Overcoming Barriers to Transnational Organizing Through Identity Work: Finnish–Estonian Trade Union Cooperation

Kairit Kall, Nathan Lillie, Markku Sippola and Laura Mankki
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Kairit Kall: Tallinn University, Estonia; University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Nathan Lillie: University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Markku Sippola: University of Tampere, Finland
Laura Mankki: University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Work, Employment & Society, 2019, vol. 33, issue 2, 208-225

Abstract: This article analyses a project by Finnish and Estonian unions to adopt ‘organizing model’ strategies through establishing the transnational ‘Baltic Organising Academy’. Initially aimed at Estonian workplaces, successful campaigns inspired Finnish unions to copy the model in Finland. This cooperation was originally motivated by labour market interdependence between the two countries, and the failure of past social-partnership oriented union strategies in Estonia. The willingness of Finnish and Estonian unions to commit resources to transnational cooperation around an ‘organizing model’ marks a dramatic departure from the unions’ previous strategies. This change was accomplished by transnational activists who have developed and raised support for the adoption of an ‘organizing model’ in the face of structural challenges and ideological opposition by some union officials. The project’s transnational organizing exemplifies one possible solution to union weakness in Eastern Europe, and underlines the importance of ‘identity work’ in building transnational trade union coalitions around organizing.

Keywords: Estonia; Finland; organizing model; transnational union cooperation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:33:y:2019:i:2:p:208-225

DOI: 10.1177/0950017017746086

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