Trade union renewal

Trade unions have repeatedly been challenged by neoliberal programmes implemented within Member States of the European Union (EU) and at the European level. The twenty-seven country chapters at the core of this book chart the features of the neoliberal challenge in the EU Member States and the measures implemented by unions in their attempts to... Find out more

Policy recommendations • A critical mass of trade union members, i.e. beyond union activists, are willing to perform less-demanding tasks in support of their union; this is an internal union resource that is currently underutilised. As union tasks differ in terms of effort and time, they should be tested beforehand to estimate which kinds appeal to... Find out more

Multinational companies dominate much of the economies of the new EU member states of central and eastern Europe. They usually claim to respect trade unions at home and many have signed global agreements with international union organisations. It could be hoped that they would play a positive role, bringing better employment relations practices... Find out more

Key points Social media such as Facebook forces unions to increase communication with members and makes rank-and-file dissent highly visible. Challenges can arise as a result of different emphases on collective and connective logics between online networks and established unions. Union success on social media requires a careful balancing act... Find out more

Policy implications The risk created by expanding the labour pool to workers based in other countries can, if necessary, be dealt with by EU legislative action, for example, through substantive EU employment law. Furthermore, the risk created by expanding the labour pool to workers based in non-EU countries can be dealt with by the overriding... Find out more