ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews and discusses approaches to the so-called associational power resources of workers. Workers derive their power from their ability to create “unity of action” among themselves when facing employers or governments. This ability arises from organisation of workers, e.g. in trade unions. However, organisations vary in their properties and therefore in their ability create unity. The chapter distinguishes between reductionist and holistic approaches of associational PR. In the former approach, associational power is largely reduced to union density and the bargaining power vis-à-vis employers and government that emanates from high density. In the latter, associational power is composed of various elements, including union density and the internal/external structure of unions, and can be measured along multiple dimensions that afford unions a combined power vis-à-vis employers and government. The chapter presents examples of each approach to show their analytical value and ends with a call to base power analysis on a pragmatic integration of the two approaches.
