TY - JOUR
T1 - Active enactment and virtuous circles of employment relations: how Danish unions organised the transnationalised Copenhagen Metro construction project
AU - Arnholtz, Jens
AU - Refslund, Bjarke
PY - 2019/8/1
Y1 - 2019/8/1
N2 - Transnational workers on large-scale construction projects are often poorly included in national industrial relations systems, which results in employment relations becoming trapped in vicious circles of weak enforcement and precarious work. This article shows how Danish unions have, nonetheless, been successful in enacting existing institutions and organising the construction of the Copenhagen Metro City Ring, despite initially encountering a highly fragmented, transnational workforce and several subcontracting firms that actively sought to circumvent Danish labour-market regulation. This is explained by the union changing their organising and enforcement strategies, thereby utilising various power resources to create inclusive strategies towards transnational workers. This includes efforts to create shared objectives and identity across divergent groups of workers and actively seeking changes in the public owners’ attitude towards employment relations.
AB - Transnational workers on large-scale construction projects are often poorly included in national industrial relations systems, which results in employment relations becoming trapped in vicious circles of weak enforcement and precarious work. This article shows how Danish unions have, nonetheless, been successful in enacting existing institutions and organising the construction of the Copenhagen Metro City Ring, despite initially encountering a highly fragmented, transnational workforce and several subcontracting firms that actively sought to circumvent Danish labour-market regulation. This is explained by the union changing their organising and enforcement strategies, thereby utilising various power resources to create inclusive strategies towards transnational workers. This includes efforts to create shared objectives and identity across divergent groups of workers and actively seeking changes in the public owners’ attitude towards employment relations.
KW - European integration
KW - construction work
KW - enforcement
KW - institutional enactment
KW - organising
KW - power resources
KW - transnational labour
KW - unions
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063146713&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0950017019832514
DO - 10.1177/0950017019832514
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0950-0170
VL - 33
SP - 682
EP - 699
JO - Work, Employment and Society
JF - Work, Employment and Society
IS - 4
ER -