Von der sozialen Neuzusammensetzung zur gewerkschaftlichen Erneuerung? MigrantInnen als Zielgruppe der österreichischen Gewerkschaftsbewegung

Abstract

The article argues that these supportive practices have to be assessed on one hand against the background of the multiple crises of the trade union movement. Hence, we identified strategies predominantly associated with the traditional service model, which aims at organizing migrant workers. On the other hand, from the perspective of the power resource approach those supportive practices can be seen as part of a broader strategy of union revitalization, which is aiming at consolidating the strength of trade unions by strengthening the associational power of migrant workers.

Symbolic struggles over solidarity in times of crisis: trade unions, civil society actors and the political far right in Austria

“…In comparison to trade unions in other European countries, Austrian unions felt the need to engage in organising new members (Pernicka and Hefler 2015) to a lesser extent. In the past few years, given the shrinking power of unions in Europe but also in Austria, these ideas were slowly re-introduced, for example, with the (self-)formation of interest groups for self-employed workers or migrant workers within the union structures (Pernicka and Stern 2011;Griesser and Sauer 2017). It remains to be seen to what extent Austrian trade unions will continue to rely on their institutional power within social partnership or pursue a stronger membershiporiented renewal strategy (Astleithner and Flecker 2017).…”