Pub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1177/10242589221123774a
György Széll
Cant considers that these two perspectives are not very promising as they neglect capital’s intrinsic profit-oriented logic. He, by contrast, opts for the familiar ‘self-emancipation of the working class’ through a new cooperative economic structure, harnessing the potential of the platform organisation model. The huge difficulties and problems that delivery co-ops would face, however, require a purposeful political support structure, some sort of basic income and a service economy for society as a whole. Although several parts of the book give the impression of a somewhat forced mixture of orthodox class struggle theory and empirical observations of a new and still limited form of digital capitalism, Cant’s study is full of interesting and encouraging analytic reflections and insights and is a very recommendable read.
{"title":"Book Review: Media Capitalism. Hegemony in the Age of Mass Deception","authors":"György Széll","doi":"10.1177/10242589221123774a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221123774a","url":null,"abstract":"Cant considers that these two perspectives are not very promising as they neglect capital’s intrinsic profit-oriented logic. He, by contrast, opts for the familiar ‘self-emancipation of the working class’ through a new cooperative economic structure, harnessing the potential of the platform organisation model. The huge difficulties and problems that delivery co-ops would face, however, require a purposeful political support structure, some sort of basic income and a service economy for society as a whole. Although several parts of the book give the impression of a somewhat forced mixture of orthodox class struggle theory and empirical observations of a new and still limited form of digital capitalism, Cant’s study is full of interesting and encouraging analytic reflections and insights and is a very recommendable read.","PeriodicalId":23253,"journal":{"name":"Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research","volume":"20 1","pages":"391 - 393"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78167081","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1177/10242589221126633
Peter Nitsche-Whitfield
Europe’s current multiple social, ecological and geopolitical crises reveal an urgent need for change. Underlying these crises is a capital accumulation regime focused on generating profits from increased exploitation of labour and extraction from nature, thus threatening our biosphere and undermining our society (Spash, 2021a). Unless urgent action is taken, climate breakdown will bring about a future of untold human suffering, as the recent IPCC (2022a) report underlined. In any case, ecological limits are increasingly constraining human activities, with dramatic consequences of the kind illustrated by recent extreme weather events. In order to maintain the pursuit of economic growth under these conditions, extraction and exploitation will have to become more extreme. But this will only exacerbate the social crisis epitomised by the cost-of-living crisis. In order to avoid this there is a need, as the IPCC (2022b: TS/99) argues, to shift from a ‘GDP growthoriented economy’ to a ‘low-carbon energy-services, well-being, and equity-oriented economy’. A ‘labour–nature alliance’ will be indispensable in enabling such a social-ecological transformation. This article will highlight potentials for a labour–nature alliance in the current circumstances and provide a brief list of recommendations for action. Trade unionists and ecologists have not always seen eye to eye. There have been various historical battles in which they were on opposing sides of the so-called ‘jobs/environment dilemma’ (Räthzel and Uzzell, 2011), for example, in Austria, with the conflicts over Zwentendorf nuclear power station or the hydropower plant in what would become Donau-Auen National Park (Brand and Niedermoser, 2017: 34, 36–39, 134–135; Soder et al., 2018: 529–530). Both organised labour and ecological movements are relatively weak on their own in comparison with organised capital, however. Under current social circumstances it is likely that both will fail in satisfactorily resolving the crises they aim to address. To illustrate this dynamic, I put forward a schematic of possible alliances between three forces: labour, capital and nature (Figure 1). This schematic was developed in my thesis (Nitsche-Whitfield, 2022) and informed by the work of Brand and Wissen (2018) and Laurent and Pochet (2015: 15–27). With the aim of reducing exploitation, at least in the Global North, trade unions are currently in a dominant alliance with capital. This produces a ‘brown’, extractive form of capitalism. On the other hand, the dominant alliance of the environmentalist movement (nature) is focused on working with green capital. This produces a green capitalism that aims to reduce the impacts of extractivist practices. Hence, current alliances are organised around the focal point of capital, thereby bestowing even more power on capital. However, both coalitions with capital are leading to catastrophic consequences for labour and nature, albeit to different degrees, while a bottom-up allia
