Cultural Obstacles in Transnational Trade Union Cooperation in Europe

Abstract

This article focuses on cultural difficulties in trade union cooperation and transnationalization inEurope. The aim is to understand cultural differences that are seen as obstacles to cooperation by trade union representatives with transnational work experience from the ETUC and ETUFs. The theoretical inspiration for this work comes from the sociological variant of neo-institutionalism and organization theory, as well as from existing approaches in industrial relations and trade union research. The empirical analysis is based on 38 interviews with 46 representatives from trade unions from nine European countries. The findings point to problems arising because of language and translation issues, differences in cultural conceptions, values and everyday practices, and differences in trade union traditions, ideologies and identities. KEYWORDS Industrial relations / trade unions / culture / cooperation / social dialogue

Trade Union Cooperation in Europe

“…From the means we can draw the conclusion that cultural factors had less weight than similarities in labour market policies and regulation, similarities in occupational interests and well-developed personal networks and relations between trade union leaders. The three culture-related items were, more or less, ranked in the same way as they were as obstacles: language was considered more Just as on the impediments to cooperation, we find some significant differences in means when comparing industrial relations regimes/regions (Larsson 2017). Central/Eastern and Western European unions scored higher on the importance of similarities of occupational interests between unions.…”

“…From the compared means analysis in the following columns-and originally tested in regressions (Larsson 2017)-we find marked variations in how some of these obstacles were weighed by trade unions in different industrial relations regimes/regions. Central/Eastern European organizations underscored difficulties with financial resources, competition between high-and low-wage countries, and employer organizations' power strategies.…”

Patterns of Transnational Trade Union Cooperation in Europe

“…The items are ranked by the total means and the first = 'rather important'; 4 = 'very important'. 'Do not know/no opinion' is coded as missing, which explains the variation in n. For detailed PCA and regression analyses, see Larsson (2012Larsson ( , 2017 Source Own data, survey 1 column of figures shows that differences in financial resources were generally regarded as the greatest obstacle of the ten factors listed, while differences in national cultures and traditions were considered least important. Yet, even the last in ranking gets a total mean of 2.51 on a scale ranging from 1 to 4.…”

“…The three culture-related items were, more or less, ranked in the same way as they were as obstacles: language was considered more = 'rather important'; 4 = 'very important'. 'Do not know/no opinion' is coded as missing, which explains the variation in n. For detailed PCA and regression analyses, see Larsson (2012Larsson ( , 2017 Source Own data, survey 1 important than similarities in ideological, political or religious orientations and similarities in national cultures and traditions came last among the six factors listed. Just as on the impediments to cooperation, we find some significant differences in means when comparing industrial relations regimes/regions (Larsson 2017).…”

“…Hyman 2004). As a consequence, there are difficulties of the kind mentioned as expressed by an Italian union representative (Larsson 2020 Translations of central documents may create problems too, because there can be misunderstandings due to differences in connotations of concepts. These linguistic problems are not only costly and hamper understanding, but they also reduce the possibility for some unions to influence the discussion.…”