Wednesday 12 June 2019

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

an article by Patrik Vulkan and Bengt Larsson (Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden) published in European Journal of Industrial Relations Volume 25 Issue 2 (June 2019)

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.

Full text (PDF 16pp)


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