IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/treure/v21y2015i2p157-170.html

Acting in different worlds. Challenges to transnational trade union cooperation in the eurozone crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Steffen Lehndorff

    (Institut Arbeit und Qualifikation (IAQ) / University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany)

Abstract

In the ongoing crisis in, and of, the eurozone, the fates of trade unions in different countries are more than ever linked to each other, while the respective national areas of conflict are drifting apart. Most notably, the damage caused by the widely hailed German labour market ‘reforms’ before the crisis, which have resulted in a substantial decline in the impact of trade union policy in Germany, has in the course of the eurozone crisis become a threat for unions at the ‘periphery’. This article argues that, while unions in individual countries will necessarily continue to fight the dominant EU crisis management policies primarily at national level, their prospects of success will increasingly depend on their transnational cooperation. The argument is developed through a comparison between the problems faced by trade unions in Greece and Spain on the one hand, and in Germany on the other.

Suggested Citation

  • Steffen Lehndorff, 2015. "Acting in different worlds. Challenges to transnational trade union cooperation in the eurozone crisis," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 21(2), pages 157-170, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:21:y:2015:i:2:p:157-170
    DOI: 10.1177/1024258915573184
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1024258915573184
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1024258915573184?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vogiatzoglou, Markos, 2014. "Die griechische Gewerkschaftsbewegung: Protest- und Sozialbewegungen im Kontext der Austeritätspolitik," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 67(5), pages 361-368.
    2. Dribbusch, Heiner, 2014. "Voraussetzungen internationaler Solidarität: Zur Diskussion um einen europäischen Generalstreik," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 67(5), pages 337-344.
    3. Richard Hyman, 2007. "How can trade unions act strategically?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 13(2), pages 193-210, May.
    4. Hyman, Richard, 2007. "How can trade unions act strategically?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 39803, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Alexander Herzog-Stein & Fabian Lindner & Rudolf Zwiener, 2013. "Is the supply side all that counts?," IMK Report 87e-2013, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    6. Katja Rietzler, 2014. "Anhaltender Verfall der Infrastruktur," IMK Report 94-2014, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    7. Maria da Paz Campos Lima & Antonio Martín Artiles, 2011. "Crisis and trade union challenges in Portugal and Spain: between general strikes and social pacts," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 17(3), pages 387-402, August.
    8. Josep Banyuls & Fausto Miguélez & Albert Recio & Ernest Cano & Raúl Lorente, 2009. "The Transformation of the Employment System in Spain: Towards a Mediterranean Neoliberalism?," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Gerhard Bosch & Steffen Lehndorff & Jill Rubery (ed.), European Employment Models in Flux, chapter 10, pages 247-269, Palgrave Macmillan.
    9. Köhler, Holm-Detlev & Jiménez, José Pablo Calleja, 2014. "Spanien: Massenmobilisierungen gegen das Austeritätsdiktat," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 67(5), pages 369-377.
    10. Rohlfer, Sylvia, 2012. "Perspectives on Social Pacts in Spain: Social Dialogue and the Social Partners," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 23(1), pages 49-65.
    11. Roland Erne, 2012. "European Unions After the Crisis," Chapters, in: Luigi Burroni & Maarten Keune & Guglielmo Meardi (ed.), Economy and Society in Europe, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Rohlfer, Sylvia, 2012. "Perspectives on Social Pacts in Spain: Social Dialogue and the Social Partners," management revue. Socio-economic Studies, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 23(1), pages 49-65.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sabina Stan & Roland Erne, 2021. "Time for a paradigm change? Incorporating transnational processes into the analysis of the emerging European health-care system," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(3), pages 289-302, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sara Maric & Elke S. Schuessler & Laura Thäter, 2025. "Neither Employment nor Self‐Employment: Avenues Towards Functional Platform‐Mediated Work Systems," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 63(2), pages 287-304, June.
    2. Michele Ford & Michael Gillan, 2022. "Understanding global union repertoires of action," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(6), pages 559-577, November.
    3. Dean Stroud, 2012. "Organizing training for union renewal: A case study analysis of the European Union steel industry," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 33(2), pages 225-244, May.
    4. Jane Holgate, 2018. "The Sydney Alliance: A broad-based community organising potential for trade union transformation?," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 39(2), pages 312-331, May.
    5. Christian Lévesque & Gregor Murray, 2010. "Understanding union power: resources and capabilities for renewing union capacity," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 16(3), pages 333-350, August.
    6. Tom Hunt & Heather Connolly, 2023. "Covid‐19 and the work of trade unions: Adaptation, transition and renewal," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 150-166, March.
    7. Maria da Paz Campos Lima & Antonio Martín Artiles, 2011. "Crisis and trade union challenges in Portugal and Spain: between general strikes and social pacts," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 17(3), pages 387-402, August.
    8. Mark Harcourt & Gregor Gall & Rinu Vimal Kumar & Richard Croucher, 2021. "The role of unions in addressing behavioural market failures," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 42(4), pages 1165-1188, November.
    9. Holly Smith, 2022. "The ‘indie unions’ and the UK labour movement: Towards a community of practice," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(3), pages 1369-1390, August.
    10. Oriol Barranco & Oscar Molina, 2021. "Continuity and change in trade union frames: Evidence from general strikes in Spain," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 42(4), pages 1232-1253, November.
    11. Dean Stroud & Peter Fairbrother, 2012. "The limits and prospects of union power: Addressing mass redundancy in the steel industry," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 33(4), pages 649-668, November.
    12. Bispinck, Reinhard & Schulten, Thorsten, 2014. "Wages, collective bargaining and economic development in Germany: Towards a more expansive and solidaristic development?," WSI Working Papers 191, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    13. Gregor Murray, 2017. "Union renewal: what can we learn from three decades of research?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(1), pages 9-29, February.
    14. Lorenzo Frangi & Muhammad Umar Boodoo & Robert Hebdon, 2022. "Demobilised or dormant? Exploring pro-strike attitudes among employees who have never joined a strike," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(3), pages 1236-1259, August.
    15. Jane Holgate, 2021. "Trade unions in the community: Building broad spaces of solidarity," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 42(2), pages 226-247, May.
    16. Bradon Ellem, 2014. "A battle between titans? Rio Tinto and union recognition in Australia’s iron ore industry," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 35(1), pages 185-200, February.
    17. Christian Dufour & Adelheid Hege, 2010. "The legitimacy of collective actors and trade union renewal," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 16(3), pages 351-367, August.
    18. Isaac Khambule & Cecile Gerwel-Proches, 2019. "Exploring the role of social dialogue in local economic development: A case of a South African Local Economic Development Agency," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 19(1), pages 36-54, January.
    19. Alex Pazaitis & Vasilis Kostakis & Michel Bauwens, 2017. "Digital economy and the rise of open cooperativism: the case of the Enspiral Network," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(2), pages 177-192, May.
    20. Jane Holgate, 2015. "Community organising in the UK: A ‘new’ approach for trade unions?," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 36(3), pages 431-455, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:21:y:2015:i:2:p:157-170. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.