‘We just get a bit set in our ways’
Renewing democracy and solidarity in UK trade unions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21610764 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Heather Connolly (0000-0003-2099-6899, Grenoble Ecole de Management, Univ Grenoble Alpes ComUE, Grenoble, France, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 207-222 |
| Publication date | 2020-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Transfer European Review of Labour and Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1024-2589 • E-ISSN: 1996-7284 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1024258920920822 |
| OpenAlex | W3022519737 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 24 |
In a broader context of austerity, sustained financial pressures and policies of restructuring and outsourcing have steadily eroded traditional features of UK public sector employment such as job security, fair reward and collective representation through trade unions. This article examines how a UK trade union representing local government workers attempted to respond more effectively to radical restructuring plans. By engaging in a process of democratic experimentation, full-time officials from above and activists from below sought to challenge the existing ‘insider’ relationship between branch officers and management, which was seen as ineffective in responding to a severe disruption in the regulation of local government employment. Drawing on participatory ethnographic research, the findings show the importance of leadership in the processes towards union renewal and the tensions and struggles underlying democracy and solidarity. Union renewal is presented here as a dialectical process and set of responses involving both strategic direction from above and membership pressure and activism from below
Austerity · Collective bargaining · Democracy · Economics · Grassroots · Insider · Labour economics · Outsourcing · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public sector · Restructuring · Sociology · Solidarity · Trade union · Employment and Welfare Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Rethinking Industrial Relations
The Political Economy of Industrial Relations
Understanding union power
Political Parties
The History of Trade Unionism
A reappraisal of the rank-and-file versus bureaucracy debate
Leadership and union militancy
Shop stewards' leadership, left-wing activism and collective workplace union organisation
Partisan, scholarly and active
Union Democracy Reexamined
Breaking the Iron Law of Oligarchy
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2024 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |