Adascalitei, D. and Muntean, A. (2019) Trade union strategies in the age of austerity: the Romanian public sector in comparative perspective. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 25 (2). pp. 113-128. ISSN 0959-6801
Abstract
This article examines the impact of the economic crisis and its aftermath on collective bargaining, by comparing reactions to austerity policies of trade unions in healthcare and education in Romania. We develop an encompassing theoretical framework that links strategies used by trade unions with power resources, costs and union democracy. In a tight labour market generated by the massive emigration of doctors, unions in healthcare have successfully deployed their resources to advance their interests and obtain significant wage increases and better working conditions. We also show that in the aftermath of the crisis, healthcare trade unions have redefined their strategies and adopted a more militant stance based on a combination of local strikes, strike threats and temporary alliances with various stakeholders. By comparison, we find that unions in the education sector have adopted less effective strategies built around negotiations with governments combined with national-level militancy.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 The Authors. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in European Journal of Industrial Relations. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Agency; austerity; Eastern Europe; education; healthcare power resources; Romania; trade unions; union democracy; union strategies |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 10 May 2018 12:16 |
Last Modified: | 22 Apr 2021 10:02 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0959680118783588 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:130600 |
Download
Filename: Trade union strategies in the age of austerity_My_Pubs .pdf
Licence: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0