Contemporary Spanish trade unions

This article traces the development of the Spanish Trade Union Movement in the decade since the death of Franco. It reviews the immediate historical context of the contemporary Spanish unions, places them in a legal/institutional context and discusses their organisational strength and their role in the new Spanish democracy.     

Mergers in British trade unions 1949–79

Robert Buchanan examines the numbers, membership and main characteristics of the unions involved in mergers between 1949 and 1979, considers the main reasons for this trend in mergers, and compares it with the earlier merger movement occurring between 1911 and 1922.     

European trade unions and ‘atypical’ workers

The increase in ‘atypical’ or precarious forms of work, including part‐time, temporary or agency, contracted‐out, posted, dependent self‐employed and undocumented work, has created one of the major challenges facing trade unions in Europe today. Indeed, the ‘atypical’ has become more and more ‘typical’ in a number of European countries, particularly among women and younger workers. The rise in atypical forms of work calls for changes in the way trade unions develop strategies, policies and structures and presents a challenge to their traditional ways of thinking and organising. This article begins with the definition of atypical work and a general overview of the literature on the subject before moving on to the nature of the challenge it creates for trade unions in Europe and an overview of their responses, drawing on preliminary findings from a three‐year research project in unions in 10 European countries. The article concludes that while unions have made a great deal of progress in addressing the concerns of atypical workers, they will have to make substantial changes to their structures, thinking and way of operating in order to be fully able to respond to the challenge of this growing form of work.     

‘It's more than who you know’– networks and trade unions in the audio‐visual industries

Many commentators have argued that a shift towards post‐industrial modes of production and employment has progressively undermined the conditions for collective labour organisation and regulation. The capacity of trade unions to respond to these changes and represent the interests of contingent workers has become a key issue in many industries in which employment has become increasingly fragmented. This article examines patterns of interest representation pursued by freelance workers in the UK audio‐visual sector. In particular, it examines three critical cases to explore the potential of networks of freelance workers for representing their interests and to consider the implications for trade unions as traditional collective actors. We conclude that networks can provide forums through which interests can be articulated, but their limitations in representing freelance workers offer trade unions a crucial opportunity to extend collective regulation.     

Measuring mergers and concentration in UK unions 1910–88

Trade union mergers are currently attracting much attention. This is in the context of the continuing decline of trade unions and the role of mergers in maintaining their viability. However, a still neglected and important aspect of their development is how to measure with accuracy, the concentration which results from mergers.     

Where are miners’ unions going? trade unions in Vorkuta,Russia

The emergence of alternative unions in the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, suggested that new forms of unionism were developing. However, in the coalfields, the Independent Miners’ Union was unable to realise its initial promise, while the successors of the official unions began a complicated process of union renewal. This has laid the foundation for some form of reunification between the two types of unions.     

Cliometrics, 1971–1986: A survey

The paper selectively surveys recent quantitative work in economic history with special emphasis on research into unemployment in interwar Britain, the Habakkuk controversy, the Kuznets curve, the demographic transition and heights in history. It is shown that the field has advanced well beyond the routine applications of elementary microeconomics which characterized its early days. Considerably greater quantitative sophistication and a much wider coverage of historical issues have been notable features of this advance. It is argued that econometric methods need to be supplemented in historical work by other forms of evidence to obtain persuasive answers to historical questions.     

Beyond ‘Euroland’: British trade unions,the single currency and European integration

British trade unions have differing perspectives as to the desirability of UK membership of the eurozone. This paper provides a critical review of the spectrum of union views and highlights key points of disagreement and areas of common ground. An agenda for further reflection upon the euro by the unions is also offered. Finally, the paper considers union positions on the implications of the wider process of European integration for industrial relations.     

Negotiating ‘solidarity’ and internationalism: the response of Polish trade unions to migration

In the context of massive outward migration after Poland's accession to the EU in 2004, this article explores the possibilities for cross‐border collaboration by Polish trade unions. The findings are based on interviews with the two main trade union/trade union federations, Solidarity and Ogolnopolskie Porozumnie Zwi?zków Zawodowych: All‐Poland Alliance of Trade Unions, at national, regional and sectoral levels. Examining the issues and challenges faced by Polish trade unions in terms of loss of membership and social capital, the article also evaluates the significance of Poland's status as a country of some inward migration. It is argued that cross‐border trade union collaboration has become an even more urgent project as the economic crisis intensifies competition in the labour market and increases the potential for xenophobia.     

