Labour and the Struggle over the Future European Model of Capitalism: British and Swedish Trade Unions and their Positions on EMU and European Co-operation

Abstract

Based on a critical International Political Economy (IPE) perspective including a strategic-relational approach to the state, this article analyses Swedish and British trade unions' position on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and European co-operation. Importantly, unions in both countries support EMU membership, but transnational British labour is much more in favour of co-operation at the regional level than Swedish transnational labour. While the latter still enjoys good access to policy-making within the Swedish form of state, the former is rather marginalised in Britain and looks to the European Union as an alternative arena for influence. It is further shown that on the one hand British unions continue to reject neo-liberalism. On the other, some transnational sector unions in Sweden have, however, started to accept core neo-liberal concepts.