Trade Unions on the Reefs of Modernity

Main Article Content

Rafał Towalski

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to familiarise readers with internal and external risks currently faced by trade unions. The former include problems with the mobilisation of workers, unfavourable demographic structure and competition with other trade unions. The latter mainly include changes in the labour market and the growing role of multinational corporations, driven, to a large extent, by the next phase of the industrial revolution. The paper also proposes a solution to the problem. The key to getting out of this difficult situation is greater cooperation with civil society and new social movements. This requires overcoming many barriers, especially of ideological character, within the trade union movement.

Article Details

How to Cite
Towalski, R. (2019). Trade Unions on the Reefs of Modernity. Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociology, 10(19), 35–50. Retrieved from https://econjournals.sgh.waw.pl/wfes/article/view/3126
Section
Articles

References

Beck, U. (2014), Power in the Global Age. A New Political Economy, Cambridge: Polity.
Bernaciak, M., Gumbrell-McCormick, R., Hyman, R. (2014), Trade Unions in Europe, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Study, April.
Brynjolfsson, E., McAfee, A., Race Against the Machine, Digital Frontier Press, Lexington MA,2011http://b1ca250e5ed661ccf2f1-da4c182123f5956a3d22aa43eb816232.r10.cf1.rackcdn.com/contentItem-5422867-40675649-ew37tmdujwhnj-or.pdf (accessed: 18.05.2019).
Być albo nie być. Świat postfordowski a związki zawodowe (2012), J. Czarzasty, I. Książkiewicz (red.), Warszawa.
Crouch, C. (2011), The Strange non-death of neo-Liberalism, Cambridge, Polity Press.
Dau-Schmidt, K.G., Ellis, B.C. (2010), The relative bargaining power of employers and unions in the global information age: a comperative analysis of the United States and Japan, https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/iiclr/article/view/17618/17782 (accessed 18.05.2019).
Executive Summary World Robotics 2016 Industrial Robots, https://ifr.org/img/uploads/Executive_Summary_WR_Industrial_Robots_20161.pdf (accessed 18.05.2019).
Ford, M. (2015), The Rise of the Robots: technology and the threat of jobless future, New York: Basic Books.
Frege, C.M., Kelly, J. (2003), ‘Union Revitalization Strategies in Comparative Perspective’, European Journal of Industrial Relations 9(1).
Gardawski, J. (2001), Związki zawodowe na rozdrożu, Warszawa: ISP.
Gardawski, J. (2009), ‘Związki zawodowe w krajach starej demokracji’, w: Polacy pracujący a kryzys fordyzmu, Gardawski J. (red.), Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar.
GUS, Employment, wages and salaries in national economy in I-III quarter of 2016. https://stat.gov.pl/obszary-tematyczne/rynek-pracy/pracujacy-zatrudnieni-wynagrodzenia-koszty-pracy/zatrudnienie-i-wynagrodzenia-w-gospodarce-narodowej-w-i-iii-kwartale-2016-r-,1,24.html (accessed: 18.05.2019).
Hyman, R. (2013), ‘Democratisation of the Economy’, Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociology, Vol. 4, No. 2 (8), Autumn.
Kozek, W. (2003), ‘Czy wyłania się model? Problem instytucjonalizacji zbiorowego przetargu w stosunkach pracy’, w: Instytucjonalizacja stosunków pracy w Polsce, W. Kozek (red.), Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar.
Leszczyński, A, (2014), Dawid Ost o ćwierćwieczu wolnej Polski: nie byliście głupi, www.wyborcza.pl/magazyn/1,124059,16233248,David_Ost_o_cwiercwieczu_wolnej_Polski__Nie_byliscie.html (access18.05.2019).
Marginson, P. (2016), Trade unions and multinational companies: A multi – level challenge, https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wbs/research/irru/wpir/wpir_103.pdf (accessed 18.05.2019).
Mrozowicki, A., Maciejewska, M. (2017), ‘The practice anticipates our reflections’ – radical unions in Poland, Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research 23(1): 67–77.
Nace, T. (2003), Gangs of America. The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy, San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishing.
Ost, D (2003), ‘Słabość silnych ruchów społecznych. Modele unionizmu w kontekście wschodnioeuropejskim’, w: Instytucjonalizacja stosunków społecznych w Polsce, W. Kozek (red.), Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar
Rifkin, J. (1995), The end of work. The decline of the global labor force and the dawn of the post-market era, New York: Putnam’s Sons.
Sennett, R. (2006), The Culture of the New Capitalism, New Haven−London: Yale University Press.
Standing, G. (2011), The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, Bloomsberry Academic.
Touraine, A. (2014), After the crisis, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Trappmann, V. (2012), Związki zawodowe w Polsce. Aktualna sytuacja, struktura organizacyjna, wyzwania, Warszawa: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
Upchurch, M., Mathers, A. (2011), ‘Neoliberal Globalization and Trade Unionism: Toward Radical Political Unionism’, Critical Sociology 38(2): 265−280.