Impacto de la intervención sindical en materia de riesgos laborales de origen psicosocial. Un estudio comparado en Europa occidental
| Autor | Raúl Payá Castiblanque |
| Cargo | Universidad de Valencia, España |
| Páginas | 208-230 |
ISSN 1575-7048 – eISSN 2444-5819
Lan Harremanak, 2021, 45, 208-230
https://doi.org/10.1387/lan-harremanak.22768
IMPACT OF THE UNION INTERVENTION
IN THE MATTER OF LABOR RISKS OF
PSYCHOSOCIAL ORIGIN. A COMPARATIVE
STUDY IN WESTERN EUROPE
Impacto de la intervención sindical en materia de riesgos laborales de origen
psicosocial. Un estudio comparado en Europa occidental
R P C*
Universidad de Valencia, España
RESUMEN
■
Es conocido que la intervención sindical tiene un efecto positivo sobre la reducción de los accidentes de trabajo. Sin
embargo, no existe evidencia comparable sobre su efecto en las patologías psicosomáticas. La presente investigación estudia el
impacto de la representación de los trabajadores en materia de riesgos psicosociales, tanto en términos agregados para el con-
junto de la UE como de forma comparada entre los distintos sistemas de relaciones laborales. A tal efecto, se analizan los mi-
crodatos de una encuesta a 31.991 centros de trabajo europeos (ESENER-2), mediante diversos modelos de regresión que
permitieron identificar cómo la presencia de representantes garantiza estándares más elevados de gestión y la correspondiente
activación cultural, mientras que los de absentismo laboral solo se reducen con la participación directa y activa de los trabaja-
dores. Por su parte, el análisis de correspondencias múltiples permite constatar cómo los sistemas institucionalizados del área
centroeuropea y mediterránea presentan más dificultades para involucrar a los trabajadores que los escandinavos o anglosajo-
nes caracterizados por mayores niveles de autorregulación.
Palabras clave: recursos de poder sindical, estudio comparado, riesgos psicosociales, cultura participativa, espejismo institucional.
ABSTRACT
■
It is known that union intervention has a positive effect on the reduction of occupational accidents. However, there is no com-
parable evidence on its effect on psychosomatic pathologies. This research studies the impact of workers’ representation on psychosocial
risks, both in aggregate terms for the whole of the EU and in a comparative manner between the different systems of labor relations.
To this end, the microdata of a survey of 31,991 European work centers (ESENER-2) are analyzed by means of various regression
models that allowed the identification of how the presence of representatives guarantees higher standards of management and the cor-
responding cultural activation, while those of absenteeism from work are only reduced with the direct and active participation of the
workers. On the other hand, the analysis of multiple correspondences allows us to see how the institutionalized systems of the Central
European and Mediterranean area present more difficulties in involving workers than the Scandinavian or Anglo-Saxon systems,
which are characterized by higher levels of self-regulation.
Keywords: union power resources, comparative study, psychosocial risks, participatory culture, institutional mirage.
* Correspondencia a: Raúl Payá Castiblanque. Av. Tarongers, 4.b (Valencia), España. — raul.paya@uv.es — https: //orcid.
org/0000-0002-7967-8660
Cómo citar: Payá Castiblanque, Raúl. (2021). “Impacto de la intervención sindical en materia de riesgos laborales de origen psicoso-
cial. Un estudio comparado en Europa occidental”; Lan Harremanak, 45, 208-230. (https: //doi.org/10.1387/lan-harremanak.22768).
Recibido: 30 abril, 2021; aceptado: 08 junio, 2021.
ISSN 1575-7048 — eISSN 2444-5819 / © 2020 UPV/EHU
Esta obra está bajo una licencia
Creative Commons Atribución 4.0 Internacional
I 209
https://doi.org/10.1387/lan-harremanak.22768
1. Introduction: Effects of union intervention on occupational health
Throughout history, the union movement has played a relevant role in
improving working conditions and fighting against pathologies (physical or
psychological) that threatened the health of workers, as demonstrated by the
strikes against ceruse or white phosphorus (Rainhorn, 2010; Voguel, 2016).
To date, we have strong empirical evidence on the positive impact of union
intervention on occupational safety and health (Johnstone, et al., 2005; Wal-
ters and Nichols, 2006; Walters and Nichols, 2007). Following the analyti-
cal typology of Walters, et al. (2005), econometric studies that analyze the
effects of indirect worker participation, through their representatives, on oc-
cupational health harms can be divided between those that measure its direct
impact, on the one hand, and those that analyze its indirect impact, on the
other. In this sense, various investigations have found a statistically significant
relationship between the presence of general (unitary or union) and special-
ized occupational health representation bodies (prevention delegates or safety
and health committees) in workplaces, with the reduction of occupational ac-
cidents (Nichols, et al., 2007; Reilly, et al., 1995; Robinson and Smallman,
2013) and occupational diseases (Robinson and Smallman, 2006). In refer-
ence to the indirect impact of union action on occupational health, it is also
known how in workplaces where general and specialized representation op-
erates, preventive management standards are increased (indirect impact A)
(Coutrot, 2009; Ollé, et al. 2015; Weil 1992) and a participatory culture is
activated to the extent that the company’s commitment to preventive man-
agement and the promotion of direct participation by workers are increasing
(indirect impact B) (Biggins et al. 1991; Shaw and Turner, 2003; Warren-
Langford et al. 1993). This is a double indirect impact because the companies
that best integrate the three phases of the preventive management cycle (elab-
oration of prevention plans, risk evaluation, design and planning of action
measures) and involve the workers in the design and implementation of this
management system (direct active participation), present fewer work accidents
than companies with lower management standards and an authoritarian man-
agement that simply informs the workers (direct passive participation) of the
risks (Autenrieth, et al. 2016; Robinson and Smallman, 2013), as discussed in
the analytical framework (Figure 1) of this research.
Despite the positive effect of associative power on standards of labor
welfare, the truth is that there are also studies that have found how union-
ized workplaces have the highest rates of accidents (Fenn and Ashby, 2004;
Hillage, et al., 2000; Litwin, 2000), which has shifted the focus of research
to the study of the determinants that drive or weaken the degree of real par-
ticipation of workers’ representatives (Menendez, et al. 2009; Walters and
Wadsworth, 2014, 2020). Such studies have identified at the organizational
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