An Empirical Research On The Influence Of Union Practice On Enterprises’ Labour Relations Climate

Enterprise unions represent and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests ofemployees as the grassroots rights organizations. Thus, they play an important role inthe labor relations coordination mechanism. However, the phenomena thatorganizations are not perfect or the functions are not complete appear in Chineseenterprise unions, ultimately resulting in criticism on the role of union by theacademia. As labor conflicts intensify, the enterprise unions are gradually pushed tothe front of the historical tide. The unions’ construction, its representation, andpractice influence enterprise labor relations more and more. And some enterpriseunions enrich their practice through innovation. Therefore, it is worthwhile to studythe union practice’s effect on labor relations climate.Although enterprise union practice has long been qualitatively assumed toinfluence the labor relations, very few researchers explore the mechanism between theunion practice and the labor relations climate, let alone empirical research. Based onthe theoretical study, this paper clearly defines the concept of union practice, laborrelations climate and corresponding measuring tools. Data is from a total of495samples from58cities in19provinces. The comparison of union practice, support forunion and labor relations climate between different kinds of samples is conducted andthe relationship between the three variables above is explored. The conclusions arelisted as follows: Firstly, there is significant difference between non-unionorganizations and organizations with union. Secondly, some demographic andorganizational characteristics significantly affect the union practice, support for unionand labor relations climate. Thirdly, support for union has positive effect on unionpractice. Forth, there is a significantly positive effect of union practice on positivelabor relations climate, while a significantly negative effect of union practice onnegative labor relations climate. Fifth, among the three dimensions of union practice,the union education and service has great influence on labor relations climate,followed by union participation and union safeguarding rights. Based on theconclusions, some appropriate administrative suggestions are offered: Firstly, toimprove the construction of enterprise unions. Secondly, to lay more stress on thecompleteness of union function. Thirdly, to strengthen the support for union frommanagement and employees. The present study contributes to our understanding of enterprise union practiceand labor relations climate and also enriches relevant research theory. It indicates thatmanagers should face up to the improvement of union construction, union practiceand support for union and achieve a benign labor relations climate, and fundamentallystimulate employees’ sense of belonging and work enthusiasm.