{"title":"A labour–nature alliance for a social-ecological transformation","authors":"Peter Nitsche-Whitfield","doi":"10.1177/10242589221126633","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221126633","url":null,"abstract":"Europe’s current multiple social, ecological and geopolitical crises reveal an urgent need for change. Underlying these crises is a capital accumulation regime focused on generating profits from increased exploitation of labour and extraction from nature, thus threatening our biosphere and undermining our society (Spash, 2021a). Unless urgent action is taken, climate breakdown will bring about a future of untold human suffering, as the recent IPCC (2022a) report underlined. In any case, ecological limits are increasingly constraining human activities, with dramatic consequences of the kind illustrated by recent extreme weather events. In order to maintain the pursuit of economic growth under these conditions, extraction and exploitation will have to become more extreme. But this will only exacerbate the social crisis epitomised by the cost-of-living crisis. In order to avoid this there is a need, as the IPCC (2022b: TS/99) argues, to shift from a ‘GDP growthoriented economy’ to a ‘low-carbon energy-services, well-being, and equity-oriented economy’. A ‘labour–nature alliance’ will be indispensable in enabling such a social-ecological transformation. This article will highlight potentials for a labour–nature alliance in the current circumstances and provide a brief list of recommendations for action. Trade unionists and ecologists have not always seen eye to eye. There have been various historical battles in which they were on opposing sides of the so-called ‘jobs/environment dilemma’ (Räthzel and Uzzell, 2011), for example, in Austria, with the conflicts over Zwentendorf nuclear power station or the hydropower plant in what would become Donau-Auen National Park (Brand and Niedermoser, 2017: 34, 36–39, 134–135; Soder et al., 2018: 529–530). Both organised labour and ecological movements are relatively weak on their own in comparison with organised capital, however. Under current social circumstances it is likely that both will fail in satisfactorily resolving the crises they aim to address. To illustrate this dynamic, I put forward a schematic of possible alliances between three forces: labour, capital and nature (Figure 1). This schematic was developed in my thesis (Nitsche-Whitfield, 2022) and informed by the work of Brand and Wissen (2018) and Laurent and Pochet (2015: 15–27). With the aim of reducing exploitation, at least in the Global North, trade unions are currently in a dominant alliance with capital. This produces a ‘brown’, extractive form of capitalism. On the other hand, the dominant alliance of the environmentalist movement (nature) is focused on working with green capital. This produces a green capitalism that aims to reduce the impacts of extractivist practices. Hence, current alliances are organised around the focal point of capital, thereby bestowing even more power on capital. However, both coalitions with capital are leading to catastrophic consequences for labour and nature, albeit to different degrees, while a bottom-up allia","PeriodicalId":23253,"journal":{"name":"Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research","volume":"8 1","pages":"383 - 387"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85773245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1177/10242589221125066
Béla Galgóczi
This article will demonstrate that, given the complexity of inequalities in the climate-environment-social nexus, fragmented policies for a just transition that focus on only one dimension of inequality will not deliver the results needed to justify proclaiming a ‘just transition for all’. By reframing the sustainability trilemma for the case of the climate emergency and deconstructing the concept of a ‘just transition’ based on the relevant literature and selected case studies, we shall highlight some of the concept’s inherent contradictions. The article will argue that a holistic approach requires a reframing of the role of the welfare state.
