Heather Connolly

Radical political unionism in France and Britain : a comparative study of SUD-Rail and the RMT

Many recent pessimistic academic assessments of the prospects for the revival of European trade unionism fail adequately to capture evidence of continuing union resilience and combativity in certain areas of employment. An example is the distinctive and relatively successful form of highly militant and politicized trade unionism which has emerged in both the French and British railway sectors over the last 10 years. This has involved the repeated mobilization of members through strike action, combined with vigorous left-wing ideological opposition to both employers and government, as the pathway both to both advancing workers’ interests and to revitalizing union organization. This article provides a comparative analysis of SUD-Rail and the RMT, documenting the dynamics, causes, effectiveness, limits and potential of such ‘radical political unionism’ and considers its implications for debates about union renewal.

Broadening and reimagining regulation: Trade unions, ‘active servicing’ and immigration in Spain since the early 1990s

This article shows the influence of regulatory traditions and history in shaping trade union responses to temporary labour migration. The case study of Spain is presented to illustrate this. Drawing on qualitative research which is part of a three-country study of trade union, migration and social exclusion/inclusion, the article highlights the importance of understanding established regulatory practices, parallel forms of regulation and historical legacies of previous practices in framing current responses. This subsequently furthers understanding of the politics and tensions that arise in debating inclusionary versus exclusionary responses.

Union renewal in France and Hyman’s universal dualism:

This paper draws upon the work of Richard Hyman to examine the question of union renewal in France. Developing a discussion around union renewal is particularly significant in the context of France, since studies on French unions since the mid-1980s have centred on the movement’s ‘decline’ and ‘crisis’, and France has rarely been included in comparative studies on union renewal and revitalisation. The paper uses empirical data collected from 2003-2010 to present a case study of SUD-Rail, a breakaway union formed in the French public railway sector in 1996 from an ideological split with one of France’s largest union confederations, the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT). SUD-Rail forms part of a wider set of SUD unions that have emerged since the late-1980s with the stated aim of revitalising French unionism by mobilising new collectivities and energising workplace union structures. This paper analyses the development of this movement over the last fifteen years, its attempts to renew and revitalise collective action and organisation, and explores the wider implications for union renewal in France. The paper argues that the development of SUD-Rail represents evidence of Hyman’s oft-mentioned tension in the identity of unions as both movements and organisations which has wider implications for understanding the possibilities and limitations of union action.

'Justice for Janitors' goes Dutch: The Limits and Possibilities of Unions' Adoption of Organising in a Context of Regulated Social Partnership

Organizing has been adopted as a strategy for union renewal in the Netherlands, where the dominant repertoire has been consensus-based social dialogue. Certain Dutch unions have developed strategies inspired by the US ‘organizing model’ and have been relatively successful in recruiting and mobilizing under-represented workers. Despite some tensions emerging, the introduction of organizing resulted in the greater representation of workers in sectors such as cleaning, which has to an extent complemented social dialogue-based strategies. At the same time, the narrative and tactics of organizing have stimulated internal debate on union purpose and identity and indirectly contributed to a process of reform and democratization within parts of the union movement. The research demonstrates the pragmatic features of organizing as a strategy for union renewal in a context of regulated social partnership, but also points towards the potential for organizing to encourage shifts in the dominant sources of union legitimacy and power.

Organising as a strategy to reach precarious and marginalised workers. A review of debates on the role of the political dimension and the dilemmas of representation and solidarity

Organising as a trade union strategy has caught the imagination of the labour movement over the past 20 years or so. The vast possibilities of new forms of organising go hand in hand with concern about its highly constrained and sometimes hierarchical use. This article looks at key aspects of the debate, focusing on the question of how new forms of organising reach out to more vulnerable and precarious workers. Similar to other colleagues in the field, we conclude that there are political and organisational gaps in organising strategies and that new forms of organising can in some instances be bureaucratic and apolitical. Furthermore, it is important to extend our understanding of the role of trade unions in relation to the state, organised working class constituencies, and social rights, especially as, with regard to vulnerable workers and their organisations, questions of regulation are highly sensitive and challenging.