Austerity, union policy and gender equality bargaining

Inattention to the gender implications of austerity measures, and coincident cuts in gender equality structures by state, employers and often unions themselves threaten gender equality measures and equality bargaining. These threats are compounded by the reconfiguring of the language of equality which is now re-focused on class inequalities, on the one hand, and an expanded range of equality-seeking groups, on the other. The language of equality no longer adequately captures trends in gender equality. Intersectionality (compound discrimination) is explored as a reference point for bargaining equality. Austerity measures are also reshaping the household-workplace-community nexus, re-invoking outdated and conservative views of women’s place, reconfiguring the positioning of women’s rights, and, to some extent, engineering women’s return to the household. This article argues that unions need to radicalize discourses around the household-workplace-community nexus, and explores gendered social unionism as an alternative progressive frame for equality bargaining. It concludes that bargaining for equality may support not only a revival of innovative collective bargaining but also union revitalization.