Documents Vandaele, Kurt 92 results

"This collection of four volumes charts the development of collective bargaining since the year 2000 in the 28 EU Member States.
These four volumes document how the institutions of collective bargaining have been removed, fundamentally altered or markedly narrowed in scope in all 28 EU Member States. However, there are also positive examples to be found. Some collective bargaining systems have proven more resilient than others in maintaining multi-employer bargaining arrangements. Based on the evidence presented in the country-focused chapters, the key policy issue addressed in this book is how the reduction of the importance of collective bargaining as a tool to jointly regulate the employment relationship can be reversed. The struggle to fend off the neoliberal assault on collective bargaining in Europe is moving towards an endgame. The outcome is still open."

"Trade unions across Europe now mainly represent a shrinking workforce in the public sector and traditional manufacturing, while struggling to organise low-paid private service workers. Even in countries with strong institutional support, unions risk stagnation if they fail to adapt.

Countering this bleak outlook, research on union revitalisation underscores the agency of unions and their resilience as collective actors. Indeed, several trade unions are experimenting with innovative methods, tactics or practices. Often, such inspiration emerges from grassroots initiatives or comes from abroad.

This volume adopts a case study approach, examining eleven instances of innovation in nine union organisations across eight European countries: Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Slovenia.

The case studies illuminate the conditions under which innovations take root and then develop scale, and the barriers that cause others to stall. Particular attention is given to activist networks, internal alignment, a supportive leadership that enables resource reallocation, and organisational learning.

Ultimately, union revitalisation requires more than fresh ideas, new knowledge or improved policy. It also demands a sustained investment in unions' internal capacity to collaborate, adapt and learn."

"This report marks our second collective effort to document contemporary international strike trends. The initiative originated from two online workshops held in 2022 and 2023, which brought together researchers studying working-class protests using the protest event analysis method. Following these discussions, research groups from six countries collaborated to publish the International Strike Report 2022 on May 1, 2024.
This year, researchers and research groups from five additional countries (Argentina, Belgium, South Africa, the UK and Uruguay) have joined the project. This 2023 report examines strike trends across eleven countries, aiming to enhance visibility and provide insight into global workers' strikes. While compiling this report requires substantial effort, we remain committed to continuing this work in the years ahead.
Due to the labor-intensive nature of protest event analysis, this report focuses on 2023 rather than 2024. However, we hope to narrow this gap in future reports."

" This article provides a comparative overview of developments in strike activity in western Europe since the mid-1990s. It uses various indicators to analyse discernible trends over time in levels and patterns of strike activity across sectors and countries. The article argues that strikes are generally blending into a broader palette of workers' repertoire of collective action. This possible blending applies in particular to a context in which the institutional logic of collective bargaining is underdeveloped or has been undermined."