The Handbook of Labour Unions

Before the 2023 cost-of-living crisis, some believed that the Covid-19 pandemic had ushered in a new era of state intervention and the end of neoliberalism. This was a forlorn hope, as governments intervened precisely to preserve the status quo. Growing levels of income and wage inequality, the precaritization of many sections of the labour force and proletarianization of many in the highly unionised professional middle classes have made labour unions as salient as ever. This handbook assembles an array of experts to critically engage with the debates and discussions about the role and purpose of unions and the many means by which they seek to attain them. The book provides insights into how challenges and problems may be surmounted and aims to fuse the understanding of the past and present to provide a general guide for shaping the future.

Table of Contents:
Introduction – Gregor Gall Part I Components, Characteristics and Context 1. Union identity and appeal – Lorenzo Frangi and Tinting Zhang 2. Union interests and ideologies – Ronaldo Munck 3. Union resources: the power-resources approach – Stefan Schmalz and Edward Webster 4. Union forms: adaptation and inertia – Chiara Benassi, Christian Ibsen and Maite Tapia 5. Union governance: South Africa and its lessons – Geoffrey Wood and Christine Bischoff 6. Union relations – Kurt Vandaele 7. Union terrains – Jamie Woodcock Part II Space, Power and Periodization 8. The liberal capitalist starting point – Stefan Berger 9. The social democratic high point – Greg Patmore 10. The "socialist" experiment – Jeremy Morris 11. The neoliberal low point – Chris Howell Part III The Practice of Building Presence and Power 12. Union and the agendas of joint-regulation – Miguel Martinez Lucio 13. From contesting the managerial prerogative to producing workers’ control – Alan Tuckman 14. From sectionalism and sectionality to inter-sectionality – Jenny Rodriguez 15. The rationality and limitations of labour union bureaucracy – David Camfield 16. Unions as schools for lessons in democratic citizenship: implications for union strategy – Ed Snape 17. Commitment to, and activism within, labour unionism – Jack Fiorito, Andrew Keyes, Pauline De Becdelièvre and Zachary Russell 18. Working with and learning from other social movements – Heather Connolly 19. Concentric circles of class struggle: from the workplace to the world – Marissa Brookes 20. Unions and politics: why unions are not just the economic wing of the labour movement – Jörg Nowak and Roland Erne 21. Constantly outpaced and outgunned? Unions in the platform economy – Horen Voskeritsian 22. When may the interests of labour and capital align? Johanna MacNeil and Mark Bray Conclusion – Gregor Gall

About the Author :
Gregor Gall is a Visiting Professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Leeds and an Affiliate Research Associate at the University of Glasgow. He is also a writer and commentator, being the author and editor of 30 books, mainly about labour unions and about politics in Scotland. His latest book is a biographical and sociological study of rail union leader, Mick Lynch (2024).