Inside the trade union family: The ‘two worlds’ within the European Trade Union Confederation

Abstract

The enlargement of the EU in 2004 and 2007 to the post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe brought an encounter between two distinct ‘trade union worlds’ in terms of attitudes towards European integration. Unions from the old EU Member States want to defend their existing national standards, while those from Central and Eastern Europe have nothing to defend and look for solutions at EU level. I ask whether it is possible for the European Trade Union Confederation to realize a trade union vision of ‘Social Europe’ based solely on the perspectives of the West.

Looking for European solutions. Trade unions in Central and Eastern Europe striving for cross-border solidarity

“…Despite all that, trade unions from the new Member States long behaved in a cooperative and loyal way towards their western European counterparts (Adamczyk, 2018). Looking at the literature, two main, interlocking, reasons, come to the forefront: first, the general decline of unions’ associational, structural and – to a lesser degree – institutional power (Schmalz et al, 2018) in Central and Eastern Europe; second, the prevalence of the imitational modernisation paradigm defined in the societies of post-communist Central and Eastern Europe by a deep-rooted belief that ‘catching-up’ with the West would be possible only by following a marketisation route (Adamczyk, 2018; Czarzasty and Mrozowicki, 2018). Although various models of capitalism have emerged within the region since 1989 (Bohle and Greskovits, 2012), the general pattern remains stable, so Central and Eastern European capitalism may be labelled a ‘patchwork’ (Rapacki, 2019).…”

The European Trade Union Federations within the European polity: ETUFs and international trade union activity

“…According to Adamczyk (2018), who as a representative of the Polish trade union NSZZ Solidarność is a longstanding member of ETUC committees, these differences represent two different worlds of western and eastern European unions within the European trade union family which manifest themselves in diametrically opposed expectations of what should be achieved at European level. Whereas for western European unions the European level serves primarily to safeguard existing standards and to ‘counteract attempts to infringe the status quo in relation to national social gains’ (Adamczyk, 2018: 189), for trade unions from CEE countries the European level becomes more and more important ‘as a platform for seeking new ways of effective representation of employee interests’ (Adamczyk, 2018: 182). In other words, for western European unions the European level – including the ETUFs – tends to serve more defensive objectives while for unions from CEE countries it primarily serves more offensive objectives.…”

“…The unions from the CEE countries are increasingly frustrated with the defensive approach of the western European unions and with what they perceive as attempts of the western European unions to simply transfer the logic and structures of their industrial relations systems to the CEE countries without acknowledging the fundamentally different framework conditions. All this results in a feeling of being ‘treated paternalistically and instrumentally’ (Adamczyk, 2018: 188). At the same time, Adamczyk (2018: 188) notes a ‘noticeable “fatigue” among western European trade unions’ with the lack of progress in establishing effective bargaining and employee representation structures in the CEE countries.…”

“…All this results in a feeling of being ‘treated paternalistically and instrumentally’ (Adamczyk, 2018: 188). At the same time, Adamczyk (2018: 188) notes a ‘noticeable “fatigue” among western European trade unions’ with the lack of progress in establishing effective bargaining and employee representation structures in the CEE countries. According to Adamczyk (2018: 188), ‘the two “union worlds” are still very far apart.…”

“…At the same time, Adamczyk (2018: 188) notes a ‘noticeable “fatigue” among western European trade unions’ with the lack of progress in establishing effective bargaining and employee representation structures in the CEE countries. According to Adamczyk (2018: 188), ‘the two “union worlds” are still very far apart. Only a common European goal could bring them closer together or perhaps a common threat’.…”