Skip to main content

Part of the book series: The Societies of Europe ((SOEU))

Abstract

In this chapter we present a comparative overview of the development, structure, organization and membership of European trade unions, based on the fifteen country chapters in Part II. Our aim is to show the broad picture: how did European trade unions develop? What are the main differences in patterns of organization and union structure across countries? How did these differences affect the organization of new social status categories and groups in industrial and post-industrial societies? What were the patterns of change? Did the union systems of Europe converge? What were the broad developments in unionization and growth? What can we expect for the twenty-first century?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Bibliography

  • Armingeon, K. (1983), Neo-korporatistische Einkommenspolitik. Frankfurt a.M.: Campus Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1986), ‘Formation and Stability of Neo-Corporatist Incomes Policies: A Comparative Analysis’. European Sociological Review 2(2): 138–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baglioni, G., and C. Crouch, eds. (1990), European Industrial Relations: The Challenge of Flexibility. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bain, G.S. (1970), The Growth of White-Collar Unionism. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and F. Elsheik (1976), Union Growth and the Business Cycle. London: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and R. Price (1980), Profiles of Union Growth. A Comparative Statistical Portrait of Eight Countries. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1983), ‘Union Growth: Dimensions, Determinants, and Destiny’. In G. Bain, ed. Industrial Relations in Britain. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 3–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbash, J., and K. Barbash (1972), Trade Unions and National Economic Policy. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, D. (1976), The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. A Venture in Social Forecasting. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bendix, R. (1964), Nation-Building and Citizenship: Studies of our Changing Social Order. New ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, I. (1954), ‘Union Growth and Structural Cycles’. (Reprint, incl. Discussion by D. Bell, L. Ulman, R. Allen). In W. Galenson, ed. Comparative Labor Movements. New York: Prentice-Hall, 73–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beyme, K. von (1977), Gewerkschaften und Arbeitsbeziehungen in kapitalistischen Ländern. Munich, Zurich: R. Piper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briefs, G. (1965), ‘Gewerkschaften, Theorie’. Handwörterbuch der Sozialwissenschaften 4: 545–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan, R. (1981), ‘Union Concentration and the Largest Unions’. British Journal of Industrial Relations 19(2): 232–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, G. (1985), ‘Concentration and Specialization: Dynamics of Niche Width in Populations of Organizations’. American Journal of Organizations 90(4): 1262–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castles, S., and G. Kosack (1978), Immigrant Workers and Class Structure in Western Europe. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaisson, G. (1986), When Unions Merge. Lexington, KY: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chitayat, G. (1979), Trade Union Merger and Labor Conglomerates. New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clayton, R., and J. Pontusson (1998), ‘Welfare-State Retrenchment Revisited: Entitlement Cuts, Public Sector Restructuring, and Inegalitarian Trends in Advanced Capitalist Societies’. World Politics 51(1): 67–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clegg, H. (1976), Trade Unionism under Collective Bargaining. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook, A., V. Lorwin, and A. Kaplan Daniels, eds. (1984), Women and Trade Unions in Eleven Industrialized Countries. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebbinghaus, B. (1993), Labour Unity in Union Diversity. Trade Unions and Social Cleavages in Western Europe, 1890–1989. (Ph.D. Thesis). Florence: European University Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1995), ‘The Siamese Twins: Citizenship Rights, Cleavage Formation, and Party-Union Relations’. In C. Tilly, ed. Citizenship, Identity and Social History (International Review of Social History, Supplement 3). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 51–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1996), ‘From Ideology to Organization: The Transformation of Political Unionism in Western Europe’. In P. Pasture, J. Verberckmoes, and H. De Witte, eds. The Lost Perspective? Trade Unions Between Ideology and Social Action in the New Europe. (2 vols.). Vol. 2. Aldershot: Avebury, 28–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and A. Hassel (1999), Striking Deals: Concertation in the Reform of Continental European Welfare States. Cologne: Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and J. Visser (1999), ‘When Institutions Matter: Union Growth and Decline in Western Europe, 1950–1995’. European Sociological Review 15(2): 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Esping-Andersen, G., Z. Assimakopolou, and K. van Kersbergen (1993), ‘Trends in Contemporary Class Structuration: A Six-Nation Comparison’. In G. Esping-Andersen (ed.), Changing Classes: Stratification and Mobility in Post-Industrial Societies. London: Sage, 32–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fajertag, G., and P. Pochet, eds. (1997), Social Pacts in Europe. Brussels: ETUI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flanders, A. (1968), Trade Unions. 7th rev. ed. London: Hutchinson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flora, P., F. Kraus, and W. Pfenning (1987), State, Economy, and Society in Western Europe 1815–1975. Vol. II: the Growth of Industrial Societies and Capitalist Economies. Frankfurt a.M.: Campus Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flora, P., S. Kuhnle, and D. Urwin (1999), ‘State Formation, Nation-Building, and Mass Politics in Europe. The Theory of Stein Rokkan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, J., and J. Brittain (1977), ‘Union Merger Process and Industrial Environment’. Industrial Relations 16: 173–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fulcher, J. (1991), Labour Movements, Employers, and the State. Conflict and Cooperation in Britain and Sweden. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geary, D. (1981), European Labour Protest 1848-1939. London: Croom Helm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Golden, M., M. Wallerstein, and P. Lange (1999), ‘Postwar Trade-Union Organization and Industrial Relations in Twelve Countries’. In H. Kitschelt et al., eds. Continuity and Change in Contemporary Capitalism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 194–230.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Goldthorpe, J., ed. (1984), Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hancké, B. (1993), ‘Trade Union Membership in Europe 1960-90: Rediscovering Local Unions’. British Journal of Industrial Relations 31(4): 593–613.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hannan, M. (1988), ‘Organizational Population Dynamics and Social Change’. European Sociological Review 4(2): 95-109.