The Social Construction of Workers’ Collectivism

Union renewal depends largely on increased member participation, generating and maintaining strong collective identities and mobilization of union resources. It was further contended that collective identities are not given, but constructed and sustained through narrative framing and engagement of individuals. These processes highlighted the importance of trade union leaders’ ability to construct and sustain workers’ collective identity and interest via strategies which seek to broaden the relevancy of trade unionism. In a time when worker collectivism is in a decline, the relevant question is to what extent is this possible? According to Muckenberger (1995), the decline of trade unionism in terms of density and the importance of trade unions as socio-political actors are often interpreted as representing the decline of worker collectivism. The underlying assumption that were put forth of the decline from literature has been the ascendancy of individualization over collectivism. There has a socio-cultural transformation whereby working class values of collectivism have given way to more individualistic orientations (Hyman 1999). Trade unions were formerly built on pre-existing solidarities such as the principle of collective identity that predated capitalist employment relationships. Collective experience at work was complemented by domestic life in nearby shared recreational, cultural and religious pursuits. In a nutshell, trade union was an institution embedded in an encompassing social landscape (Hyman 2002). The shift from collectivism to individualism was the result of the growth in affluence, skills level and geographical mobility, which enable acquisitive individualism overriding collective interests (Brown 1990). It was fu...

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... a national labour centre that is representative of trade unions in Malaysia, it is in the process of rebranding itself as serious political actor in light of new opening, with broader aggregation of political and social interest. This research intend to looks at ways in which union leaders in MTUC is going to construct its identity and organization and reshape Malaysian workers’ views on the nature of trade unionism.

In conclusion, it is argued that structural factor such as level of employment and

institutional and legal frameworks of industrial relations create more or less favourable condition for collectivization of workers. However, they themselves may not generate workers’ collectivism, since collective identities are not given, but constructed and sustained through narrative framing and engagement of individuals by union leaders and activists.