Interest representation in transnational labour markets: Campaigning as an alternative to traditional union action?

Abstract

This article addresses the challenges connected with interest representation in transnational labour markets. It draws on an in-depth case study of the labour market that matches Eastern European workers to jobs in the German meat industry. This labour market has emerged under the European Union Posted Workers Directive. The posting regime has entailed dumping wages and extreme exploitation in the German meat industry. The German Food Workers Union has faced great difficulties in organising workers posted in the meat industry and in negotiating collective agreements because of strong employer resistance to industry-level bargaining. Yet 2014 saw a shift towards a new employment regime and a re-ordering of the transnational labour market, which entailed several improvements for workers. This article sheds light on how this change came about through campaigning by a coalition of different sorts of (collective) actors and not traditional collective action by the union. The role and impact of campaigning for labour protection in transnational labour markets in the Global North are further discussed.