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European union movements played a central role in promoting a "Europeanmodel of society", a humane industrial relations system, high labor standards, generous welfare states, and collective political representation which reached its pinnacle in the post-World War II era. The recent shift to lower growth, rising unemployment, renewed European integration, neo-liberalism, and globalization has challenged this "European Model" and the unions' place in it. These essays, written by some of the leading scholars in the field, examine responses of six major European union movements to the dramatic changes in economic and political conditions in the last two decades. They are the result of a group research effort and are based on a common framework which lends it quite an exceptional coherence.
List of contents
Chapter 1. European Unions Face the Millennium
George Ross and Andrew Martin
Chapter 2. Unforgiven: British Trade Unionism in Crisis
Chris Howell Chapter 3. Every Which Way But Loose: German Industrial Relations Since 1980
Stephen J. Silvia
Chapter 4. "Yesterday's Modern Times Are No Longer Modern" : Swedish Unions Confront the Double Shift
Rianne Mahon
Chapter 5. The Hollowing of French Unions: Politics and Industrial Relations After 1981
Anthony Daley
Chapter 6. The Resurgence of Italian Unions?
Richard M. Locke and Lucio Baccaro
Chapter 7. Tightrope: Spanish Unions and Labor Market Segmentation
Lydia Fraile
Chapter 8. In the Line of Fire: The Europeanization of Labor Representation
Andrew Martin and George Ross
Chapter 9. Conclusion: Through a Glass Darkly
George Ross and Andrew Martin
About the author
George Ross is Morris Hillquit Professor in Labor and Social Thought at Brandeis University and Senior Associate of the Mindade Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. He is also editor of French Politics and Society, and Chair of the West European Politics and Society section of the American Political Science Association.
Summary
European union movements played a central role in promoting a "Europeanmodel of society", a humane industrial relations system, high labor standards, generous welfare states, and collective political representation which reached its pinnacle in the post-World War II era. The recent shift to lower growth, rising unemployment, renewed European integration, neo-liberalism, and globalization has challenged this "European Model" and the unions' place in it. These essays, written by some of the leading scholars in the field, examine responses of six major European union movements to the dramatic changes in economic and political conditions in the last two decades. They are the result of a group research effort and are based on a common framework which lends it quite an exceptional coherence.
Additional text
"The chapters are dense with information and analysis…polished and read well. Each one is must reading for the study of labor in each particular country… A clear, first-rate book ... highly recommended ... For courses on contemporary Europe, social Europe, comparative European politics, or comparative labor movements, it will make an excellent contribution – and will also provide rich sources of information and analysis for research projects in any of the same areas ... [A] well-informed, dynamic and synthetic analysis." · Industrial and Labor Relations Review
"Delivers many a valuable insight. Indispensable reading for everybody interested in the recent history of European labor." · Labor History
"Anyone looking for an in-depth, up-to-date and balanced account of trade unions in Europe, covering the last two decades of the 20th century, need look no further ... a definitive text on contemporary European trade unionism." · Industrial Relations/Relations Industrielles
"A richly detailed collection of case studies that explore the multiple challenges facing unions ... a solidly researched volume that develops a number of useful concepts ... that can usefully be applied to the study of labor-based politics around the world ... the authors do an impressive job of situating European unions in an overdetermined institutional and policy-making context." · New Political Science
“For a European reader [this volume] makes fascinating and surprising reading because we are confronted with an American mirror that questions some European self-righteous assumptions about our social model generally considered superior. The volume is highly recommended…because of the richness of its empirical material and political-strategic reflections.” · Gewerkschaftliche Monatshefte
