From the Inside Looking Out (The Trades Union Congress in the Eec)

Dorfman, Gerald A.

doi:10.1111/j.1468-5965.1976.tb00785.x

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…This shift in both the structures and parameters of trade union engagement in policy formation was first noted by Dorfman who had examined union responses to the failure of national full employment policy in his account of the galvanisation of TUC participation in EU‐level representative committees, primarily the Economic and Social Committee (ESC), during the late 1970s (Dorfman, 1977). Dorfman’s account was sceptically received by many commentators, including Teague, but since that time the increased pro‐activeness of the unions in relation to Europe has markedly increased, arguably confirming key aspects of Dorfman’s thesis.…”

Section: Europeanisation Rationality and The Imperative Of Pro‐activmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…In emphasising trade unions as rational actors, this article follows the assumption made by Gerald Dorfman that British unions looked towards Europe as the efficacy and effectiveness of national demand management diminished and unemployment rose (Dorfman, 1977). As was noted above, the logic of this instrumental agency has been reinforced by the institutional development of the EU since the 1970s and the new opportunities thus created for further activity at the European level by British trade unionism.…”

Section: Introduction and Orientationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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British Trade Unions and European Union Integration in the 1990s: Politics versus Political Economy

Strange

2002

Political Studies

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This article evaluates the changing assessments within the British trade union movement of the efficacy of European Union integration from the viewpoint of labour interests. It argues that there has been a marked further 'Europeanisation' of British trade unionism during the 1990s, consolidating an on-going process which previous research shows began in earnest in the mid 1980s. A shift in trade union economic policy assessments has seen the decisive abandonment of the previously dominant 'naive' or national Keynesianism. While there remain important differences in economic perspective between unions, these are not such as would create significant divisions over the question of European integration per se, the net benefits of which are now generally, though perhaps not universally, accepted. The absence of fundamental divisions is evident from a careful assessment of the debates about economic and monetary union at TUC Congress. The Europeanisation of British trade unionism needs to be seen within the context of an emergent regionalism, in Europe and elsewhere. It can best be understood as a rational response by an important corporate actor (albeit one whose national influence has been considerably diminished in recent decades) to globalisation and a significantly changing political economy environment.

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Section: Europeanisation Rationality and The Imperative Of Pro‐activmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Introduction and Orientationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

British Trade Unions and European Union Integration in the 1990s: Politics versus Political Economy

Strange

2002

Political Studies

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“…As was noted earlier, the policy of the British labour movement towards the EU has been unstable historically and vulnerable to political divisions. Indeed it is worth remembering that the last period of official TUC opposition to British membership of the EU-1980-1983-arose, at least in part, out of widespread disillusion at the failure of the Community to translate major European-level employment initiatives, developed through negotiations with the ETUC in the late 1970s, into an effective growth and employment programme (Dorfman 1977). Moreover, the question of the single European currency remains politically open in Britain by virtue of the Maastricht opt-out and the unwillingness of the Labour leadership to commit a future Labour government irrevocably to EMU.…”

Section: Emu and Employmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The British Labour Movement and Economic and Monetary Union in Europe

Strange¹

1997

Capital & Class

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Trade Unions and Extra-national IndustRal Policies: A Case Study of the Response of the Brtish NUM and ISTC to Membership of the European Coal and Steel Community

Teague¹

1989

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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Three different frameworks -Europeanization, opportunistic European, and nationalistic -are developed to help explain the response of the British coal and steel unions to European Community industrial policies for these sectors. As the responses of the trade unions were highly uneven and at times inconsistent, it is argued they cannot be accommodated in any of the frameworks which assume a high degree of coherency in respect to trade union behaviour. The paper suggests that the responses lacked coherency largely because the trade unions adopted a 'naive Keynesian policy vision' which limits in-depth strategic thinking on international economic issues. The paper concludes that trade unions need to address this weakness, for the economic pressures that they are now experiencing are only going to get more intense.

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From the Inside Looking Out (The Trades Union Congress in the Eec)

Cited by 3 publications

References 1 publication

British Trade Unions and European Union Integration in the 1990s: Politics versus Political Economy

British Trade Unions and European Union Integration in the 1990s: Politics versus Political Economy

The British Labour Movement and Economic and Monetary Union in Europe

Trade Unions and Extra-national IndustRal Policies: A Case Study of the Response of the Brtish NUM and ISTC to Membership of the European Coal and Steel Community

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