Abstract
The central premise of this edited volume lies in reconsidering the traditional divide between organised labour and social movements, and in how to build alliances between the two in order to better organise future joint collective action efforts on a local, national and global scale in resisting the continuing forces of neoliberalism. From its first pages, editors Jürgen Grote and Claudius Wagemann announce their ambition to help bridge the worlds of industrial relations and social movement research, asserting that the two ‘have long followed their own avenues, meeting only occasionally’ (p. x), a state of affairs which they argue has been to the detriment of both fields.
Grote and Wagemann proclaim that the book’s foundations originate from a deep dissatisfaction with three particular shortcomings in the existing literature on forms of collective action within Western democracies. These are a distinct neglect of discussion on the capacity of various actors to work together to defend their common needs and interests; the lack of cross-fertilisation outside of established research traditions; and a desire to reconcile existing divisions and dichotomies within the current literature, through a theoretical and empirical exploration of recent examples of joint collective action conducted by social movements and trade unions. They also adopt Albert Hirschman’s notion of ‘passions and interests’ as a means of understanding the ‘processes of transition from one historical period to another’ (p. 2); in the case of this volume, meaning the transition to a world still coming to terms with the 2008 financial crisis and its continued ramifications for the Western world. It is not, then, a book short on ambition in either its scope or its aims.
The chapters themselves deliver a varied and balanced mix of theoretical discussion and empirical case studies, with empirical contributions ranging from an examination of Greek trade unions and social movements in response to post-financial-crash austerity politics (Markos Vogiatzoglou), an exploration of the strategies employed by trade unions in Italy towards challenges faced by precarious workers (Alice Mattoni), to a critical assessment of social movement unionism in the context of migrant workers campaigns (Maite Tapia and Gabriella Alberti). On the theoretical side, Sabrina Zajak discusses the effectiveness of analysing various forms of social movement–trade union cooperation from a Polanyian perspective through an approach she terms ‘cross-movement counter-mobilization’, Amanda Tattersall explores the differing forms of solidarity that often underpin union–community alliances, and Mario Diani outlines a new framework towards the ways in which researchers study trade unions, social movements and other actors involved in collective action within this field. Taken together, these contributions cover an extensive and varied amount of ground both within and at the crossroads of industrial relations and social movements literature.
Authors are careful to not elevate a particular actor or organisation above any other in their sections, and there is a consistent focus running through and from each chapter on the prospect of various future union–movement collaborations and alliances to better provide a countermovement to the current prevailing winds of neoliberalism across the Western world. This consistency in focus is coupled with an accessible writing style throughout and a clear and coherent structure from each chapter to the next; in particular in the transition from the theoretical focus of the first half of the book to the empirically minded second half.
The volume as a whole is concerned with exploring a post-2008 world and the new opportunities available for joint collective action between social movements and trade unions within it, with Grote and Wagemann noting that ‘there is hardly a chapter in this book without reference to the notion of crisis’ (p. 211). It invites conceptual and empirical comparisons with McBride and Greenwood’s 2009 treatise on ‘community unionism’, detailing the insights that have been derived and the lessons that have been learned in the post-crisis decade since its publication, along with the editors’ and authors’ own hopes (and fears) for the future still to come. The editors conclude with an acknowledgement that while trade unions and social movements are not the only essential actors required to form an effective countermovement to post-crash neoliberalist forces, ‘they very much are the cornerstone on which more extended forms of critique advanced by larger parts of society are to be built in the future’ (p. 220).
The well-struck balance throughout this book between a focused collection of European case studies alongside a willingness to identify and attempt to move forward theoretical debates within existing industrial relations and social movements literature, cements this work as an important contribution in bringing together these two separate fields. Its practical and positive focus on potential ways forward for trade unions and social movements to more successfully work together should also be commended, and it can be hoped that its example will lead to a continued focus on this area by other interested scholars.
