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The representation of non-standard workers. Theory and culture of collective bargaining1

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  • Gian Primo Cella

    (Università degli Studi di Milano)

Abstract

This article starts by looking at the intriguing similarities between the ends of the 19th and 20th centuries as far as the relationships between work and systems or structures of production are concerned. It considers the possible options for representing non-standard (or atypical) workers that can be usefully drawn from the past. Work is termed atypical as compared to the institutionalized forms dominant in the era of Taylorist-Fordist industrial production, although atypical work today has significant precedents in the 19th century. With regard to trade union cultures and policies, the thesis is that only by changing the logic and the practice of bargaining action, drawing inspiration from the theory of the Webbs, can suitable forms of representation be found for those components of non-standard labour more distant from the well-defined, stylized figure of the worker of the industrial age. This is a perspective that can represent both extremes of workers that offer their labour on the market: the highly skilled semi-independent worker, and the contingent worker with generic skills, who is possibly a member of the working poor. This could open the way for a unionism under which few would be excluded from collective representation, even if not ‘collective’ in the way understood in the past.

Suggested Citation

  • Gian Primo Cella, 2012. "The representation of non-standard workers. Theory and culture of collective bargaining1," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(2), pages 171-184, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:18:y:2012:i:2:p:171-184
    DOI: 10.1177/1024258912439144
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lorenzo Bordogna & Gian Primo Cella, 1999. "Admission, exclusion, correction: the changing role of the state in industrial relations," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 5(1-2), pages 14-33, March.
    2. Lars W. Mitlacher, 2007. "The Role of Temporary Agency Work in Different Industrial Relations Systems — a Comparison between Germany and the USA," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(3), pages 581-606, September.
    3. Peter Ackers, 2007. "Collective Bargaining as Industrial Democracy: Hugh Clegg and the Political Foundations of British Industrial Relations Pluralism," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(1), pages 77-101, March.
    4. Susanne Pernicka, 2009. "Trade union representation of contingent workers in further education in the UK and Austria," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 15(3-4), pages 461-480, August.
    5. Grimshaw, Damian & Rubery, Jill, 1998. "Integrating the Internal and External Labour Markets," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 22(2), pages 199-220, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alison Johnston & Andreas Kornelakis & Costanza Rodriguez d’Acri, 2012. "Swords of justice in an age of retrenchment? The role of trade unions in welfare provision1," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(2), pages 213-224, May.

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