Trade Unions in Western Europe
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A01=Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick
A01=Richard Hyman
Author_Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick
Author_Richard Hyman
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=JHBL
Category=JPB
Category=KJMV2
Category=KNXU
Category=NL-JH
Category=NL-JP
Category=NL-KJ
Category=NL-KN
COP=United Kingdom
Discount=15
eq_bestseller
eq_business-finance-law
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Format=BC
Format_Paperback
HMM=234
IMPN=Oxford University Press
ISBN13=9780198816782
Language_English
PA=Available
PD=20180605
POP=Oxford
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
PUB=Oxford University Press
SMM=17
Subject=Business & Management
Subject=Industry & Industrial Studies
Subject=Politics & Government
Subject=Sociology & Anthropology
WG=456
WMM=156
Product details
- ISBN 9780198816782
- Format: Paperback
- Weight: 456g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234 x 17mm
- Publication Date: 26 Jul 2018
- Publisher: Oxford University Press
- Publication City/Country: Oxford, GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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Trade unions in most of Europe are on the defensive: in recent decades they have lost membership, sometimes drastically; their collective bargaining power has declined, as has their influence on government; and in many countries, their public respect is much diminished.
This book explores the challenges facing trade unions and their responses in ten west European countries: Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Italy. Based on a substantial number of interviews with key union representatives and academic experts in each country, together with the collection of a large amount of union documentation and background material, the book gives an account of how trade unionism has evolved in each country, the main recent challenges that unions have faced, and their responses. The book engages with the debates of the past two decades on union modernization and revitalization, and more generally with theories of institutional change and the literature on varieties of capitalism.
Some observers ask whether unions remain relevant socio-economic actors, but challenging times can stimulate new thinking, and hence provide new opportunities. This book aims to show why trade unions are (still) important subjects for scientific analysis: first, as a means of collective 'voice' allowing employees to challenge management control and bringing a measure of balance to the employment relationship; second, as a form of 'countervailing power' to the socio-economic dominance of capital; and third, their potential as a 'sword of justice' to defend the weak, vulnerable and disadvantaged, express a set of values in opposition to the dominant political economy, and offer aspirations for a different—and better—form of society.
Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick is a former international trade union official. Since obtaining her PhD at the University of Warwick she has been teaching at Birkbeck College. She is one of the world authorities on international trade unionism, and her work has been cited by scholars and practitioners in many countries. She is Board Member and European Regional Representative for the Research Committee on Labour Movements, International Sociological Association.
Richard Hyman, formerly at the University of Warwick, is Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations at the London School of Economics and founding editor of the European Journal of Industrial Relations. He has written extensively on the themes of industrial relations, trade unionism, industrial conflict and labour market policy, and is author of a dozen books as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters. His comparative study Understanding European Trade Unionism: Between Market, Class, and Society (Sage, 2001) is widely cited by scholars working in this field.
