Special Issue
The future of trade unions in Europe
Trade Unions have been important institutions of industrial society. Membership numbers peaked in the late 1970s and then experienced a long decline which only seems to be coming to an end recently. The reasons for membership losses are manifold, they include changes in society`s values, such as membership in traditional organizations, to new values of individualization, personal responsibility and self-realisation. In addition, processes of global and regional integration have altered the basic principles for trade unions’ actions. Under the guise of ‘competitiveness’, European governments have cut back on social benefits and questioned major accomplishments of labour organisations.As long as neo-liberal thinking was main-stream, trade unions where considered to be slowing down progress, if not obsolete. This way of thinking has changed rapidly since the start of the financial crisis in 2008. Trust in the invisible hand of the free markets is sinking, at the same time, public acceptance of unions is rising again and membership numbers are stabilizing.
In the special issue and the corresponding seminar, we would like to discuss ‘The Future of Trade Unions in Europe’ in an adequately broad and interdisciplinary way.
Deadline:
Potential contributors to the workshop at the IUC Dubrovnik (28th March – 1st April 2011, http://www.iuc.hr/courses.php) are encouraged to contact the guest editors directly with an abstract of 1-2 pages before January 31st. A limited amount of travel grants for scholars of German universities is available.
Full papers for this special edition of the ‘management revue’ must be with the editors by May 31st 2011. All contributions will be subject to a double-blind review. Papers invited to a ‘revise and resubmit‘ are due September 30st 2011. Please submit your papers electronically to matiaske@hsu-hh.de at using as subject ‘management revue’.