{"title":"From a ‘just transition for us’ to a ‘just transition for all’","authors":"Béla Galgóczi","doi":"10.1177/10242589221125066","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221125066","url":null,"abstract":"This article will demonstrate that, given the complexity of inequalities in the climate-environment-social nexus, fragmented policies for a just transition that focus on only one dimension of inequality will not deliver the results needed to justify proclaiming a ‘just transition for all’. By reframing the sustainability trilemma for the case of the climate emergency and deconstructing the concept of a ‘just transition’ based on the relevant literature and selected case studies, we shall highlight some of the concept’s inherent contradictions. The article will argue that a holistic approach requires a reframing of the role of the welfare state.","PeriodicalId":23253,"journal":{"name":"Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research","volume":"153 1","pages":"349 - 366"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86154468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1177/10242589221125083
Matteo Mandelli
As complex challenges like climate change and inequality become increasingly salient, eco-social policies are emerging as suitable public policy instruments to pursue integrated environmental and social objectives. However, despite their rising relevance, a descriptive – and hence empirically applicable – definition is still lacking in the reference literature, currently dominated by normative studies. Therefore, building on a critical assessment of the state of the art, this article proposes a framework for conceptualising eco-social policies, calling for an output-based definition with policy integration as its core element. The article also proposes a typology to differentiate various eco-social policies along two dimensions: the direction of policy integration and the link to economic growth. This typology allows us to elaborate on the possible roles that the welfare state can play vis-à-vis environmental challenges and policies, for instance in the context of decarbonisation: reactive or preventive; protection- or investment-oriented.
{"title":"Understanding eco-social policies: a proposed definition and typology","authors":"Matteo Mandelli","doi":"10.1177/10242589221125083","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221125083","url":null,"abstract":"As complex challenges like climate change and inequality become increasingly salient, eco-social policies are emerging as suitable public policy instruments to pursue integrated environmental and social objectives. However, despite their rising relevance, a descriptive – and hence empirically applicable – definition is still lacking in the reference literature, currently dominated by normative studies. Therefore, building on a critical assessment of the state of the art, this article proposes a framework for conceptualising eco-social policies, calling for an output-based definition with policy integration as its core element. The article also proposes a typology to differentiate various eco-social policies along two dimensions: the direction of policy integration and the link to economic growth. This typology allows us to elaborate on the possible roles that the welfare state can play vis-à-vis environmental challenges and policies, for instance in the context of decarbonisation: reactive or preventive; protection- or investment-oriented.","PeriodicalId":23253,"journal":{"name":"Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research","volume":"73 1","pages":"333 - 348"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86915178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-07DOI: 10.1177/10242589221107498
M. Petmesidou, A. Guillén
This article lays out an agenda for researching the social policy challenges facing the EU under the combined impact of a triple transition: green, digital and demographic. It takes as its starting point the double bind confronting the welfare state, pressured by increasing costs and serious socio-ecological concerns on the one hand, and the need, more daunting than ever, for protection against a vast array of imminent socio-economic, demographic and environmental risks, on the other. Against this background, it explores the complex web of synergies and trade-offs between the three transitions, examines the disjointed manner in which EU social policy has so far developed, and demonstrates the controversial stance of the EU’s overarching strategic framework – the European Green Deal – on the issue of a socially just transition. It also maps key research foci and gaps deserving further study, including the role of key players in the transition.
{"title":"Europe’s green, digital and demographic transition: a social policy research perspective","authors":"M. Petmesidou, A. Guillén","doi":"10.1177/10242589221107498","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221107498","url":null,"abstract":"This article lays out an agenda for researching the social policy challenges facing the EU under the combined impact of a triple transition: green, digital and demographic. It takes as its starting point the double bind confronting the welfare state, pressured by increasing costs and serious socio-ecological concerns on the one hand, and the need, more daunting than ever, for protection against a vast array of imminent socio-economic, demographic and environmental risks, on the other. Against this background, it explores the complex web of synergies and trade-offs between the three transitions, examines the disjointed manner in which EU social policy has so far developed, and demonstrates the controversial stance of the EU’s overarching strategic framework – the European Green Deal – on the issue of a socially just transition. It also maps key research foci and gaps deserving further study, including the role of key players in the transition.","PeriodicalId":23253,"journal":{"name":"Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research","volume":"283 1","pages":"317 - 332"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73397919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/10242589221096670a
Thomas Klikauer
Grimshaw D and Bosch G (2013) The intersections between minimum wage and collective bargaining institutions. In: Grimshaw D (ed.) Minimum Wages, Pay Equity, and Comparative Industrial Relations. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 50–80. Rödl F (Forthcoming) "Gerechtigkeit durch Tarifvertrag" ein Forschungsprogramm. Soziales Recht. Schulten T (2008) Towards a European minimum wage policy? Fair wages and social Europe. European Journal of Industrial Relations 14(4): 421–439. Schulten T (2012) European minimum wage policy: A concept for wage-led growth and fair wages in Europe. International Journal of Labour Research 4(1): 85–104. Schulten T and Müller T (2019) What’s in a name? From minimum wages to living wages in Europe. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research 25(3): 267–284. Syrovatka F (2016) Die Reformpolitik Frankreichs in der Krise: Arbeitsmarktund Rentenpolitik vor dem Hintergrund europäischer Krisenbearbeitung. Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer VS.
{"title":"Book Review: The Gig Economy – Workers and Media in the Age of Convergence","authors":"Thomas Klikauer","doi":"10.1177/10242589221096670a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221096670a","url":null,"abstract":"Grimshaw D and Bosch G (2013) The intersections between minimum wage and collective bargaining institutions. In: Grimshaw D (ed.) Minimum Wages, Pay Equity, and Comparative Industrial Relations. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 50–80. Rödl F (Forthcoming) \"Gerechtigkeit durch Tarifvertrag\" ein Forschungsprogramm. Soziales Recht. Schulten T (2008) Towards a European minimum wage policy? Fair wages and social Europe. European Journal of Industrial Relations 14(4): 421–439. Schulten T (2012) European minimum wage policy: A concept for wage-led growth and fair wages in Europe. International Journal of Labour Research 4(1): 85–104. Schulten T and Müller T (2019) What’s in a name? From minimum wages to living wages in Europe. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research 25(3): 267–284. Syrovatka F (2016) Die Reformpolitik Frankreichs in der Krise: Arbeitsmarktund Rentenpolitik vor dem Hintergrund europäischer Krisenbearbeitung. Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer VS.","PeriodicalId":23253,"journal":{"name":"Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research","volume":"65 1","pages":"294 - 297"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77611790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/10242589221096670
Felix Syrovatka
{"title":"Book Review: Minimum Wage Regimes. Statutory Regulation, Collective Bargaining and Adequate Levels","authors":"Felix Syrovatka","doi":"10.1177/10242589221096670","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221096670","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23253,"journal":{"name":"Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research","volume":"1 1","pages":"291 - 294"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83059607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/10242589221099804
Katarína Lukáčová, Lucia Kováčová, M. Kahanec
The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic and technological adjustment increased the risk of unemployment, underemployment and skills mismatch across Europe. These increased risks highlighted the importance of national unemployment benefit schemes for income security. This article examines the role of industrial relations in shaping unemployment benefit regimes in the Visegrad countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. We adopted an actor-oriented approach based on desk research and 12 semi-structured interviews with the representatives of trade unions and employers in all the Visegrad countries. Our research showed that the capacities of the trade unions and employers' associations to shape the unemployment benefit regimes were rather limited. State control over social policy remained very strong and shaped the dynamics of industrial relations, without inclusive involvement of social partners. National governments sought to implement measures to protect employment (mainly wage subsidies), rather than to reform existing unemployment support regimes.
{"title":"Industrial relations and unemployment benefit schemes in the Visegrad countries during the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Katarína Lukáčová, Lucia Kováčová, M. Kahanec","doi":"10.1177/10242589221099804","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221099804","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic and technological adjustment increased the risk of unemployment, underemployment and skills mismatch across Europe. These increased risks highlighted the importance of national unemployment benefit schemes for income security. This article examines the role of industrial relations in shaping unemployment benefit regimes in the Visegrad countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. We adopted an actor-oriented approach based on desk research and 12 semi-structured interviews with the representatives of trade unions and employers in all the Visegrad countries. Our research showed that the capacities of the trade unions and employers' associations to shape the unemployment benefit regimes were rather limited. State control over social policy remained very strong and shaped the dynamics of industrial relations, without inclusive involvement of social partners. National governments sought to implement measures to protect employment (mainly wage subsidies), rather than to reform existing unemployment support regimes.","PeriodicalId":23253,"journal":{"name":"Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research","volume":"2 1","pages":"229 - 246"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82590759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/10242589221094240
D. Clegg, E. Heins, Philip Rathgeb
This article explores the relationship between trade union governance roles in unemployment benefit systems, their power resources and their capacity to counteract liberalising and dualising trends in the labour market in conservative welfare states with compulsory unemployment insurance. Against received wisdom, this article argues that in the 21st century trade unions in continental Europe have generally sought to combat the dualism to which their welfare states and labour markets are institutionally susceptible. In this context, a role in the operation of unemployment benefit systems and related forms of institutional power could help unions to attain the enhanced outsider protection they seek. But different modes of union involvement in public policy produce different levels of institutional power, and help to condition its impact on policy development over time. This article illustrates these points with a comparison of the recent development of labour market policy and regulation in Austria, France and Germany.
{"title":"Unemployment benefit governance, trade unions and outsider protection in conservative welfare states","authors":"D. Clegg, E. Heins, Philip Rathgeb","doi":"10.1177/10242589221094240","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221094240","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the relationship between trade union governance roles in unemployment benefit systems, their power resources and their capacity to counteract liberalising and dualising trends in the labour market in conservative welfare states with compulsory unemployment insurance. Against received wisdom, this article argues that in the 21st century trade unions in continental Europe have generally sought to combat the dualism to which their welfare states and labour markets are institutionally susceptible. In this context, a role in the operation of unemployment benefit systems and related forms of institutional power could help unions to attain the enhanced outsider protection they seek. But different modes of union involvement in public policy produce different levels of institutional power, and help to condition its impact on policy development over time. This article illustrates these points with a comparison of the recent development of labour market policy and regulation in Austria, France and Germany.","PeriodicalId":23253,"journal":{"name":"Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research","volume":"182 1","pages":"195 - 210"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80325834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/10242589221080885
Jayeon Lindellee, T. Berglund
This article discusses the multi-faceted and changing role played by trade unions in providing unemployment benefits in Sweden, a country using the so-called Ghent system. As an important institutional feature explaining the high rate of unionisation in the Nordics, the system has been much debated. This article provides a comprehensive account of the retrenchment of the state unemployment benefit system (UBS) and the development of occupational and private UBS pillars providing complementary protection. It also introduces an ongoing reform discussion where the social partners are proposed to govern the unemployment insurance system via collective agreements, while retaining the union-linked insurance funds. The core institutional feature of the Ghent system – voluntary membership of a union-linked insurance fund – is turning out to be highly resilient despite frequent attempts to weaken the union power stemming from it. However, the system’s role in providing unemployment protection has changed due to its development into a multi-pillar structure, meaning that its future prospects are uncertain.
{"title":"The Ghent system in transition: unions’ evolving role in Sweden’s multi-pillar unemployment benefit system","authors":"Jayeon Lindellee, T. Berglund","doi":"10.1177/10242589221080885","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221080885","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses the multi-faceted and changing role played by trade unions in providing unemployment benefits in Sweden, a country using the so-called Ghent system. As an important institutional feature explaining the high rate of unionisation in the Nordics, the system has been much debated. This article provides a comprehensive account of the retrenchment of the state unemployment benefit system (UBS) and the development of occupational and private UBS pillars providing complementary protection. It also introduces an ongoing reform discussion where the social partners are proposed to govern the unemployment insurance system via collective agreements, while retaining the union-linked insurance funds. The core institutional feature of the Ghent system – voluntary membership of a union-linked insurance fund – is turning out to be highly resilient despite frequent attempts to weaken the union power stemming from it. However, the system’s role in providing unemployment protection has changed due to its development into a multi-pillar structure, meaning that its future prospects are uncertain.","PeriodicalId":23253,"journal":{"name":"Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research","volume":"6 1","pages":"211 - 227"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81943917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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