The Relationship between Company Unions and Industrial Unions in Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises

Abstract

This paper analyses the management of company unions in small- and medium-sized enterprises and the support provided by industrial unions, using analysis of data collected through interviews. The results yield three main findings. First, there is no scale merit of company unions' management in small- and medium-sized unions. Many small- and medium-sized company unions have numerous different problems with human resources and management methods, in addition to financial problems. Second, many small- and medium-sized company unions were devising organizational operations regarding human resources and management methods, rather than finance. In particular, devices of human resources are more than devices of management. In fact, there are some limits to their efforts to improve the union's management methods. Finally, there are some cases where industrial unions directly solve the problems of company unions, and other cases where they indirectly support the management of company unions with regard to human resources and finance. There are many support methods for human resources; however, there are limited support methods for finance. On the other hand, industrial unions directly solve the problems of company unions. This study presented several types of support/supported relationships between small- and medium-sized company unions and industrial unions.