The Changing Appearence of Employers’ Associations: A Review of Selected Countries

Employers’ associations are formed by capital owners to protect and develop their common economic rights and interests in industrial relations. Employers’ associations were founded based on the change in interclass relations after the Industrial Revolution and have played an important role in the process of making rules regarding industrial relations for a long time, having achieved great success in protecting the class interests of their members. However, the weakening in the reasons that led to the formation of employers’ associations in the following period caused these institutions to lose their members and power to a significant extent. As a result, employers’ associations have taken various measures to prevent membership losses and to maintain their power. This article discusses England, Germany, and the United States of America as examples of countries where employers’ associations developed early. Employers’ associations are observed to have undergone a significant transformation as a result of their struggles and activities related to maintaining their existence, and they started undertaking the activities of other employers’ organizations in this context and in line with their capabilities. Based on these changes, this study concludes that employers’ associations have gone beyond being pure industrial relations organizations to gradually having become hybrid organizations.