Transfer stimulates dialogue between the European trade union movement and the academic and research community. It contributes research findings on issues of strategic relevance for trade unions, in particular with regard to developments at the European level. Transfer publishes original peer-reviewed research on issues such as new developments in industrial relations, social policy, and labour market developments.
Volume 21 Issue 2, May 2015
The European marketization project is intensifying in response to the euro crisis. This is putting national labour movements under increased pressures. The increasing transnationalization of production and the centralization of economic governance within multinational firms, the European Central Bank and the European Commission have put national unions in increased competition with one another. Even the public health sector – which has so far been seen as the most sheltered sector – has become subject to transnational marketization processes. And yet, workers and trade unions are not without weapons. Too often the structural constraints of the global economy are emphasized at the expense of the potential agency of labour. Economic and political integration processes have also provided new strategic possibilities for trade unions. Key here is how trade union action at local and national level may be connected across borders in moments of transnational solidarity.