Working in a non-collective bargaining environment and building a local union chapter: Texas as the “state of exception”

Abstract

The author presents the experiences of a (re)founding organizer of a local union chapter in South Texas. The union member’s experience in organizational development under circumstances that are politically and economically hostile to employee rights - particularly the ability of faculty associations to offer protection to its membership in the current national anti-union political environment - is evaluated. The case is made here that the State is continually using its sovereign executive and legislative power to extract rights from those whom it makes exceptions, particularly unions. Politicians and higher education executives are simultaneously attempting to remove, effectively weaken and devalue the craftsmanship of worker knowledge at the organizational level. An interpretation of the overall case study is assessed using the knowledge analytic

Citation

Garrett, T. (2012), "Working in a non-collective bargaining environment and building a local union chapter: Texas as the “state of exception”", International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOTB-15-01-2012-B001