stuff), (iv) exploiting the fragmented labour union environment to suppress union organisation (fatal and evil stuff) and (v) promoting individual employee voice and involvement mechanisms (sweet stuff). Although MNEs in Ghana engaged in both union suppression and union substitution strategies, they appear to particularly favour the adoption of ‘union suppression’ strategies and what might be termed as ‘corridor tactics’. Our article highlights four transitional issues underpinning the emerging success of ‘corridor tactics’ in union suppression in a less developed host country.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-760942019-08-08T01:08:50Z Union suppression and union substitution strategies of multinational enterprises in Ghana Dayaram, Kantha Ayentimi, Desmond Burgess, John This article complements the literature by furthering the understanding of an ‘African dimension’ of multinational enterprise (MNE) union avoidance. The evidence suggests that MNEs engaged in both union suppression and union substitution strategies by (i) exploiting young employees' apathy to promote opposition and indifference for union organisation (evil stuff), (ii) implementing union member‐centred employee retrenchment (fear stuff), (iii) using enterprise‐level collective bargaining arrangement to suppress union bargaining power (fear and fatal stuff), (iv) exploiting the fragmented labour union environment to suppress union organisation (fatal and evil stuff) and (v) promoting individual employee voice and involvement mechanisms (sweet stuff). Although MNEs in Ghana engaged in both union suppression and union substitution strategies, they appear to particularly favour the adoption of ‘union suppression’ strategies and what might be termed as ‘corridor tactics’. Our article highlights four transitional issues underpinning the emerging success of ‘corridor tactics’ in union suppression in a less developed host country. 2019 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/76094 10.1111/irj.12264 Wiley-Blackwell restricted
spellingShingle Dayaram, Kantha
Ayentimi, Desmond
Burgess, John
Union suppression and union substitution strategies of multinational enterprises in Ghana
title Union suppression and union substitution strategies of multinational enterprises in Ghana
title_full Union suppression and union substitution strategies of multinational enterprises in Ghana
title_fullStr Union suppression and union substitution strategies of multinational enterprises in Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Union suppression and union substitution strategies of multinational enterprises in Ghana
title_short Union suppression and union substitution strategies of multinational enterprises in Ghana
title_sort union suppression and union substitution strategies of multinational enterprises in ghana
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/76094