Patterns of transnational trade union cooperation in Europe: The effect of regimes, sectors and resources

Patrik Vulkan,Bengt Larsson

doi:10.1177/0959680118783551

Abstract

How far, in what ways and on what issues do trade unions in Europe cooperate cross-nationally? Three important structural factors may explain differences in cooperation: national industrial relations contexts, sectoral contexts and unions’ organizational resources. We examine transnational union cooperation at sectoral level, and test the explanatory value of these three factors. We address cooperation in five broad sectors, using a Europe-wide questionnaire-based survey of trade union activities. We find that sectoral differences explain more of the variation in levels of transnational cooperation than do industrial relations regimes when controlling for resources, whereas both sectors and regimes influence which issues are seen as important for current and future cooperation. In addition, small trade unions engage in much less transnational cooperation than large ones.

Highlights

Trade unions play important roles nationally and at the European level, in defending and developing working conditions and addressing social issues
The results indicate that the crisis had ambiguous effects on sectoral-level cooperation: over 60 percent of respondents agreed that it had made unions more protectionist, but over 70 percent stated that it had increased their own cooperation with other unions in Europe (Bengtsson and Vulkan, 2018)
Theories of differences in trade unionism and industrial relations in Europe have largely focused on nationally based models and varieties of trade unionism or regimes and clusters of industrial relations (Caprile et al, 2018; Gumbrell-McCormick and Hyman, 2013; Hyman, 2001; Visser et al, 2009)

Summary

Introduction

Trade unions play important roles nationally and at the European level, in defending and developing working conditions and addressing social issues. Throughout Europe, they have experienced declining membership density, reduced scope for contentious action and diminished power resulting from austerity policies and the decentralization of collective bargaining (Kelly, 2015; Lehndorff et al, 2017; Marginson, 2015; Müller, 2016). They face new challenges such as flexible contracts, digital or platform work and bogus self-employment, all of which transcend the national arena (Arrowsmith and Pulignano, 2013; Degryse, 2016; Pedersini and Pallini, 2016)

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