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Analysing Power Resources

 

Power resource analysis uses a set of guiding questions that can help us understand the various types of current and potential power resources available.            

The power resources approach looks at four specific kinds of worker power –structural, associational, institutional and societal power - and provides a framework for us to discuss and examine what power workers and their organisations currently have to solve their specific problems.

Table "Worker Power" with four sqaures of Structural Power, Associational Power, Institutional Power, Societal Power

 

 

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Power Resource Questions

Below you will find our guiding questions about the various forms of worker power.  These discussion questions provide a framework, but will not align precisely with all unions and organisations and will need to be adapted to each context. A small group may need to first review the questions, identify which questions are best for the situation and then reword and reframe them as needed to fit the union language and culture.

  For an introduction and a better understanding of the four kinds of power resources and how they interact, you can go to the materials entitled An  Introduction to Power Resources.  In addition, on the project website you will find additional materials in several languages as well as a short video.

Please send us your feedback on your experiences analysing the union’s power resources, so that we can continuously improve the framework and discussion questions.

Structural Power

The following questions identify the context in which a worker or a group of workers can withhold labour and subsequently force negotiations with the employer(s), known as structural power.

Key question: What is the consequence of withholding labour or disrupting production/ services?

Workplace Power:

  • Do workers/members possess special skills or perform tasks that cannot be easily replaced (and give them bargaining power)?
  • Does the composition of the workforce (age, gender, sectors, formal/informal, unemployed, etc.) positively or negatively affect the capacity to withhold labour?
  • What opportunities/limits to stopping work exist based on the above factors?

 

Marketplace Power:

  • What is the national/sectoral unemployment rate? Are there skills or a job with a shortage or an oversupply of workers in the sector?
  • What role does the sector/company play in the national economy? How is it embedded in relevant value chain(s)?

Associational Power

With associational power, we aim to understand the strength of workers’ collective organisations and their ability to act.

Key question: Is there a willingness by and ability of a group of workers to enter into a conflict with management and/or state authorities?

Membership/Composition: Who does the union represent?

  • How many dues-paying members does the union have in the workforce of the company or sector?
  • What are the key characteristics of the membership and the workers (i.e. age, gender, migration status, racialised workers, lower caste or religious minorities, employed/unemployed, skilled/unskilled, where are they within the union/sector)?

 

Identity: Does the union stand up for its members (and the members for the union)?

  • Does the union have a clear mission and strategy that members identify with and act accordingly?
  • How do members show their identification with the union?

 

Participation and Inclusion: How active are union members?

  • How are members involved in union life?
  • What activities/actions do workers and members participate in?
  • Does the union know the issues that concern its members and workers?

 

Democracy/decision-making: Can the union reach decision that are respected and followed?

  • How open is the decision-making process?
  • How would you describe the leadership style within the union?
  • What is the percentage of women/ young workers / recent migrants / racialised workers / lower caste / religious minorities in leadership positions? Are these members included in strategic decision-making?

 

Organisation and resources: Is the union fit for its purpose?

  • What financial and material resources does the union have? Are they used to achieve its mission?
  • Does the union have a regular budget that allows it to perform its core functions (hire staff, run union elections/congresses, run campaigns)?
  • Are the organisation’s structure and its procedures able to deliver expected results?
  • What services does the union offer its members? (legal, social, recreational, educational, etc.) Do the members use them?

 

Mobilisation: Can the union reach and activate members and other workers?

  • What do workers that have not yet joined think of the union and its leadership? Do they participate in union activities? Do workers that have not yet joined the union use its services?
  • Does the union actively and successfully recruit new members? Are current members involved in these activities?
  • Can the union mobilise its members and other workers to participate in workplace actions and political activities beyond the workplace?
  • Can the union successfully and effectively call a strike?  
  • What other means of exerting pressure on the employers does the union have?
  • Does the union have potential to build and use cross-border solidarity?

Institutional Power

Institutional power helps us to understand in which ways legally or contractually enshrined individual and collective rights can be used to benefit workers.

Key question: What rights/rules can workers and unions use to win a conflict and protect or gain more rights?

Workers:

  • What legal status and rights do workers have?
  • What are the legal minimum labour standards?
  • What legal forms of collective representation exists beside unions?

 

Unions:

  • What legal status and rights does the union have? What possibilities and limitations does this legal status imply?
  • Can the union legally go on strike or disrupt the labour process?
  • Are there institutions at the workplace, such as health and safety committees or works councils, that could assist workers?
  • What are the legal provisions governing collective negotiations? Where do these take place? Who participates? What are the results?
  • Which state institutions have obligatory and effective union participation in the sense of being able to influence decisions to the benefit of the workers?

Societal Power

Societal power helps us examine how workers (and their organisations) can extend their scope of action beyond the immediate organisation and thus enhance their positions in a (social) conflict.

Key question: How can workers and unions generate support from people outside the union and beyond the workplace?

Coalitional power

  • Who are the union’s and workers’ allies and opponents? What kinds of historical ties does it have to parties, social movements, NGOs, churches and other societal actors? How have these ties evolved recently and where do they stand today?
  • Who shares similar issues and is likely to support the union’s and workers’ actions?
  • Is the union open to and capable of establishing alliances with other groups and (e.g. the women’s and feminist) movements?

 

Discursive power

  • What is the union’s reputation with the general public? What does it stand for in the public’s eye? 
  • Are the union’s and workers’ goals seen as justified by the public?
  • Can an employer or decision-maker be campaigned against (and face the risk of a loss of reputation)?

Interlinkages

What relationships are there between power resources in the specific contexts? How can they be combined to achieve goals?

How have they influenced each other in the past? What lessons can be drawn from these past experiences? Do similar conditions exist today to foster these relationships?

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