Abstract
The institutional mechanisms that enable workers’ self-determination and voice is a central question of industrial relations scholarship (Kochan et al. 2019; Budd 2004; Cutcher-Gershenfeld 1991; Kochan, Katz, and McKersie 1986). In this chapter, we expand the conversation around amplifying voice by bringing in an organizational type that is increasingly common: the multi-stakeholder consortium. Consortia, in contrast to more formal arrangements, build lateral, malleable ties across stakeholders (Cutcher-Gershenfeld et al. 2017). These lateral institutional arrangements allow parties to accomplish together what they cannot do separately. Our research has centered on the ten-fold increase over the past two decades (compared to the prior fifty years) in the launch of multi-stakeholder consortia advancing research computing and data (Stakeholder Alignment Collaborative 2022). Here we bring insights gained from this research to five cases of multi-stakeholder dynamics in labor and employment relations. In the labor-management arena, consortia are forming to accomplish things that traditional collective bargaining and contract administration is not set up to accomplish. This includes providing voice when management refuses to deal with workers in a collective way, advancing the professionalization of work previously seen as low status, and serving as a complement to established collective bargaining relationships.