Still asking for ‘more Europe’: understanding support for the EU among Italian and Romanian health-care unions

Abstract

German

French

Following the 2008 financial crisis and up to the COVID-19 pandemic, EU economic governance interventions contributed significantly to the commodification of Member States’ health-care systems. Nonetheless, trade union action in this area continued to target national policy-making almost exclusively. Drawing on the cases of Italy and Romania, this article argues that one reason unions refrained from politicising EU economic governance interventions is that they associate EU membership with better access, overall, to social rights. Moreover, by closely examining both Italian and Romanian health-care unions in this light, this study prompts us to take a more nuanced view of existing analyses contrasting Central and Eastern European with western or southern European collective action vis-à-vis the EU.

Keywords

Health care collective action trade unions European Union

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adăscăliței

Muntean

(2019) Trade union strategies in the age of austerity: The Romanian public sector in comparative perspective. European Journal of Industrial Relations 25(2): 113–128.

Almond

Connolly

(2020) A manifesto for ‘slow’ comparative research on work and employment. European Journal of Industrial Relations 26(1): 59–74.

Ban

(2016) Ruling Ideas: How Global Neoliberalism Goes Local. Oxford; New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Ban

Gabor

(2014) Recalibrarea înţelepciunii convenţionale: o analiză aprofundată a relaţiilor dintre România şi FMI. Bucharest: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Romania.

Bardas

(2010) Soarta a 7 milioane de oameni, in pixul ministrilor lui Boc. Available at: https://ziare.com/emil-boc/criza/presa-de-azi-soarta-a-7-milioane-de-oameni-in-pixul-ministrilor-lui-boc-1014491?utm_source=Ziare.com&utm_medium=copy-paste (accessed 19 January 2025).

Béthoux

Erne

Golden

(2018) A primordial attachment to the nation? French and Irish workers and trade unions in past EU referendum debates. British Journal of Industrial Relations 56(3): 656–678.

Bieler

(2008) Labour and the struggle over the future European model of capitalism: British and Swedish trade unions and their positions on EMU and European co-operation. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 10(1): 84–104.

Bieler

(2009) Globalization and regional integration: The possibilities and problems for trade unions to resist neoliberal restructuring in Europe. In: van Apeldoorn

Drahokoupil

Horn

(eds) Contradictions and Limits of Neoliberal European Governance. From Lisbon to Lisbon. London; New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 232–224.

CFSMR (2017) FEMS solicit to the EC. Available at: https://www.fems.net/images/Fems_documents/Documents/2017/F17-015%20Romania%20solicit%20to%20EC.pdf (accessed 19 January 2025).

10.

CGIL (2019) Documento conclusivo XVIII Congresso CGIL. Available at: https://binaries.cgil.it/pdf/2021/07/28/094257590-b14b64ca-56ea-4335-a413-ff5a62f02d31.pdf (accessed 19 January 2025).

11.

Ciarini

Neri

(2021) ‘Intended’ and ‘unintended’ consequences of the privatisation of health and social care systems in Italy in light of the pandemic. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research 27(3): 303–317.

12.

Della Porta

Caiani

(2009) Social Movements and Europeanization. Oxford; New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

13.

Di Mascio

Natalini

Ongaro

, et al. (2019) Influence of the European Semester on national public sector reforms under conditions of fiscal consolidation: The policy of conditionality in Italy 2011–2015. Public Policy and Administration 35(2): 201–223.

14.

Erne

(2015) A supranational regime that nationalizes social conflict: Explaining European trade unions’ difficulties in politicizing European economic governance. Labor History 56(3): 345–368.

15.

Erne

Stan

Golden

, et al. (2024) European Economic Governance and Labour Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

16.

Esping-Andersen

(1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.

17.

European Parliament (2018) Committee on petitions. Minutes meeting of 8 October 2018. Available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/PETI-PV-2018-10-08-1_EN.pdf (accessed 19 January 2025).

18.

FEMS (2017) Letter to the European Commission. Available at: https://www.fems.net/images/Fems_documents/Documents/2017/F17-007%20EC%20Request%20Ref%20Italy%20and%20Romania.pdf (accessed 19 January 2025).

19.

Gajewska

(2009) Transnational Labour Solidarity: Mechanisms of Commitment to Cooperation Within the European Trade Union Movement. London: Routledge.

20.

Golden

(2025) Labour Euroscepticism: Italian and Irish Unions’ Changing Preferences Towards the EU. Colchester: ECPR Press.

21.

Golden

Erne

(2022) Ryanair pilots: Unlikely pioneers of transnational collective action. European Journal of Industrial Relations 28(4): 451–469.

22.

Gubernat

Rammelt

(2021) ‘Vrem o ţară ca afară!’: How contention in Romania redefines state-building through a pro-European discourse. East European Politics and Societies 35(1): 247–268.

23.

Guga

(2022) Situația personalului sanitar din România. Bucharest: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung România. Available at: https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/bukarest/19530.pdf (accessed 23 April 2025).

24.

Hutter

(2014) Protest event analysis and its offspring. In: della Porta

(ed.) Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research. Oxford; New York, NY: Oxford University Press, pp. 335–367.

25.

Imig

Tarrow

(2001) Studying contention in an emerging polity. In: Imig

Tarrow

(eds) Contentious Europeans: Protest and Politics in an Emerging Polity. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 3–26.