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and J. Freeman (1987), ‘The Ecology of Organizational Founding: American Labour Unions, 1836-1985’. American Journal of Sociology 92 (4), 910–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —(1988), The Ecology of Organizational Mortality: American Labour Unions, 1836–1985’. American Journal of Sociology 94(1): 25–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —(1989), Organizational Ecology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hechter, M. (1987), Principles of Group Solidarity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobsbawm, E. (1964), Labouring Men. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaelble, H. (1989), ‘Was Prometheus Most Unbound in Europe? The Labour Force in Europe During the Late XIXth and XXth Centuries’. Journal of European Economic History 18(1): 65–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, R., and P. Mair (1992), Party Organizations. A Data Handbook. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katznelson, I., and A. Zolberg, eds. (1986), Working-Class Formation. Nineteenth Century Patterns in Western Europe and the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kern, H., and C. Sabel (1992), ‘Trade Unions and Decentralized Production: A Sketch of Strategic Problems in the German Labour Movement’. In M. Regini, ed., The Future of Labour Movements. London: Sage, 217–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, C, J. Dunlop, F. Harbison, and C. Meyers (1960), Industrialism and Industrial Men. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korpi, W. (1983), The Democratic Class Struggle. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and M. Shalev (1979), ‘Strikes, Industrial Relations and Class Conflict in Capitalist Societies’. British Journal of Sociology 30(2): 164–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lane, J.-E., and S. Ersson (1987), Politics and Society in Western Europe. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lanzalaco, L. (1990), Dall’impresa all’associazione. Le organizzazioni degli imprenditori: La Confindustria in prospettiva comparata. Milan: F. Angeli.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehmbruch, G., and P. Schmitter, eds. (1982), Patterns of Corporatist Policy-Making. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lester, R. (1958), As Unions Mature. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lipset, S. (1983), ‘Radicalism or Reformism: The Sources of Working-Class Politics’. American Political Science Review 77: 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —, and S. Rokkan (1967), ‘Cleavage Structures, Party Systems, and Voter Alignments: An Introduction’. In S. Lipset and S. Rokkan, eds. Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives. New York: Free Press, 1–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood, D. (1958), The Blackcoated Worker. A Study in Class Consciousness. (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marks, G. (1986), ‘Neocorporatism and Incomes Policy in Western Europe and North America’. Comparative Politics 18: 253–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • — (1989), Unions in Politics. Britain, Germany and the United States in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, T. (1950), Citizenship and Social Class. The Marshall Lectures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller-Jentsch, W. (1981), ‘Trade Unions as Intermediary Organizations’. Economic and Industrial Democracy 6(1): 3–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neumann, G., P. Pedersen, and N. Westergård-Nielsen (1991), ‘Long-Run International Trends in Aggregate Unionization’. European Journal of Political Economy 7: 249–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • OECD (1997), Measuring Public Employment in OECD Countries: Sources, Methods and Results. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Offe, C. (1981), ‘The Attribution of Public Status to Interest Groups: Observations on the West German Case’. In S. Berger, ed. Organizing Interests in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 123–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and H. Wiesenthal (1980), ‘Two Logics of Collective Action: Theoretical Notes on Social Class and Organisational Form’. Political Power and Social Theory 1: 67–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, M. (1965), The Logic of Collective Action. Public Goods, Stagflation and Social Rigidities. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • —(1982), The Rise and Decline of Nations. Economic Growth, Stagflation and Social Rigidities. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penninx, R., and J. Roosblad, eds., Trade Unions, Immigration and Immigrants in Europe 1960–1993. Amsterdam: International Institute of Social History.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, J., and W. Streeck, eds. (1995), Works Councils. Consultation, Representation, and Cooperation in Industrial Relations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rokkan, S. (1968), ‘Nation-Building, Cleavage Formation and the Structuring of Mass Polities’. Comparative Studies in Society and History 10(2): 173–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —(1977), ‘Towards a Generalized Concept of “Verzuiling”: A Preliminary Note’. Political Studies 25(4): 563–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosanvallon, P. (1988), La question sindicale. Paris: Caiman-Lévy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, R., ed. (1985), Public Employment in Western Nations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothstein, B. (1992), ‘Labor-Market Institutions and Working-Class Strength’. In S. Steinmo, K. Thelen, and F. Longstreth, eds. Structuring Politics. Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis. New York: Cambridge University Press, 33–56.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitter, P. (1974), ‘Still the Century of Corporatism?’ Revue of Politics 36: 85–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —, and J. Grote (1997), ‘Der korporatistische Sisyphus: Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft’. Politische Vierteljahresschrift 38(3): 530–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and W. Streeck (1999), The Organization of Business Interests. Studying the Associative Action of Business in Advanced Industrial Societies. Cologne: Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Discussion Paper 99/1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shonfield, A. (1966), Modern Capitalism. The Changing Balance of Public and Private Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sorge, A. (1976), ‘The Evolution of Industrial Democracy in the Countries of the European Community’. British Journal of Industrial Relations 14(3): 274–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stinchcombe, A. (1965), ‘Social Structure and Organizations’. In J. March, ed. Handbook of Organizations. Chicago: R. McNally, 142–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, G. (1993), ‘Issues in Union Structure’. Research in the Sociology of Organizations 12: 1–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streeck, W. (1981), Gewerkschaftliche Organisationsprobleme in der sozialstaatlichen Demokratie. Königstein: Athenaeum.

