Documents WCL 25 results

"The International Trade Union Confederation was founded in 2006, consisting primarily of former affiliates of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the World Confederation of Labour (although its creation was not formally a merger). I show how changes in the ideologies and identities of both confederations helped to overcome years of mutual antagonism and paved the way for unification. I consider the unification process in the broader perspective of the literature on trade union mergers but stress the need to focus on the role of ideas in such structural changes. The conclusion considers the problems the new confederation faces in developing a common set of ideas and a clear identity out of the separate orientations of its forerunners."

"The explosive events of the Polish summer of 1980 aroused powerful immediate reactions and studied responses by labor strategists and tacticians as Solidarnosc, the independent Polish labor union federation, emerged and grew quickly. The task undertaken by editor Goddeeris and 14 other authors of 11 chapters is formidable, but they accomplish the mission with both forcefulness and subtlety. The labor federations of the nine Western European countries subject to the study receive detailed attention, as do international organizations such as the World Confederation of Labor and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. The authors also flesh out the environments of each organization, for some federations and unions had more complex constituencies and international relationships than did others, and all dealt with the actions and public rhetoric of political parties as well. Nonetheless, most labor unions outside the Eastern European bloc came to support Solidarnosc in dive "