26.

Kelly

(2012) Rethinking Industrial Relations: Mobilisation, Collectivism and Long Waves. London: Routledge.

27.

Lillie

Greer

(2007) Industrial relations, migration, and neoliberal politics: The case of the European construction sector. Politics & Society 35(4): 551–581.

28.

McAdam

Tarrow

Tilly

(2001) Dynamics of Contention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

29.

Mori

Neri

(2020) Relazioni industriali e servizi di cura: frammentazione degli attori e della contrattazione tra pubblico e privato. La Rivista delle Politiche Sociali/Italian Journal of Social Policy 3: 129–152.

30.

Nursing

(2018) Contratto di sanità: Infermieri in mobilitazione. Available at: https://nursingup.it/news/515-contratto-di-sanita-infermieri-in-mobilitazione.html (accessed 19 January 2025).

31.

Nursing Up (2019) Consiglio d’Europa: Ammissibile il reclamo Nursing Up contro l’esclusione dai tavoli. Available at: https://nursingup.it/news/582-consiglio-deuropa-ammissibile-il-reclamo-nursing-up-contro-lesclusione-dai-tavoli-de-palma-un-passo-importante-in-favore-della-democrazia.html (accessed 19 January 2025).

32.

Olteanu

(2021) Politistii protesteaza din cauza inghetarii salariilor. Available at: https://ziare.com/social/stiri-sociale/politistii-protesteaza-in-piata-victoriei-din-cauza-inghetarii-salariilor-1663784?utm_source=Ziare.com&utm_medium=copy-paste (accessed 19 January 2025).

33.

Patta

(2013) Ok al rigore se c’è ricompensa. IlSole24Ore. Available at: https://st.ilsole24ore.com/art/notizie/2013-10-23/rigore-ricompensa-064216.shtml?uuid=AbXYvpwI (accessed 19 January 2025).

34.

Portelli

(1981) The peculiarities of oral history. History Workshop Journal 12(1): 96–107.

35.

Pulignano

Carrieri

Baccaro

(2018) Industrial relations in Italy in the twenty-first century. Employee Relations 40(4): 654–673.

36.

Rodriquez

(2014) La protesta dei medici europei. Available at: https://www.quotidianosanita.it/lavoro-e-professioni/articolo.php?articolo_id=21401 (accessed 19 January 2025).

37.

Rone

(2021) Contesting Austerity and Free Trade in the EU: Protest Diffusion in Complex Media and Political Arenas. New York, NY; Abingdon: Routledge.

38.

Rubin

(2012) Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data. Los Angeles, CA; London; New Delhi; Singapore; Washington, DC: Sage.

39.

Rubino

Scacchioli

(2014) La Cgil, un milione in piazza contro il Jobs Act. La Repubblica. Available at: https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2014/10/25/news/manifestazione_cgil_articolo_18_roma_camusso_renzi-98964756/ (accessed 19 January 2025).

40.

Ryner

Cafruny

(2017) The European Union and Global Capitalism: Origins, Development and Crisis. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

41.

Sacchi

(2015) Conditionality by other means: EU involvement in Italy’s structural reforms in the sovereign debt crisis. Comparative European Politics 13(1): 77.

42.

Sandru

(2019) Rest time-need for a preliminary reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Revue Européenne du Droit Social 2(43): 78–87.

43.

Sanitas (2018) SANITAS sustine, in Parlamentul European, standardizarea și uniformizarea studiilor asistenților medicali absolvenți de studii medii sau superioare din România. Info Sanitas București. Available at: https://info.sanitasbucuresti.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Sanitas-14-compressed.pdf (accessed 19 January 2025).

44.

Stamati

Baeten

(2014) Health Care Reforms and the Crisis. Brussels: European Trade Union Institute.

45.

Stan

Erne

(2016) Is migration from Central and Eastern Europe an opportunity for trade unions to demand higher wages? Evidence from the Romanian health sector. European Journal of Industrial Relations 22(2): 167–183.

46.

Szabó

(2024) The Transformation of Discontent: Labor Protest in Healthcare and Education Across Europe. London; New York, NY: Routledge.

47.

Trif

(2013) Romania: Collective bargaining institutions under attack. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research 19(2): 227–237.

48.

Trommer

(2019) Watering down austerity: Scalar politics and disruptive resistance in Ireland. New Political Economy 24(2): 218–234.

49.

Turnbull

(2006) The war on Europe’s waterfront – Repertoires of power in the port transport industry. British Journal of Industrial Relations 44(2): 305–326.

50.

van Apeldoorn

(2009) The contradictions of ‘embedded neoliberalism’ and Europe’s multi-level legitimacy crisis: The European project and its limits. In: van Apeldoorn

Drahokoupil

Horn

(eds) Contradictions and Limits of Neoliberal European Governance. From Lisbon to Lisbon. London; New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 21–43.

51.

Vicarelli

(2022) La flessibilità del lavoro nel Servizio Sanitario Nazionale prima e durante la pandemia da Covid-19. Sociologia del lavoro 162: 7–29.

52.

Zamponi

(2020) Challenging precarity, austerity and delocalisation: Italian labour struggles from Euro-criticism to Euro-disenchantment. European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology 7(3): 347–377.