Trade union representation of contingent workers in further education in the UK and Austria

Abstract

The subject of this article is trade union strategies for contingent workers. On the assumption that trade unions’ strategic responses vary in accordance with their national institutional contexts, we compare Austria and the UK in the area of further education. In both countries, we found various trade union strategies for dealing with the growing heterogeneity of members and potential members of trade unions in further education. From a cross-country perspective, however, we found some evidence that the spread of contingent work might lead to a convergence of union strategies and a reduction of the influence on their behaviour of national institutions.