New communication systems and trade union politics: a case study of Spanish trade unions and the role of the internet

This article shows how engagement with the internet and aspects of the new economy/society require an appreciation of union difference and politics. It shows how union responses vary due to four factors: communication strategies, union identity, forms of internal democracy and a range of organisational and social contingencies. The article will study the phenomena of the internet in the context of one national case study, Spain. It is a country that allows us to view the political dimensions of the internet, and the way they link to communication strategies, due to the manner in which the labour movement has transformed and modernised itself. It is also of interest because methods of communication have been at the heart of the way in which unions have developed and differentiated themselves. This article will argue that a greater sensitivity is required in terms of union history, politics and identity if the impact and use of new forms of communication are to be fully appreciated. It also points to the need to appreciate tensions between different forms of communication.     

Post‐socialist trade unions: China and Russia

This paper identifies the constraints and opportunities facing trade unions in post‐socialist societies through a comparison of the Russian and Chinese cases. The paper charts the changing role of trade unions in the integration of state‐socialist economies into global capitalism and argues that this presents the trade unions with a dilemma: whether to reconstitute their traditional role through collaboration with management and the state apparatus, or whether to develop their ability to defend the rights and interests of workers. While the former offers the line of least resistance, there are progressive elements pushing for change in both trade union movements.     

When trade unions turn to litigation: ‘getting all the ducks in a row’

Driven by their members' demands and the need to adopt more combative legal strategies in order to oppose the deterioration of working and employment conditions, British trade unions have developed in‐house legal expertise and supported many individual and multiple claims. This article investigates the variation in unions' legal practices and examines their organisational responses to law and the role of compliance professionals in the regulation of employment litigation. It provides a nuanced account of the influence of legal rationality on the framing of union strategies and shows that, under certain conditions, trade unions are able to build multi‐pronged tactics by using litigation as a complement to other forms of action.     

Organising campaigns as ‘revitaliser’ for trade unions? The example of the Lidl campaign

US‐style organising campaigns are a relatively new repertoire of action for German trade unions and can be seen as further evidence of their transformation. The example of the Lidl campaign organised by German United Service Union ver.di is chosen to illustrate tensions between organising and campaigning as revitalisation strategies.     

Technology agreements in Great Britain: a survey 1977–83*

Since 1979, the TUC has encouraged affiliated unions to control the direction and application of new technology in the workplace by the negotiation of new technology agreements with employers. This article, using a recent survey of 240 such agreements, examines the progress that trade unions have subsequently made.     

‘A cracking job for a woman’– a profile of women trade union officers

This article focuses on the women who constitute less than 10% of the total number of full-time trade union officers–it examines the distribution of women FTOs across the trade union movement, their experiences of working in a male-dominated occupation and the ways in which they adapt to the pressures and demands of their situation.     

A role for a pan-European trade union movement?–possibilities in European IR-regulation

Steps towards internationalisation of the trade union movement are considered in the context of the process of political and economic integration taking place in the EU. The trade unions are trying–partly via the ETUC–to play a role at pan-European level. However, the European trade union movement is not a cohesive entity. Besides, it has no significant transnational power-resources. These factors suggest that any European IR-system will be based primarily on political regulation rather than on a system of collective agreements.     

Platform strategy of video game software in Japan, 1984–1994: theory and evidence

This paper analyzes a model of platform competition in markets of system products composed of hardware and complementary software, with a specific focus on exclusive contracting. When hardware products are strongly differentiated, or when consumers value the marginal benefit of additional software variety highly, we find that, in equilibrium, hardware firms will engage in exclusive contracting of software development. This finding is strongly supported by our empirical results in the Japanese home video game industry, dominated by Nintendo from 1984 to 1994. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

WHAT FACTORS AFFECT A STATE'S MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT? EVIDENCE FROM 1974–1994 STATE PANEL DATA

This paper provides new evidence that US state policies can affect the location of manufacturing activity. The paper extends the literature by analyzing industry-level panel data from 1974–1994. Results from the two-stage empirical model support ex ante intuition that divergence in state policy and/or characteristics affects specific manufacturing industries differently. Econometric techniques employed herein address many of the criticisms of previous work in this area.