The Role of Labor Union in Maintaining Good Employment Relations: The Case of Ethiopian Insurance Corporation
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Date
2017-05-27
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The main objective of this study was to examine the role of labor union in maintaining good
employment relation. To study this subject matter, Ethiopian Insurance Corporation labor union
which has 899 members was selected. The study used descriptive research design and employed
mixed research approach, to investigate the extent to which the labor union participates and
allows its own members to take part in labor affairs to maintain good employment relation in the
corporation. Due to the time and budget constraint, dispersed geographical location and
similarity of work categories, data was collected from all offices that are located in Addis Ababa,
where there are 511 union members. From this population size 224 union members were selected
by using convenience sampling and 4 union leaders and 4 administrative managers were
purposively selected by using purposive sampling, who were considered to be major informants.
The sampled union members were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire with 39
likert scale questions categorized in four parts. To check the internal consistency and reliability
of the questions, pilot testing was conducted and Cronobach’s Alpha of 0 .919 was acquired. The
final response rate was 87% (N=190). The respondents’ responses were analyzed using
descriptive statistics through SPSS.
The results are presented in the form of figures, charts and tables using mean and percentages.
The findings revealed that the role of the labor union in ensuring the benefits of the union, in
maintaining peaceful employment relation and in collective bargaining is good, whereas the
overall role of labor union in promoting industrial democracy among union members and in the
corporation is low. However, the labor union needs to work on creating ways to participate in
strategic issues of the corporation, succession plan and employee promotion. And, most
importantly it needs to work on finding ways to reach out all union members, so that they can
participate in labor affairs and get up-to-date information about changes in the corporation
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Keywords
Labor union, Employment Relations, Industrial Democracy