    Google Scholar 

  • —(1987), ‘The Uncertainties of Management and the Management of Uncertains’. Work, Employment, and Society 1(3): 281–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —(1988), ‘Interest Heterogeneity and Organizing Capacity: Two Logics of Collective Action?’ In R. Czada and A. Windhoff-Héritier, eds., Political Choice: Institutions, Rules, and the Limits of Rationality. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 76–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • —(1992), Social Institutions and Economic Performance. Studies of Industrial Relations in Advanced Capitalist Economies. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • —(1994), Tay Restraint Without Income Policy: Institutionalised Monetarism and Industrial Unionism in Germany’. In R. Dore, R. Boyer, and Z. Mars, eds., The Return to Incomes Policy. London: Pinter, 118–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and J. Visser (1998), An Evolutionary Dynamic of Trade Union Systems. Cologne: Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Discussion Paper 98/4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sturmthal, A. (1953), Unity and Diversity in European Labor. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, ed. (1966), White Collar Trade Unions. Contemporary Developments in Industrialized Societies. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, A. (1989), Trade Unions and Politics. A Comparative Introduction. London: Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Traxler, F. (1993), ‘Business Associations and Labor Unions in Comparison: Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Findings’. British Journal of Sociology 44(4): 673–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Undy, R., V. Ellis, W. McCarthy, and A. Halmos (1981), Change in Trade Unions: The Development of UK Unions Since the 1960s. London: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Visser, J. (1986), ‘Die Mitgliederentwicklung der westeuropäischen Gewerkschaften. Trends und Konjunkturen 1920–1983’. Journal für Sozialforschung 26(1): 3–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • —(1989), European Trade Unions in Figures. Deventer: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1990), In Search of Inclusive Unionism (Bulletin of Comparative Labour Relations 18). Deventer: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • —(1991), ‘Trends in Trade Union Membership’. OECD Employment Outlook 1991. Paris: OECD, 97–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • —(1992), ‘The Strength of Union Movements in Advanced Capitalist Countries. Social and Organizational Variations’. In M. Regini, ed., The Future of Labour Movements. London: Sage, 17–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • —(1998), ‘European Trade Unions in the 1990s’. In B. Towers and M. Terry, eds. Industrial Relations Journal, ‘European Annual Review 1997’, 113–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and J. Waddington (1996), ‘Industrialization and Politics: A Century of Union Structural Development in Three European Countries’. European Journal of Industrial Relations 2(1): 21–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Waarden, F. (1995), ‘Employers and Employers’ Associations’, in: J. van Ruysseveldt, R. Huiskamp, and J. van Hoof, eds., Comparative Industrial & Employment Relations. London: Sage, 68–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waddington, J. (1988), ‘Trade Union Mergers: A Study of Trade Union Dynamics’. British Journal of Industrial Relations 26(3): 409–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —(1995), The Politics of Bargaining: The Merger Process and British Trade Union Structural Development, 1892–1987. London: Mansell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webb, S., and B. Webb (1894/1920), The History of Trade Unionism. London: Longmans, Green and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • —(1897), Industrial Democracy. London: Longmans, Green and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Western, B. (1997), Between Class and Market: Postwar Unionization in the Capitalist Democracies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willman, P., T. Morris, and B. Aston (1993), Union Business. Trade Union Organization and Financial Reform in the Thatcher Years. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Windmuller, J. (1975), ‘The Authority of National Trade Union Confederations: A Comparative Analysis’. In D. Lipsky, ed., Union Power and Public Policy. Ithaca, NY: New York State School of Industrial Labour Relations, 91–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • —(1981), ‘Concentration Trends in Union Structure: An International Comparison’. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 35(1): 43–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Copyright information

© 2000 Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Jelle Visser

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ebbinghaus, B., Visser, J. (2000). A Comparative Profile. In: Trade Unions in Western Europe since 1945. The Societies of Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-65511-3_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-65511-3_2

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-333-77112-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-65511-3

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics