Summary Since the 1980s trade unions have lost the initiative in working time policy to employers, who push for longer, more flexible working hours. This article analyses trade union responses both to the emerging challenge of more assertive employer (and government) policies and to the growing diversity in working time preferences among employees. Analysing the who, what, how and why of union working time policies in select EU countries reveals an East-West divide based on differences in unions’ organisational and institutional power resources. Trade unions based in central and eastern European countries, where legislation is the main tool to regulate working time, are inevitably forced to pursue a strategy of defending the status quo. In contrast, those based in western European countries, where working time is primarily regulated by collective agreements, have developed innovative strategies in response to the above challenges.
This article analyses the broader social impact of trade unions in Europe by examining the relationship between union presence – measured in terms of union density and collective bargaining coverage – and multiple indicators of labour market and socioeconomic well-being. Using panel data for EU countries from 2005-2023, the study integrates measures of job quality (wages, working hours, involuntary part-time work and in-work poverty) with indicators of social welfare, including household income, inequality, risk of poverty, life expectancy and social expenditure. The findings are used to contribute to ongoing debates about the future of social dialogue in Europe by demonstrating that trade unions are not only labour market actors but also function as institutional pillars that sustain the resilience of the welfare state and of social cohesion. The article calls on scholars to pay renewed attention to the institutional conditions that enable unions to influence inclusive and equitable socioeconomic development.
This article examines collaboration between two important civil society actors – trade unions and charities – in both Spain and the United Kingdom. While previous research focuses on the implications of such collaboration for trade union revitalisation, this article aims to understand this collaboration on its own merits, with a view to improving services to members and clients. It examines how respondents view collaboration, the current state of collaboration, and the obstacles that must be overcome. Data from 63 interviews indicate that while collaboration generally was viewed positively, UK respondents expressed more caution than their Spanish counterparts. Obstacles, particularly in the United Kingdom, included charities’ caution about collaboration due to both their dependence on state funding and the collective bargaining activities of unions within the charitable sector. The Spanish unions’ greater institutional power resources and how they managed them explain the more positive approach to collaboration among Spanish charities.
Summary What does it mean to develop a labour sociology that is both critical and oriented towards social change? This paper seeks answers in the career of Michael Burawoy, a prominent sociologist who contributed much to critical labour sociology. I trace Burawoy’s career across three phases: studies of racial capitalism in southern Africa; factory ethnographies of the labour process and the politics of production; and the Polanyian turn to ‘third wave marketisation’ and countermovements. Taken together, this brilliant career offers three lessons for developing critical labour studies. First, we must recognise production, reproduction and the state as interwoven sites of politics. Second, we must pay careful attention to the role of non-class identities. Third, following the lead of Du Bois, we must study and support social movements. At its core, this programme of critical labour studies urges us to defend humanity and the social.
This article provides an analysis of the effects of changes in working hours per worker on productivity and labour market equilibrium. The relationship between working hours and productivity appears circular, with the sign of the impact of productivity gains on working hours (via substitution and income channels), and the impact of changes in working hours on productivity (via fixed cost and fatigue channels), both remaining uncertain. Recent empirical literature suggests that income effects dominate substitution effects and therefore that productivity gains lead to a reduction in working time. Fatigue effects would outweigh fixed cost effects, and a reduction in working time would lead to gains in hourly productivity. Furthermore, the impact of a reduction in working time on the unemployment rate and on employment is also uncertain. It would depend primarily on the effect of this reduction on companies' production costs. Cet article pr & eacute;sente une analyse des effets des variations du temps de travail par travailleur sur la productivit & eacute; et l'& eacute;quilibre du march & eacute; du travail. La relation entre dur & eacute;e du travail et productivit & eacute; semble circulaire, le signe de l'impact des gains de productivit & eacute; sur la dur & eacute;e du travail (par le biais de canaux de substitution et de revenu) et celui de l'impact des variations de la dur & eacute;e du travail sur la productivit & eacute; (par le biais des canaux des co & ucirc;ts fixes et de la fatigue) restant tous deux incertains. Selon la litt & eacute;rature empirique r & eacute;cente, les effets de revenu l'emporteraient sur les effets de substitution et les gains de productivit & eacute; conduiraient donc & agrave; une r & eacute;duction du temps de travail. Les effets dus & agrave; la fatigue seraient sup & eacute;rieurs & agrave; ceux li & eacute;s aux co & ucirc;ts fixes, et une r & eacute;duction du temps de travail entra & icirc;nerait des gains de productivit & eacute; horaire. En outre, l'impact d'une r & eacute;duction du temps de travail sur le taux de ch & ocirc;mage et sur l'emploi reste & eacute;galement incertain et d & eacute;pendrait surtout de l'effet de cette r & eacute;duction sur les co & ucirc;ts de production des entreprises. Dieser Artikel analysiert die Auswirkungen von Ver & auml;nderungen der Arbeitszeit pro Arbeitnehmer:in auf die Produktivit & auml;t und das Arbeitsmarktgleichgewicht. Arbeitszeiten und Produktivit & auml;t scheinen sich wechselseitig zu beeinflussen, wobei die Richtung der Auswirkungen der Produktivit & auml;tsgewinne auf die Arbeitszeiten (& uuml;ber Substitution und Einkommen) und die Auswirkung ge & auml;nderter Arbeitszeiten auf die Produktivit & auml;t (& uuml;ber Fixkosten und Erm & uuml;dung) ungewiss bleiben. Die neuere empirische Literatur kommt zu dem Schluss, dass sich Einkommenseffekte st & auml;rker auswirken als Substitutionseffekte und dass Produktivit & auml;tsgewinne aus diesem Grunde zu k & uuml;rzeren Arbeitszeiten f & uuml;hren. Erm & uuml;dungseffekte w & uuml;rden st & auml;rker ins Gewicht fallen als Fixkosteneffekte, und eine Verk & uuml;rzung der Arbeitszeit w & uuml;rde zu einer Steigerung der Stundenproduktivit & auml;t f & uuml;hren. Die Auswirkungen einer k & uuml;rzeren Arbeitszeit auf die Arbeitslosenquote und auf die Besch & auml;ftigung sind ebenfalls ungewiss. Sie w & uuml;rden in erster Linie von den Auswirkungen dieser k & uuml;rzeren Arbeitszeiten auf die Produktionskosten von Unternehmen abh & auml;ngen.
