Kaiken varalta. Tutkimus vastavalmistuneiden korkeasti koulutettujen ammattijärjestöjäsenyydelleen asettamista odotuksista

Abstract

Tutkimuksessa selvitetään myöhäismoderniin kuuluvien yksilöllistymisen ja työelämän muutosten näkymistä niissä odotuksissa, joita vastavalmistuneet korkeasti koulutetut asettavat ammattijärjestöjäsenyydelleen.

Tulosten mukaan yksilöllistyminen näkyy jäsenyyteen kohdistuvissa odotuksissa. Jäsenyys on asiakassuhde, jossa jäsenmaksua vastaan odotetaan saatavan henkilökohtaisesti tärkeänä pidettyjä palveluja. Oma sitoutuminen ja omaa koulutusalaa laajempi yhteenkuuluvuus on vastausten perusteella vähäistä. Vastavalmistuneet ovat sopeutumassa myöhäismodernin työelämän muutoksiin. Vakituista työpaikkaa tärkeämmäksi nousee haastateltavien vastauksissa sisällöltään mielekäs työ. Ensisijainen syy liittyä ammattijärjestöön onkin ansiosidonnainen työttömyysturva, jolla varaudutaan mahdollisiin työsuhteessa oleviin katkoksiin. Ammattijärjestöä pidetään myös asiantuntijana, jolta saa neuvoja omia henkilökohtaisia ratkaisuja tehtäessä ja tukea työsuhteen ongelmissa. AKAVAa pidetään edunvalvojana. Sitä vastoin toiminta yhteiskunnallisena puolestapuhujana ei tullut vastauksissa esille.

Tutkimuksen aineisto on kerätty osana AKAVAn työmarkkinatutkimusta ja haastattelemalla 16 vastavalmistunutta akavalaista.

To be on the safe side A study on the expectations on trade union membership of newly graduated highly educated employees

In my study, I examined how post-modern shows itself in the expectations that those newly graduated and highly educated set to their trade union membership. With the term highly educated I mean those who hold a degree from a university or Polytechnic. This is how AKAVA - the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals in Finland ­ describes its membership. My assumption was that out of the characteristics of post-modern, especially individualization and changes in working life may affect identification and interest in joining a trade union that are essential for unionization. The background of this idea includes the notion that a person s interest in unionization always interacts with the surrounding society and that a movement, in this case a trade union, also transfers the past into the future through the habitus of its members.

The theoretical part of my study presents the concepts of individualization and identity along with theories explaining collective action. I also described how unionization among those highly educated has developed since the days of class society. In unionization, I distinguished four different phases, of which the most recent one dates back to the recession in the early 1990, when those highly educated had felt their status to be weakened by the developments in the political life or labour market. The status of highly educated people is also affected by the educational reform that took place in the 1990 s, introducing the Polytechnics and increasing the competition ­ to some extent for the same jobs.

The empirical part of my study consisted of AKAVA s membership survey and semi-structured interviews with 16 persons who had just graduated. My interview questions examined individualization, identification and reasons for unionization. Bourdieu s concepts of capital formed the basis of my questions, but I also compared the answers to other theories of movement. In the analysis and interpretation of the interview texts I used discourse analysis.

The interviews confirmed my assumption on the individualization of the interviewees. With all of them, it was utilitarian individualism, but also traits of expressive individualism could be seen. The interviewees named education to be a feature shared by those belonging to AKAVA, which was not, however, sufficient for a strong identification as an AKAVA member. Instead, they identified with their own field of education. The interviewees considered solidarity to be positive, but most of them were unfamiliar with a more exact definition of solidarity. Those who understood solidarity as joint responsibility found it a good feature, even though they doubted whether it exists. For instance, they rejected active participation in trade union activities for their own part, leaving it to the responsibility of others.

The answers of the interviewees clearly showed that joining a trade union is a way of promoting one s own security. However, the concept of security was understood in many different ways. The interviewees associated security with their walk of life, own field of education and concept of working life. For the most interviewees and respondents of the survey, the reason for unionization was salary based unemployment benefit which trade union membership entails them to. Other reasons for unionization include trade union s expertise in the educational field and employment issues as well as watching over the members interests in salary development. According to the answers, I classified the security expected by the interviewees from their trade union membership into economical security and professional security.

When I examined the answers with the help of Bourdieu s concepts of capital, the economical capital manifested itself as the most important reason for unionization. Educational and social capital were both less significant. All these three forms of capital seemed to interact with symbolic capital, in which the meaning of cultural capital, regarded as education, was focused. The interviewees described it as the basis for economical capital and appreciation. Their answers also showed an ethos of equality, which made it difficult to admit the existence and expectation for appreciation. Consequently, the interviewees could deny any appreciation that AKAVA members may have or transfer it to apply to other AKAVA members than themselves.

Symbolic capital made Bourdieu s classification struggle apparent where education has been used as a classificatory scheme ever since class society. The answers of female interviewees showed signs of the idea that the interests of all member groups are not watched over as equally effectively. This allows classification struggle to move into the trade union.