International Cooperation, Transnational Restructuring and Virtual Networking in Europe

Abstract

Social networks represent one possible trade union response to cross-border industrial restructuring. The aim is to bring together independent actors so as to generate interaction, cooperation and coordination of cross-national practices and integration of policies. This article draws on empirical evidence from four sectors. It first examines whether unions make effective use of the Internet when developing networking and coordination activities to respond to transnational change in Europe. Second, it discusses the reasons for cross-sectoral variation in the use of virtual networking. It is argued that the use of the Internet by European unions becomes a matter of strategic choices and politics, and reflects sector-based differences in the way that transparency, coordination, social cohesion and democracy are secured for representation and bargaining purposes among employees and unions across borders.

Trade Union Channels for Influencing European Union Policies

“…One such difference is that trade unions in manufacturing traditionally have a strong organization and resources nationally in comparison to unions in the services sector and those organizing professions (e.g., Bieler & Lindberg, 2011, p. 223). The metal industry may be the ideal case for this, and it is here that one finds the most far-reaching transnational coordination of activities between unions (Glassner & Pochet, 2011;Müller et al, 2010;Pulignano, 2009). Against this background, it seems important to also take sectoral differences into account when studying differences in how national trade unions in Europe approach EU policies.…”

“…Together with industries that have undergone liberalization such as civil aviation and telecommunications, and construction because of the Posting of Workers Directive, they have had the greatest cause to collaborate across borders to influence EU policies, since they are directly affected by them (Glassner & Pochet, 2011;Müller et al, 2010;Pulignano, 2009). As noted by Bieler (2005), one can also assume that trade unions in sectors that are under transnational competitive pressure are more likely to be active in transnationally oriented cooperation and lobbying than those still oriented toward national markets (cf.…”

Globalization, Restructuring and Unions: Transnational Co-ordination and Varieties of Labour Engagement

“…New "communicative" spaces (Green, Hogan and Grieco, 2003) are contributing to the manner in which cross-border union co-ordination evolves (Martinez Lucio and Walker, 2005;Pulignano, 2009). However the debate in the main relates to questions of the tensions between formal/ bureaucratic approaches and informal and localized/activist based approaches.…”

“…Attention is increasingly focusing on the importance of network ties for articulating and coordinating across the different levels of union action (Wills, 2002), the establishment of links with social movements and local communities (Tattersall, 2010), and engaging with organizational learning (Lévesque and Murray, 2010;Frege and Kelly, 2004). Pulignano (2009) has noted that the cross-border dimension of worker activity has been nourished by a new area of debate, engagement, and creativity that has emerged through the development of networking and coordination activities. The associated networks are, in many cases, enabled by the use of the information technology and mediated by factors such as organizational context, communication cultures and organizational contingences.…”

What next for unions in Central and Eastern Europe? Invisibility, departure and the transformation of industrial relations

“…Particular responses from trade unions to this general trajectory have been well-evidenced in the literature. In this respect, coalition-building with social movements and improving social representation are essential to promote union revitalization (Murray and Waddington 2005;Pulignano 2009). Before the new EU member states felt the full brunt of emigration, Meardi (2007) documented a range of new union practices across the region involving 'the resurgent "voice" from below, through strikes, organizing campaigns, informal collective protests and collective bargaining innovations'.…”