Dualism or solidarity? Conditions for union success in regulating precarious work

Abstract

This article summarizes and reviews research on union responses to precarious work in Europe, based on a systematic coding of 56 case study-based articles published between 2008 and 2019. Analyses of these cases suggest two paths to labour market dualism, with the first involving institutional fragmentation and union division, and the second a combination of weak structural power and partnership-oriented union identities. The authors also identify two paths to solidarity, with the result of reduced precarity for peripheral workers: a conflict-based path and a social partnership-based path. Campaigns to organize migrant workers present distinctive institutional and structural challenges to unions, with studies involving migrants most often finding ‘failed solidarity’, in which inclusive organizing fails to reduce precarity. The article integrates these findings with past frameworks on union responses to precarious work and concludes with recommendations for future research.

Fighting precarious work with institutional power: Union inclusion and its limits across spheres of action

“…Second, and relatedly, the literature's conceptualization of institutional power is limited. The union inclusion literature's main insight is that inclusive institutions, especially all-encompassing sectoral agreements, directly empower unions to resist shifts towards precarious working conditions (Doellgast et al, 2018;Marino et al, 2019;Carver and Doellgast, 2020). This circumscribed conceptualization persists in the broader literature on union power which has focused on deepening our understanding of associational power to the neglect of institutional power and its interconnections with other sources of power (Rigby and García Calavia 2018;Schmalz et al, 2018;Ellem et al, 2020).…”

Raising the bar? The impact of the UNISON ethical care campaign in UK domiciliary care

“…This article has analysed the successes and limitations of UNISON's Ethical Care Campaign and Charter as an example of a novel solution to poor pay and conditions among the outsourced domiciliary care workforce. In doing so, the article contributes to the growing literature on trade union experimentation with new repertoires of action aimed at delivering on 'winnable issues' rather than long-term capacity building (Bunyan, 2016;Carver and Doellgast, 2020;Gold et al, 2020). Similar to other social campaigns in the United States and Europe, which have focused on exposing low pay and precarious work among outsourced workers (Connolly et al, 2017;Crosby, 2009;Murphy and Turner, 2016), the UNISON Ethical Care Campaign shamed the clients at the head of supply chains as much as direct employers, who in this case were state actors.…”

“…Trade unions across Europe face significant challenges in respect of representing and securing positive outcomes for precarious workers. Falling membership density and declining collective bargaining coverage have weakened the unions' institutional power and legitimacy, and the steady erosion of so-called 'standard employment relationships' over the past 30 years has arguably undermined the recruitment of new members (Carver and Doellgast, 2020;Holgate et al, 2018).…”

“…This social and community organising is a response to the changing contours of class relations, shaped by the interplay of workplace and social identities (Moore, 2011), and the development of broader coalitions may also facilitate the emergence of lay leaders rooted in communities who can often articulate the shared experiences and grievances of highly marginalised groups, such as migrant workers (Lopes and Hall, 2015;Tapia, 2019). Social campaigns, however, often prioritise the short-term pursuit of 'winnable issues', such as payment of a true living wage, over the long-term objective of capacity building (Bunyan, 2016), and involve the development of transient alliances with employers, state actors and NGOs in order to secure concessions for workers (Carver and Doellgast, 2020;Murphy and Turner, 2016). This approach hinges on the development of coalitional power through public campaigns to compensate for the loss of traditional institutional and associative power provided by collective bargaining and social partnership (Connolly et al, 2017).…”

Robots and unions: The moderating effect of organized labour on technological unemployment

“…The second perspective put forward in the literature involves labour market dualization, characterized by major differences in the labour market positions of 'insider' or 'core' workers employed on full-time, permanent contracts on the one hand, and 'outsider' or 'peripheral' workers with non-standard contracts, irregular working hours and fluctuating incomes on the other (Carver and Doellgast, 2020). According to this perspective, trade unions facing automation prioritize the employment and income security of their own insider members rather than engaging in broad working-class solidarity.…”