This ambitious comparative project addresses the weakening position of labor unions in the EU since the economic crisis of 2008. Editors Schmalz (University of Jena, Germany) and Sommer (International Institute of Social Studies, the Hague) bring together various viewpoints revealing the levels of precariousness of organized labor from southern Europe to the more established northern EU member states. In the south particularly, the neoliberal economic restructuring (codified by the Single European Act in 1987) combined with economic recession 20 years later to foment union resistance to austerity policies and social unrest, yielding new social movements. Ultimately, trade unions have yet to formulate a coherent response to this new normal in Europe, and the outlook remains gloomy. Even in Germany, where the situation is less grim for unions, labor struggles have become more fragmented, leading to the emergence of nascent "social-movement-like strategies." However, in southern states mobilization-platform unionism has developed in conjunction with social protest. The diverse case studies present an antagonistic situation in the southern states that may spread to the North, as the EU has been unable to create common labor policies.



Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

Choice Reviews

The Great Regression has developed through very uneven territorial patterns. Common paths of neoliberal restructuring had different effects in different economic and political contexts. Bridging political economy with social movement studies, this remarkable collection presents a much needed account on how variegated neoliberalism was reflected in diverse forms of protest and union action.

Donatella Della Porta, Dean of the Department of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore

Confronting Crisis and Precariousness provides a comprehensive framework in order to understand basic issues of European labor markets. First, the role of macro regulation, at European level, that promotes a pressure towards precariousness. Second, the national development of this process is uneven. Third, the challenge to unions and their different capacities to adapt and to develop new lines of action confronting austerity

Albert Recio, Professor of Economics, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

This book is a unique and timely contribution to the debate on precariousness and collective action in the post-crisis context. The consequences of increased precariousness are discussed bringing together the debates on austerity politics, worker organisation and political transformations in Europe. This book is also admirable for its analysis of the role that not only traditional unions, but also new collective actors and grassroots movements, are playing in organised labour and in labour market policies in EU countries.

Annalisa Murgia, Associate Professor in Sociology, University of Milan

European labour relations have become fundamentally restructured. Through a focus on the triangular relationship of increasing precariousness, trade unions and social movements, this volume makes a crucial contribution to our understanding of two different worlds of precariousness and a variety of labour responses. This is a must-read for anyone seeking a way out of crisis for European labour.

Andreas Bieler, Professor of Political Economy, University of Nottingham

Across Europe, work today is increasingly precarious. This wide-ranging survey by leading scholars in the main countries affected shows that intensified commodification of labour creates few winners and a multiplicity of losers. But the contributors also map innovative responses to the challenges, and explore how trade unions and social movements are building coalitions to respond to labour market insecurities.

Richard Hyman, Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics