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Conditions for cross-professional union coalition-building: When enough is enough, but solidarity also has its limits!

Author

Listed:
  • Nana Wesley Hansen

    (FAOS Employment Relations Research Centre, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

  • Nick Krachler

    (King’s Business School, King’s College London, UK)

Abstract

Competition between unions whose membership has different skills and professionalization levels is a long-standing issue in the labour movement. This article investigates the conditions for why and how a unique cross-professional coalition of all Danish public-sector unions developed between 2017 and 2018. Operating in a favourable context, unions overcame professionalization differences when skilled brokers primed a common instrumental base as other unionists used a public interest frame to legitimate the coalition and its demands ideologically. However, once the common instrumental concern was met, the coalition collapsed. The article argues that union coalition-building depends on multiple factors comprising both contextual, and identity and relational conditions. The article further argues that adopting a framing that focuses on the public interest over professional self-interest helps to successfully overcome professional cleavages.

Suggested Citation

  • Nana Wesley Hansen & Nick Krachler, 2024. "Conditions for cross-professional union coalition-building: When enough is enough, but solidarity also has its limits!," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 45(2), pages 530-555, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:45:y:2024:i:2:p:530-555
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X231173462
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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