Unions and Globalisation Governments, Management, and the State at Work

In recent decades, trade unions have suffered major reversals and experienced declining memberships. Transnational corporations and state-owned multi-nationals have increasingly implemented deteriorating terms and conditions of employment, with vulnerable and insecure job contracts. In this context, there has been a wide-ranging debate about the form of trade unionism, the bases for collective organization and struggle and the future of trade unionism. This book addresses these questions both theoretically, in relation to debates, as well as substantively via a series of selected studies. It is a must read for all those studying industrial relations, human resource management, the sociology of work and employment, economic sociology, economic and labor geography and business studies in general.

1. State Restructuring in Two States 2. Changing State Management and Trade Unions: A Conceptual Analysis 3. Pathways to Change: The Restructuring of the Administrative State 4. Trade Unions Addressing Change 5. Remoulding the State Labour Process 6. The State, Depoliticisation and Unions 7.Public Sector Unions: Contesting Individualisation, Defending Collectivity 8. A Way Forward?

Peter Fairbrother is Professor of International Employment Relations and Director of the Centre for Governance, Work and Technologies, RMIT University, Australia. John O’Brien is an Associate of the Industrial Relations Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia. Anne Junor is Deputy Director of the Industrial Relations Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia. Michael O’Donnell is Professor of Human Resource Management at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Australia. Glynne Williams is Lecturer in Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management at the Centre for Labour Market Studies, University of Leicester, United Kingdom.