From nationalism to European patriotism? Trade unions and the European works council at General Motors

Digital activism and the political culture of trade unionism

“…It is therefore able to play off groups of nationally-based workers against one another in order to lower wages and enhance its power over the workplace, most obviously through the trend since the 1980s towards offshoring jobs from the core. Although global unions have existed since the nineteenth century, they have tended to act largely to coordinate and administer inter-union activity (Bronfenbrenner, 2007;Fetzer, 2012). The popular idea of one big union straddling the world and connecting all workers, as most famously expressed by the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.…”

Home country advantage? The influence of Italian, German and Austrian employee representatives in the UniCredit European Works Council

“…First, we examine the operation of an EWC in the Italian banking sector. Most studies of EWCs have concentrated on the manufacturing sector (Carley and Hall, 2006;Fetzer, 2008Fetzer, , 2012Whittall, 2000Whittall, , 2007 and fewer on the service sector; while very few have examined EWCs in Italian-based multinational companies. In these respects, this study provides a useful and timely contribution to the analysis of EWCs in a relatively neglected sector and country.…”