The European Trade Union Confederation
– more than the sum of its parts?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18030/socio.hu.2019en.9Kulcsszavak:
trade unions, industrial relations, social dialogue, social movements, European UnionAbsztrakt
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) represents some 45 million trade union members from eighty-nine national trade union confederations and ten European Industry Federations from thirty-nine countries. In 2019, ETUC entered its forty-sixth year and marked its fourteenth quadrennial Congress in Vienna where delegates intervened to shape the work plan and direction of the organisation for the coming four years and to elect a new Executive Committee.
This article takes stock of ETUC’s background and primary activities and considers whether ETUC enhances the power and influence of its members, despite the challenging environment in which trade unions in Europe reside in the 21st century. In so doing, the article assesses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the organisation, which remains the largest civil society organisation in Europe.
