Trades Unions and the Transition away from 'actually existing unsustainability':From economic crisis to a new political economy beyond growth

Traditionally trades unions have accepted and promoted orthodox economic growth as a policy imperative. In recent years there has been a noticeable ‘greening’ of trade unions in relation to initiatives such as the ‘Green new deal’ and the creation of ‘green collar’ employment and the focus on a ‘just transition’ to a low carbon economy. Yet given the growing evidence of the negative impacts of economic growth in terms of environmental, resource and pollution impacts as well as the inability of economic growth to tackle (as opposed to managed) socio-economic inequality, it is timely to review the case for trades unions to fundamentally rethink the commitment to orthodox economic growth. That is, for trades unions to consider going beyond their current ‘green/sustainability’ strategies to consider more radical ‘post-growth’ policy positions. This chapter will explore some of the dimensions of a ‘post-growth’ trade union agenda by considering the evidence for going beyond growth from within the trade union movement (specifically looking at the International Labor Organization’s 2004 report on Economic Security, to internal union discussions around trades unionism and climate change) and external evidence ranging from Wilkinson and Pickett’s The Spirit Level (which suggests amongst other things that in the developed world what is needed is not economic growth but greater redistribution and lowering inequality – issues also of traditional interest to the Trades Union movement) to Tim Jackson’s Prosperity without Growth (which suggests that economic growth is ecologically unsustainable as well having passed a threshold beyond which it is contributing to human well-being in the developed world). As well as discussing the relationship between trades unionism and what may be called ‘green political economy’ (such as the ‘degrowth’ and ‘limits to growth’ perspectives) this chapter will also discuss the practical/policy implications of this ‘post-growth’ perspective in relation to trades unionism’s analysis of capitalism and its transformation in the context of a climate changed, carbon constrained world, including implications for ideas such as basic income, a shorter working week and what a trades unionism focused on how to achieve high quality of life within a low carbon context might look like.

Trade unions and the law.

Mode of access: Internet.

Nonreferral unions and equal employment opportunity : a report /

Item 288-A

Trade union publications: the official journals, convention proceedings, and constitutions of international unions and federations, 1850 1941,

I. Description and bibliography.--II. Subject index.--III. Subject index (concluded)

Directory of unions and associations with exclusive recognition in the federal service.

Mode of access: Internet.

Black labor unions in South Africa : report of a symposium /

Mode of access: Internet.

Directory of unions and associations with exclusive recognition in the federal service.

Mode of access: Internet.

Women, unions and equal employment opportunity /

"Prepared under grants from the National Commission on Employment Policy and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration."

Statement (by) Harold W. Story, Vice President, before the U. S. Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. February 14, 1947.

Mode of access: Internet.

West German trade unions : their domestic and foreign policies /

Includes bibliographical references.

Teamwork : the cooperative program of the Tennessee Valley Trades and Labor Council and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

"December 1955."

Directory of labor unions in the United States /

Mode of access: Internet.

Education research and youth subculture theory

Recent theoretical developments (particularly those involving the work of Michel Foucault) have challenged the foundations upon which subcultural analysis is built. It is not the intention of this paper to take issue with the underpinning neo-Marxist assumptions concerning hegemony, consciousness and culture. Rather, the intention is simply to problematise the use of subculture theory in terms of its totalising, normalising and dichotomising nature.