Trade Unions And Politics In Western Europe

This book analyses the politics and political issues associated with Trade Unions and Trade Unionism in Western Europe.

Trade unions in most of Europe are on the defensive: in recent decades they have lost membership, sometimes drastically; their collective bargaining power has declined, as has their influence on government; and in many countries, their public respect is much diminished. This book explores the challenges facing trade unions and their responses in ten west European countries: Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Italy. Based on a substantial number of interviews with key union representatives and academic experts in each country, together with the collection of a large amount of union documentation and background material, the book gives an account of how trade unionism has evolved in each country, the main recent challenges that unions have faced, and their responses. The book engages with the debates of the past two decades on union modernization and revitalization, and more generally with theories of institutional change and the literature on varieties of capitalism. Some observers ask whether unions remain relevant socio-economic actors, but challenging times can stimulate new thinking, and hence provide new opportunities. This book aims to show why trade unions are (still) important subjects for scientific analysis: first, as a means of collective 'voice' allowing employees to challenge management control and bringing a measure of balance to the employment relationship; second, as a form of 'countervailing power' to the socio-economic dominance of capital; and third, their potential as a 'sword of justice' to defend the weak, vulnerable and disadvantaged, express a set of values in opposition to the dominant political economy, and offer aspirations for a different—and better—form of society.

There is a developing crisis of social democratic trade unionism in Western Europe; this volume outlines the crisis and examines the emerging alternatives. The authors define 'social democratic trade unionism' and its associated party-union nexus and explain how this traditional model has been threatened by social democracy's accommodation to neo-liberal restructuring and public service reform. Examining the experience of Sweden, Germany, Britain and France, the volume explores the historical rise and fall of social democratic trade unionism in each of these countries and probes the policy and practice of the European Trade Union Confederation. The authors critically examine the possibilities for a revival of social democratic unionism in terms of strategic policy and identity, offering suggestions for an alternative, radicalized political unionism. The research value of the book is highlighted by its focus on contemporary developments and its authors' intimate knowledge of the chosen countries.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1961.

This first comparative-historical analysis of the regulations that restrict the managerial capacity to dismiss employees and use temporary forms of employment addresses four puzzles that have long troubled the comparative political economy literature. Who is the driving force behind the extension of dismissal protection? Why is statutory dismissal protection particularly extensive in continental Europe? How can the uneven temporal development of job security regulations be explained? And what are the causes of the two-tier labour market reforms in recent decades? Analysing the historical development of job security regulations in Western Europe from the establishment of freedom of contract in the 19th century until the peak of two-tier labour market reforms in the 2000s, this book contributes to resolving these puzzles by emphasising the important role of trade unions, their preference for institutional control, and the strategic choices they make.

The Societies of Europe is an 8-title series of historical data handbooks and accompanying CD-ROM sets, on the development of Europe from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. The series is a product of the Mannheim Centre for Social research, a body dedicated to comparative research on Europe and one of the leading social research institutes in the world. It is a collection of datasets giving a clear and systematic study of long term developments in European society. The data is presented statistically and is clearly comparative. The Societies of Europe is the most comprehensive data series available on Western European social issues. Each book is accompanied by a CD-ROM containing data sets not included in the text enabling users to manipulate the data as wanted. Information is available in different programmes (Excel, SPSS and SAS) and in data structures for analysis, viewing and building time series. This comparative data handbook offers an empirical base to a long-term and comparative understanding of changes and variations in European union movements. It provides information on the context and history of union development, the changes in the structure of post-war unionism until today, the long-term trends in union membership and union density, and the shifts in the cross-sectional composition of union membership. This book and CD-ROM are the result of many years of research by the authors in collaboration with an international research team, and provides an original source for comparative and national studies or individual enquiries. The country and comparative tables offer cross-checked and often newly-calculated statistics on national union organizations and their membership series. The CD-ROM includes selected tables from the handbook and provides additional databases with organizational data and membership series of major national and European union organizations.