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Trade unions and contingent labour: scale and method

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  • Edmund Heery

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a trend for trade unions to attempt to represent contingent workers, including agency staff, workers on fixed-term contracts and the self-employed. This article seeks to explain and characterize this development in the UK. The main conclusions are that contingent workers require an "upscaling" of union representation, beyond the workplace, and that methods other than collective bargaining are more important for advancing the interests of this group. These methods include attempts to regulate labour markets unilaterally, provide union services and make use of employment law. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Edmund Heery, 2009. "Trade unions and contingent labour: scale and method," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 2(3), pages 429-442.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cjrecs:v:2:y:2009:i:3:p:429-442
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cjres/rsp020
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    Cited by:

    1. Sean O'Brady, 2021. "Fighting precarious work with institutional power: Union inclusion and its limits across spheres of action," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(4), pages 1084-1107, December.
    2. Niccolo Durazzi, 2015. "Inclusive unions in a dualised labour market? The challenge of organising labour market policy and social protection for labour market outsiders," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 99, European Institute, LSE.
    3. Dongwoo Park, 2023. "Lopsided inclusion: The impact of multi‐employer bargaining and class‐based unionism on non‐regular employment in South Korea," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 110-132, March.
    4. Wood, Alex & Lehdonvirta, Vili, 2021. "Antagonism beyond employment: how the ‘subordinated agency’ of labour platforms generates conflict in the remote gig economy," SocArXiv y943w, Center for Open Science.
    5. Matteo Rizzo & Maurizio Atzeni, 2020. "Workers’ Power in Resisting Precarity: Comparing Transport Workers in Buenos Aires and Dar es Salaam," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(6), pages 1114-1130, December.
    6. Emmanuel Josserand & Sarah Kaine & Natalia Nikolova, 2018. "Delivering sustainability in supply networks: Achieving networked multi‐stakeholder collaborations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 605-611, July.
    7. Kristina Håkansson & Tommy Isidorsson, 2014. "The trade union response to agency labour in Sweden," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 22-38, January.
    8. Lisa Berntsen, 2015. "Stepping up to strike: a union mobilization case study of Polish migrant workers in the Netherlands," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 21(4), pages 399-412, November.
    9. Chiara Benassi & Lisa Dorigatti, 2015. "Straight to the Core — Explaining Union Responses to the Casualization of Work: The IG Metall Campaign for Agency Workers," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(3), pages 533-555, September.
    10. Gregor Murray, 2017. "Union renewal: what can we learn from three decades of research?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(1), pages 9-29, February.
    11. Chris F Wright, 2013. "The response of unions to the rise of precarious work in Britain," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 24(3), pages 279-296, September.
    12. Paolo Borghi & Annalisa Murgia & Mathilde Mondon-Navazo & Petr Mezihorak, 2021. "Mind the gap between discourses and practices: Platform workers’ representation in France and Italy," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(4), pages 425-443, December.
    13. Saerom Han, 2023. "Mobilizing within and beyond the Labor Union: A Case of Precarious Workers’ Collective Actions in North Africa," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(4), pages 674-696, August.
    14. Bas A. S. Koene & François Pichault, 2021. "Embedded Fixers, Pragmatic Experimenters, Dedicated Activists: Evaluating Third‐Party Labour Market Actors’ Initiatives for Skilled Project‐Based Workers in the Gig Economy," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 444-473, June.
    15. Trine P Larsen & Mikkel Mailand & Thorsten Schulten, 2022. "Good intentions meet harsh realities: Social dialogue and precarious work in industrial cleaning," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(1), pages 7-31, February.
    16. Pedro Mendonça, 2020. "Trade union responses to precarious employment: the role of power resources in defending precarious flight attendants at Ryanair," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 26(4), pages 431-445, November.
    17. Giedo Jansen & Alex Lehr, 2022. "On the outside looking in? A micro-level analysis of insiders’ and outsiders’ trade union membership," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(1), pages 221-251, February.
    18. Ruth Barton & Élodie Béthoux & Camille Dupuy & Anna Ilsøe & Patrice Jalette & Mélanie Laroche & Steen Erik Navrbjerg & Trine Pernille Larsen, 2021. "Understanding the dynamics of inequity in collective bargaining: evidence from Australia, Canada, Denmark and France," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 113-128, February.
    19. Adam Seth Litwin & Or Shay, 2022. "What do unions do… for temps? Collective bargaining and the wage penalty," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 193-227, April.
    20. Rafael Gomez & Danielle Lamb, 2019. "Unions and Non-Standard Work: Union Representation and Wage Premiums across Non-Standard Work Arrangements in Canada, 1997–2014," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(4), pages 1009-1035, August.

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