The Future of Unions and Worker Representation

The Digital Picket Line

Anthony Forsyth (RMIT University, Australia)

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English

Hart Publishing
15 June 2023

Employment & labour law

This book charts the path to revitalisation for trade unions in Australia, the USA, the UK, and Italy. It examines the examples of innovation and digital campaigning that are enabling unions to build new forms of worker power – and overcome decades of declining membership wrought by neoliberalism, globalisation, and hostility from employers and the state.

The study evaluates the responses of unions in each country to falling membership levels since the 1980s. It considers the US ‘organising model’ and its adoption in Australia and the UK, comparing this with the strategies of Italian unions which have been more deliberately focused on precarious and migrant workers. The increasing reliance of US unions on community alliances, as seen in the ‘Fight for $15’ and similar campaigns, is scrutinised along with new union prototypes like Hospo Voice in Australia, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain and SI Cobas in Italy. The book includes an in-depth analysis of union responses to the gig economy in the four countries, and the emergence of self-organised worker collectives to combat this exploitative business model. The vital role played by unions in defending the interests of workers during the COVID-19 pandemic is also examined.

As well as highlighting the most successful union initiatives to meet the challenges of the past 30 years, the book assesses the strengths and deficiencies of the legal framework for union representation in the four nations. It identifies the labour law reforms needed to rebuild collectivism, but argues that more is needed than favourable laws. This cross-national study provides a rich basis for identifying the combination of reforms, strategies and linkages required to ensure that unions can remain relevant for a new generation of digitally-active workers.

By: Anthony Forsyth (RMIT University Australia)
Imprint: Hart Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781509956432
ISBN 10: 1509956433
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 15 June 2023
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Anthony Forsyth is Professor of Workplace Law at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.

Reviews for The Future of Unions and Worker Representation: The Digital Picket Line

This book provides an insightful synthesis of industrial activity abroad, and thoughtful potential solutions to reversing union woes. -- Grace Morgan Cocks * Alternative Law Journal * Professor Forsyth makes this need for comprehensive and structural trade union action and policy measures strikingly evident. He does so in a well-written, enlightening, and stimulating book underpinned by a robust legal and industrial relation analysis. There is no doubt that The Future of Unions and Worker Representation will be a most valuable resource for academics, researchers, and students in labour law and industrial relations for many years to come. -- Valerio de Stefano * Industrial Law Journal * The Future of Unions and Worker Representation: The Digital Picket Line is an important book which comes at a critical time for the union movement. To fulfil the promise of revitalisation, unions must forge lasting connections with the newest generations of workers who have grown up as digital natives. The book builds a convincing case for reform, both of external legal frameworks and of unions themselves. It also builds a compelling case through its analysis of union activity in the gig economy and during the pandemic of the continuing necessity of trade unions and their important place as agents of all working people. -- Shae McCrystal * Australian Journal of Labour Law *