Between Strategy and Pragmatism: Shifting Union Coalitions in Germany

• In Event: 397 - Section on Labor and Labor Movements Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 05. Worker and Union Strategies: International Comparisons

Abstract

Labor unions across the developed world are using a variety of strategies to address their ongoing decline. While the development of alliances with other progressive organizations in civil society is often seen as particularly promising for union revitalization, the seemingly more mundane but long-standing strategy of coalitions between different unions has received relatively limited scholarly attention. In particular, little is known about the factors that cause unions to recalibrate their intra-movement alliances at a national level. In this paper we draw on different views of union strategy to develop a more theoretically grounded understanding of the dynamics of movement-level union alliances. We use the empirical case of Germany to highlight the changing role of union ideology and internal politics in shaping the patterns of union alliances over time. Our findings suggest that both the loss of institutional support for collective bargaining and structural changes through union mergers are central to explaining shifts in union alliances in this age of decline.

Authors

• Andreas Pekarek, University of Melbourne

• Martin Behrens, Hans-Boeckler-Foundation