Rough Waters European Trade Unions in a Time of Crises
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European Trade Union Institute Bd du Roi Albert II, 5 1210 Brussels Belgium +32 (0)2 224 04 70 [email protected] www.etui.org Rough waters European trade unions in a time of crises 2nd and updated edition, edited by Rough waters Steffen Lehndorff, Heiner Dribbusch and Thorsten Schulten European trade unions In the wake of the Great Recession Europe today is characterised by increasing economic and political polarisation. This has been reflected over recent years in the increasing divergence of in a time of crises trade union trajectories. — This book analyses trade union development since the early 2000s, covering eleven countries (Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden Edited by and the UK), together with a separate study on EU-level federations. The individual chapters Steffen Lehndorff, Heiner Dribbusch and Thorsten Schulten focus on unions’ structural, organisational, institutional and discursive power resources. One feature in particular emerges from the turbulent European trade union landscape, namely the challenge of becoming politically more autonomous while long-standing institutional power resources are at increasing risk of being dismantled or of losing their effectiveness within a seemingly undamaged shell. Rough waters – European trade unions in a time of crises trade – European waters Rough Dribbusch and Thorsten Schulten Heiner Lehndorff, by Steffen Edited D/2018/10.574/21 ISBN: 978-2-87452-496-7 Rough waters European trade unions in a time of crises Rough waters European trade unions in a time of crises — Edited by Steffen Lehndorff, Heiner Dribbusch and Thorsten Schulten European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) ‘An impressive study of European trade unions after a decade of crisis. This is a work of immense value for scholars and for trade unionists themselves.’ Richard Hyman, Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science ‘Rough Waters is highly recommended. It is up-to date, insightful and coherently structured, and above all gives the reader – specialist or not – an outstanding snapshot of the state of European trade unions at a moment of considerable economic, political and social turbulence. The editors and contributors are to be congratulated on a book that deserves the widest possible readership.’ Michael Gold, School of Management, Royal Holloway University of London ETUI publications are published to elicit comment and to encourage debate. The views expressed are those of the author(s) alone and do not necessarily represent the views of the ETUI nor those of the members of its general assembly. Brussels, 2018. Second and updated edition. © Publisher: ETUI aisbl, Brussels All rights reserved Print: ETUI Printshop, Brussels D/2018/10.574/21 ISBN: 978-2-87452-496-7 (print version) ISBN: 978-2-87452-497-4 (electronic version) The ETUI receives financial support from the European Union. The European Union is not responsible for any use made of the information contained in this publication. Contents Steffen Lehndorff, Heiner Dribbusch and Thorsten Schulten European trade unions in a time of crises — an overview ..................................................................7 Jean-Marie Pernot France’s trade unions in the aftermath of the crisis .........................................................................39 Holm-Detlev Köhler and José Pablo Calleja Jiménez Spain: a peripheral economy and a vulnerable trade union movement ..................................65 Salvo Leonardi Trade unions and collective bargaining in Italy during the crisis .............................................. 87 Markos Vogiatzoglou Re-paving the path to hell? Greek trade unions amid crisis and austerity ...........................117 László Neumann and András Tóth Hungarian unions under political and economic pressure ..........................................................135 Magdalena Bernaciak Coming full circle? Contestation, social dialogue and trade union politics in Poland .......161 Franz Astleithner and Jörg Flecker From the golden age to the gilded cage? Austrian trade unions, social partnership and the crisis .............................................................................................................185 Heiner Dribbusch, Steffen Lehndorff and Thorsten Schulten Two worlds of unionism? German manufacturing and service unions since the Great Recession .......................................................................................................................... 209 Paul de Beer and Maarten Keune Dutch unions in a time of crisis .............................................................................................................. 235 Geneviève Coderre-LaPalme and Ian Greer Dependence on a hostile state: UK trade unions before and after Brexit .......................... 259 Erik Bengtsson and Magnus Ryner Why no wage solidarity writ large? Swedish trade unionism under conditions of European crisis ............................................................................................................................................... 285 Torsten Müller and Hans-Wolfgang Platzer The European trade union federations: profiles and power resources — changes and challenges in times of crisis .......................................................................................... 303 List of contributors ........................................................................................................................................ 330 European trade unions in a time of crises — an overview Steffen Lehndorff, Heiner Dribbusch and Thorsten Schulten 1. Introduction In today’s Europe, talking about ‘the’ crisis can mean many different things. In some countries, most people would remember the almost-breakdown of the financial system in 2008, followed by a dramatic downturn in manufacturing industry and widespread fears about soaring unemployment, which sparked vigorous government stimulus programmes, leading to swift recovery in the second half of 2009. From the point of view of many people in, for example, Germany, today’s crisis is something that is happening in other countries, notably in southern Europe. There, the term ‘crisis’ describes an ongoing story with long-lasting damage to the labour market, irrespective of the more recent modest economic recovery. Most European countries, however, should be located somewhere between these poles. While their economy began to recover in 2009, growth remained sluggish, sometimes interrupted by ‘double dip’ recessions, with the effect of a continuous and creeping deterioration of social and labour-market problems. The overall picture, in particular in the euro zone, is one of at best sluggish growth which has not contributed in any way to resolving the deeper structural economic problems that led to the crisis. For Europe as a whole, many economists are talking about a longer period of ‘secular stagnation’ (De Grauwe 2015; Summers 2016). Given the multifaceted character of the European crisis in terms of chronology and dimensions (political, economic, social, cultural and so on) the term crises might be more appropriate. The importance of the ‘silent revolution’ (Barroso) of 2010 onwards, which gave rise to the ‘New European Economic Governance’, is essential here. It may be regarded as an attempt to institutionalise or even constitutionalise neoliberal policy approaches within the European Single Market and its euro-zone core (Bieling 2013). Next to prioritising austerity with its constrictive effects on the economy it has included a shift in the ‘normative goals of European social policy (…) from the pre-crisis European Social Model to the postulates of neoliberalism’ (Koukiadaki et al. 2016: 38). Arguably the most important socio-economic and political impacts of this re-orientation can be summarised as driving European countries apart. It is the link between the ‘austeritarian regime’ (Dufresne and Pernot 2013: 4) and its economic effects, on one hand, and on the other the political exploitation of the deepening crises of democratic representation and social cohesion by right-wing populist, nationalist and racist parties which is driving the EU into arguably its deepest crisis ever. This dynamic is pushing trade unions in different EU member states into a peculiar situation. On one hand, they face joint and growing challenges across countries (such as unemployment, the growth of precarious labour and the rise in inequality, alongside Rough waters – European trade unions in a time of crises 7 Steffen Lehndorff, Heiner Dribbusch and Thorsten Schulten a long-term erosion of their membership base connected to fundamental structural and cultural changes). And against the background of the New Economic Governance, most of them are facing a much more streamlined neoliberal economic policy approach on the part of their national governments than in earlier decades. On the other hand, unions have to try and cope with these challenges under widely varying conditions. How has the crisis impacted on these conditions and on trade unions’ capacities to cope with them? This is the question to be explored in the present book1. 2. Varieties of unionism and the power resources approach It is a well-explored fact that European varieties of trade unionism have already differed substantially for decades (cf. among many others Ebbinghaus and Visser 2000; Hyman 2001; Frege and Kelly 2004; Erne 2008). Given the profound political, economic and social