Direct democracy and trade union action

Roland Erne and Markus Blaser
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Roland Erne: Jean Monnet Chair of European Integration and Employment Relations, UCD School of Business and Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin, Ireland
Markus Blaser: Historian and Journalist, Florence, Italy

Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 2018, vol. 24, issue 2, 217-232

Abstract: Until recently, the political influence of trade unions primarily relied on ties to labour-friendly political parties. Since the 1990s, however, party-union relations have deteriorated, forcing unions to consider complementary political strategies. This article reviews different direct democratic instruments at local, national and EU levels. We distinguish popular consultations initiated by government from above from citizens’ initiatives initiated from below and discuss corresponding trade union experiences in Germany, Italy, Ireland, Slovenia and Switzerland. We also analyse the successful right2water European Citizens Initiative (ECI) of the European Federation of Public Service Unions and the failed fair transport ECI of the European Transport Workers’ Federation at EU level. Whereas unions have successfully used direct democratic instruments to (i) defend social achievements or (ii) as a lever to extract policy concessions, direct democracy is also challenging. Successful direct democratic campaigns require unions that are able to mobilise their own rank-and-file and to inspire larger sections of society.

Keywords: Direct democracy; referendum; trade unions; European Citizens Initiative; Right2water; comparative politics; interest groups; social movements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:treure:v:24:y:2018:i:2:p:217-232

DOI: 10.1177/1024258918764079

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