Trade unions and precariat in Europe: Representative claims

Guglielmo Meardi, Melanie Simms and Duncan Adam
Additional contact information
Guglielmo Meardi: Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy
Melanie Simms: University of Glasgow, UK
Duncan Adam: University of Warwick, UK

European Journal of Industrial Relations, 2021, vol. 27, issue 1, 41-58

Abstract: Trade unions have been charged with neglecting labour market ‘outsiders’, while alternative actors have emerged to represent these. In response, unions have stepped up their claim to be representative of all workers, without distinction. We review the theoretical and policy debates on this issue, and argue that representation as such has been under-theorized. We draw on Saward’s concept of ‘representative claims’ to analyse the different grounds for competing assertions of representativeness. We identify four main forms of claims, and illustrate these with empirical examples. We conclude that these different claims are mutually reinforcing in stimulating attention to the outsiders, and in their interaction with institutional settings, they have a performative effect in defining new social actors.

Keywords: Claims; insiders; labour market; outsiders; precariousness; representation; trade unions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0959680119863585 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:eurjou:v:27:y:2021:i:1:p:41-58

DOI: 10.1177/0959680119863585

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in European Journal of Industrial Relations
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().