Strategy and Structure in a Successful Organising Union
The Transformational Role of Branch Secretaries in the Australian Nursing Federation, Victorian Branch, 1989-2009
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2754932 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James Tierney, James Tierney James Tierney, Christina Cregan (0000-0001-6005-1393), Christina Cregan Christina Cregan |
| Year | 2013 |
| Issue | 104 |
| Pages | 149 |
| Publication date | 2013-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Labour History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0023-6942 • E-ISSN: 1839-3039 |
| Publisher | Liverpool University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.5263/labourhistory.104.0149 |
| OpenAlex | W2249452038 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 14 |
This paper examines the impact of a major Australian professional-industrial trade union's Branch Secretaries on the adoption of the model. The investigation was carried out specifi cally with regard to the union's organisational strategies and structures that were developed to facilitate mobilisation of workers over the period 1989-2009. The paper draws on the union organising and transformational leadership literatures to develop a theoretical framework. An intensive case study of the Australian Nursing Federation, Victorian Branch, was conducted from October to December 2009. Interview, observation-based and archival data were analysed. The fi ndings demonstrate that, under the executive leadership of two Branch Secretaries, Belinda Morieson and Lisa Fitzpatrick, the union became a memberoriented, decentralised organisation whose main purpose was to support an organising strategy of worker mobilisation. The professional and industrial goals of nurses were aligned. New organisational roles were created and existing roles were adapted to train and support elected job representatives in their key function of encouraging membership and rank-and-fi le activism. Finally, the entire union became a recruitment and retention machine. © 2013 Australian Society for the Study of Labour History
Business · Economics · Management · Organizational structure · Political science · Project commissioning · Public relations · Publishing · Sociology · Trade union · Transformational leadership · Employment and Welfare Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Organizational Downsizing and Restructuring · Public Administration
| Citations per year | 0.08 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2013 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |