The Combustible Mix of Coalitional and Discursive Power
British Trade Unions, Social Media and the People's Assembly Against Austerity
New Technology, Work and Employment, 37 (2): 161-184
This article investigates how the British trade union movement sought to challenge the politics of austerity after the North Atlantic financial crisis of 2008 by founding a union-led coalition: the People’s Assembly Against Austerity. To lay the ground for the study, it redefines the concept of discursive power as the…
Read more Download PDFThe Internet, Social Media and Trade Union Revitalization
Still Behind the Digital Curve or Catching Up?
New Technology, Work and Employment, 36: 123-139
This article introduces the special issue of New Technology, Work and Employment titled “The Internet, Social Media and Trade Union Revitalization: Still Behind the Digital Curve or Catching Up?” The objectives of this special issue are threefold. First, to develop an analytical framework that can help researchers assess the role…
Read more Download PDFTowards a New Web of Rules
An International Review of Institutional Experimentation to Strengthen Employment Protections
Employee Relations, 41 (2): 313-330
The purpose of this paper is to review “institutional experimentation” for protecting workers in response to the contraction of the standard employment relationship and the corresponding rise of “non-standard” forms of paid work. The paper draws on the existing research and knowledge base of the authors as well as a…
Read more Download PDFFrom Financial Crisis to Social Change
Towards Alternative Horizons
Palgrave Macmillan
This edited collection critically engages with a range of contemporary issues in the aftermath of the North Atlantic financial crisis that began in 2007. From challenging the erosion of academic authority to the myth that parliamentary democracy is not worth engaging with, it addresses three interrelated questions facing young people…
Read moreThe Academic Precariat
Danish Sociology, 28 (2): 27-51
Theories of social class have traditionally described highly educated people as a privileged group in society. However in the past decade several studies of the academic labour market in Europe have shown that precarious forms of employment are becoming increasingly common. This article assesses the extent to which Guy Standing’s…
Read more Download PDFEnhancing Transnational Labour Solidarity
The Unfulfilled Promise of the Internet and Social Media
Industrial Relations Journal, 48 (4): 345-364
This article examines the activities of Union Solidarity International (USI), a new UK-based organisation in the international union arena. USI seeks to encourage and support international solidarity between trade unions and other worker movements around the world by harnessing the dynamism of the Internet and social media. Drawing on a…
Read more Download PDFDanish Trade Unions and Young People
Using Media in the Battle for Hearts and Minds
Palgrave Macmillan
This chapter presents a case study of the ‘Are you OK?’ campaign launched in 2012 by the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the Confederation of Professionals in Denmark (FTF) (which have since merged). Together these two organisations represented almost 100 affiliated unions and 30,000 shop stewards. The campaign’s…
Read more Download PDFResponses of Trade Union Confederations to the Youth Employment Crisis
Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 19 (3): 399-413
The current economic recession has had a dramatic impact on youth employment across Europe. This article analyses responses by trade union confederations in Denmark and the UK. Looking first at their power capacities (with a specific focus on communicative power and its relevance for young people), the article moves on…
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