Abstract
The management revue is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary European journal publishing both qualitative and quantitative work as well as purely theoretical papers that advance the study of management, organisation and industrial relations.
Highlights
In Europe, most of the trade unions have been confronted with a decline in their membership for several decades
First I present the specificities of Belgian trade unions, especially focussing on the evolution of the membership and on the role these organisations play in the unemployment scheme, with all the consequences this involves
Belgian unions’ characteristics described in the first section, as well as the four cases of union revitalisation presented could give a misleading impression of unions living in a blissful situation
Summary
Since the 1980s, many scholars have been focussing on the loss of strength of trade unions in the aftermath of economic crisis begun in the previous decade. This remains a strong explaining factor of high union density in Belgium (Van Rie, Marx, & Horemans, 2011) This historical evidence is a clear example of close links between unions and political parties: trade unions support sister parties in their struggle for power, for instance by promoting their ideas – and sometimes even their candidates – during the electoral campaigns, and the political parties try to reinforce trade unions’ positions when and where they are in the office Since Belgian governments are coalition governments, at least one of the two major union confederations has links with some ministers Thanks to these positions and characteristics, Belgian trade unions can rely on an important number of professionals, on a dense network of representatives and activists, as well as on a high and stable union density. Belgian trade unions seem to be strong organizations and institutionally well-integrated actors
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