Firm-level restructuring and union strategies in Europe: local union responses in Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands

Valeria Pulignano and Paul Stewart
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Valeria Pulignano: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Paul Stewart: University of Strathclyde, UK

Work, Employment & Society, 2013, vol. 27, issue 5, 842-859

Abstract: A range of literature has attempted to reconceptualize union agendas for firm-level restructuring by identifying variety in local union strategic responses. This article explores the conditions under which local unions respond strategically to company restructuring in the Netherlands, Italy and Ireland. Two distinct types of union strategies are identified: confrontation based on ‘job protection’; cooperation based on ‘job transition’. Evidence suggests that different combinations of structural and socio-political firm-level conditions encourage the choice of specific union strategy. Understanding the nature and the interactions between firm-level contextual factors, within a broader institutional setting during restructuring, is important to provide a fuller explanation for the variety of strategic choices facing local unions.

Keywords: comparative industrial relations; firm-level context; job protection; job transition; local unions; multinationals; restructuring; union response; union strategy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:27:y:2013:i:5:p:842-859

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