The Future of Labour Movements [Paperback]

After a decade dominated by `neo-liberal' policies and by increasing managerial pressures towards labour flexibility in industrial relations, the role of labour movements is under challenge. In the light of the experience of the 1980s this volume provides an interdisciplinary reassessment of the traditions and future of collective worker's action in Western states. Contributors assess the roles of labour movements as actors in the economic system through such mechanisms as collective bargaining, and as actors in the political arena. Labour movements and the institutions in which they are embodied, particularly trade unions, are also examined in the light of the broader social movements from which they originate.

Bringing toAfter a decade dominated by `neo-liberal' policies and by increasing managerial pressures towards labour flexibility in industrial relations, the role of labour movements is under challenge. In the light of the experience of the 1980s this volume provides an interdisciplinary reassessment of the traditions and future of collective worker's action in Western states. Contributors assess the roles of labour movements as actors in the economic system through such mechanisms as collective bargaining, and as actors in the political arena. Labour movements and the institutions in which they are embodied, particularly trade unions, are also examined in the light of the broader social movements from which they originate.

Bringing to`Long awaited and exceedingly welcomed, this collection of nine scholarly essays is the first effort by the Research Committee on Labour Movements of the International Sociological Association. To cut to the quick, most contributors doubt the staying power of movement attributes, thoughnone question the long-term viability of unions per se... Over and over again the book's contributors highlight advantages European capitalists stand to gain from the EEC's lc,