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Trade union project-based revitalization strategies in Central and Eastern Europe: The Case of Slovenia and Estonia

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  • Barbara Samaluk
  • Kairit Kall

Abstract

This article studies trade union revitalization within broader trends of projectification that marks a shift towards project work and its temporary organization. It accordingly compares instances of project-based organizational restructuring in post-crisis Estonia and Slovenia in order to identify their drivers, power resources employed and their outcomes and wider impact. In both countries, project-based organizational restructuring was driven by proactive activists capable of innovatively utilizing available power resources and new opportunity structures that had opened up with EU integration. While Slovenian unions utilized a more diverse set of power resources and revitalization strategies, activists in both countries stimulated trade union project-based organizational restructuring in order to initiate and sustain their main, context specific, revitalization strategies. Findings also show that project-based organizational restructuring can be an interim phase for unions to increase their resources and use them to turn their revitalization strategies into more permanent ones.

Suggested Citation

  • Barbara Samaluk & Kairit Kall, 2023. "Trade union project-based revitalization strategies in Central and Eastern Europe: The Case of Slovenia and Estonia," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 29(1), pages 7-24, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eurjou:v:29:y:2023:i:1:p:7-24
    DOI: 10.1177/09596801221118852
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Klaus Doerre & Hajo Holst & Oliver Nachtwey, 2009. "Organizing – A Strategic Option for Trade Union Renewal?," International Journal of Action Research, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 5(1), pages 33-67.
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    3. Barbara Samaluk, 2017. "Austerity stabilised through European funds: the impact on Slovenian welfare administration and provision," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 56-71, January.
    4. Guglielmo Meardi, 2007. "Multinationals in the New EU Member States and the Revitalisation of Trade Unions," Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 177-193.
    5. Christian Lévesque & Gregor Murray, 2010. "Understanding union power: resources and capabilities for renewing union capacity," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 16(3), pages 333-350, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kairit Kall, 2024. "From a handful of activists towards an organising subculture: institutionalisation of transnational union organising in Central and Eastern Europe," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 30(1), pages 87-101, February.
    2. Sonila Danaj & Tibor T Meszmann, 2024. "Weathering intermediated temporary labour mobility: social partners in Central and Eastern Europe after EU enlargement," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 30(1), pages 67-85, February.

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