The politics of industrial relations
Subtitle: labor unions in Spain
By: Kerstin Hamann
Series: Routledge research in employment relations -- 24
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 286
ISBN-13: 9780415884655
Subjects: Industrial relations; History; Labor unions; Political activity; Labor movement
Description: 'As unions in most other industrialized democracies continue to decline, unions in Spain have been able to regain and maintain strength despite unfavorable institutional, political, and economic conditions. The Politics of Industrial Relations provides a comprehensive analysis of Spanish unions from the Franco dictatorship until the present. It builds on industrial relations, comparative politics, and political economy literature to investigate the trajectory of Spanish unions. The book analyzes unions as political actors, that is, their interaction and involvement with governments, political parties, and nationwide policy-making processes to explain why Spanish unions appear in some ways as atypical in West European comparison. The development of Spanish unions and industrial relations is framed in a historical-institutionalist approach while also taking into account globalization and Europeanization processes. Using the case of the Spanish transition to democracy, the book demonstrates that the historical sequencing of institutional reforms in the political and industrial relations arenas holds significant and long-lasting consequences for the nature of unions and labor relations. The book concludes that by understanding unions as political actors, the history of Spanish unionism and industrial relations institutions is more easily accommodated than looking at unions as industrial actors alone. Comprehensive in its theoretical scope and empirical depth, The Politics of Industrial Relations presents Spain as an anomaly, and thus as a test case, for a multitude of theories developed in the political economy and industrial relations literatures.' (publisher)
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [235]-277) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: the puzzle of Spanish unions : a framework for analysis; title: Workers, the state, and labor relations under the Franco regime; title: Unions and the politics of institution building during the transition to democracy; title: Unions, parties, and industrial relations during the consolidation of democracy; title: The politics of economic adjustment under Gonzalez' socialist government; title: Socialist policies, union decline, and renewal strategies; title: Labor unions and Aznar's popular government: regaining a political voice?; title: Unions and Zapatero's socialist government: cooperation and confrontation; title: Conclusion: unions, industrial relations, and politics in Spain.