Double-breasting employee voice: An assessment of motives, arrangements and durability. (March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dundon, Tony; Cullinane, Niall; Donaghey, Jimmy; Dobbins, Tony; Wilkinson, Adrian; Hickland, Eugene
• Is Part Of: Human relations. Volume 68:Number 3(2015:Mar.)
• Page Start: 489
• Page End: 513
• Publication Date: 2015-03
• Subjects: double-breasting -- employee representation -- employee voice -- union avoidance; Social sciences -- Periodicals; 302
• DOI: 10.1177/0018726714531997
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0018-7267

Abstract

This article explores employee voice within the specific institutional arrangement of double-breasting. Double-breasting is when multi-plant organizations recognize trade unions in some company sites, with non-union arrangements at other company plants, or where a unionized firm acquires a new site that it then operates on a non-union basis. We examine three research questions in four separate case study organizations that operate employee voice double-breasting arrangements across 16 workplace locations on the island of Ireland. These questions consider employer motives for double-breasting, the practices that characterize double-breasting employee voice, and the micro-political implications of double-breasting. The article contributes to knowledge on the emergence and impact of double-breasting and employee voice systems. We subsequently advance two theoretical propositions: the first theorizing employer motives for double-breasting, and the second explaining the extent to which the practice of double-breasting is durable over time.