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Active Enactment and Virtuous Circles of Employment Relations: How Danish Unions Organised the Transnationalised Copenhagen Metro Construction Project

Author

Listed:
  • Jens Arnholtz

    (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

  • Bjarke Refslund

    (Aalborg University, Denmark)

Abstract

Transnational workers on large-scale construction projects are often poorly included in national industrial relations systems, which results in employment relations becoming trapped in vicious circles of weak enforcement and precarious work. This article shows how Danish unions have, nonetheless, been successful in enacting existing institutions and organising the construction of the Copenhagen Metro City Ring, despite initially encountering a highly fragmented, transnational workforce and several subcontracting firms that actively sought to circumvent Danish labour-market regulation. This is explained by the union changing their organising and enforcement strategies, thereby utilising various power resources to create inclusive strategies towards transnational workers. This includes efforts to create shared objectives and identity across divergent groups of workers and actively seeking changes in the public owners’ attitude towards employment relations.

Suggested Citation

  • Jens Arnholtz & Bjarke Refslund, 2019. "Active Enactment and Virtuous Circles of Employment Relations: How Danish Unions Organised the Transnationalised Copenhagen Metro Construction Project," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(4), pages 682-699, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:33:y:2019:i:4:p:682-699
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017019832514
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Arjan Keizer & Mat Johnson & Trine P Larsen & Bjarke Refslund & Damian Grimshaw, 2024. "Unions and precarious work: How power resources shape diverse strategies and outcomes," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 30(4), pages 383-402, December.
    3. Anne Theunissen & Patrizia Zanoni & Koen Van Laer, 2023. "Fragmented Capital and (the Loss of) Control over Posted Workers: A Case Study in the Belgian Meat Industry," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(4), pages 934-951, August.
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    5. Charlotte Hooper Overgaard & Laust Høgedahl, 2026. "Employer strategies for undermining migrants’ power resources: Evidence from the Danish construction sector," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 47(1), pages 78-96, February.
    6. Andrea Borello, 2025. "Structural Unfairness or Disrespect and Misrecognition? Theorising the Pathway Between Feelings of Injustice and Collective Mobilisation Among Precarious Migrant Workers," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 63(3), pages 413-426, September.
    7. Bjarke Refslund & Markku Sippola, 2022. "Migrant workers trapped between individualism and collectivism: The formation of union-based workplace collectivism," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(3), pages 1004-1027, August.
    8. Jens Arnholtz, 2021. "Posted work, enforcement capacity and firm variation: Evidence from the Danish construction sector," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 42(4), pages 1149-1164, November.

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