Richard Hyman is rarely less than interesting, and often provocative and challenging in his analysis, and readers will find each of these dimensions in his discussion of European trade unionism. What they will not find is the comprehensive study that the title implies. The major areas of argument are developed from case studies of three countries (Germany, Italy and the UK), and each provides significant grist to Hyman’s mill. However, the lack of a case study from the Nordic trade unions, although not their complete omission, is disappointing given their particular traditions and continuing strength compared to the countries included. While the study of trade unionism in the countries of the old Soviet bloc is in its infancy they are also a part of “European trade unionism”, although their past would offer a significantly different dimension to the analysis that Hyman seeks to develop. This is focussed on broader argument about trade union movements as a whole, and so the focus of the book concentrates largely on the actions and policies of national confederations. The consequence is that workplace trade unionism is neglected and there is little in the way of detailed analysis of, for example, comparative membership trends. Equally, the often strong divisions between “white” and “blue” collar confederations is not discussed in any significant detail, although the distinction is characteristic of trade union structures, particularly in Northern Europe. Nor is there detailed analysis of the changing parameters of collective bargaining that Clegg (1976) had earlier placed at the centre of the comparative study of trade unions. This lack of detail is acknowledged by the author, who suggests that he is drawing on “the economists’ notion of ‘stylised facts’ [that] denotes propositions which, if they were true, would make an analysis and argument more plausible, but which it would be impolite to confront with awkward counter‐evidence of an empirical nature”. It is this approach that takes us into the broad sweep of the book’s argument in which the subtitle provides the key to the analysis.
Hyman seeks to construct an analysis of European trade unions, which he describes as “adrift within a sea of variable geometry”. He draws a triangle, the three points of which are society, market and class, and he seeks to analyse Europe’s trade unions in relation to each of them. He selects three case study countries and characterises the UK trade union movement as between market and class; the German as between society and market, and the Italian as between class and society. His analysis of these different dimensions of trade unionism are at the heart of the book’s argument, and Hyman develops a detailed exploration the rich complexity of notions such as class and civil society. It is clear that he sees the inter‐relationship between each of the three features he identifies as critical to understanding national trade union identities and, indeed, these dimensions have undoubtedly shaped trade unions in the post‐war period that is Hyman’s focus. However, the analysis also underpins an argument about the future of trade unions in the contrasting case study countries that leads us into areas that have been the subject of much wider debate.
In this respect “concerned scholars”, including Hyman, have a duty to assist trade unions in their struggle to “reassert their relevance”, particularly as “opponents of the dehumanising advance of market forces”. Hyman argues that “political economism, as an overarching trade union project, has reached the end of the road” and that there are no easy alternative solutions. It is no doubt in this area that Hyman is at his most provocative although it is not always easy to identify and weave through what he sees as the options available to trade unions. Given the level at which the book’s argument is developed, it is unsurprising that the focus of attention is beyond the workplace and “beyond national identities”. It is certainly the case that trade unions have to confront and respond to the changes in global capitalism that most trade union members have to deal within their own localities, and the arguments about capital’s global space and labour’s local place are now well developed elsewhere.
Hyman suggests that there are further contradictions for trade unions to confront. The search for what he describes as “utopias” to provide a vision for a better future is in marked contrast to what he describes as the task of European trade unionism, encapsulated as the slogan “develop the internal social dialogue!” The author’s own exclamation mark may hint at a little irony here, but it is clear that the review of organisational structures is an important and critical element in successful trade union renewal. There are further problems for Hyman in the contradictory nature of a supranational European State which appears irrelevant to ordinary people, but which provides “innovative” decisions in its Court of Justice and significant interventions in equal opportunities. There is indeed an issue there, but it is the case that Commission Directives and their consequent national regulations have had significant impacts on workers’ lives in areas such as health and safety or working time. The European Works Council Directive is arguably beginning to provide the foundation for the development of some trade union organisational links based on cross‐European workplaces.
Understanding European Trade Unionism does not provide us with the comprehensive analysis its title might suggest. Rather we are offered an argument at a general level that takes us into a set of insights and arguments that will deepen any reader’s understanding of European trade unionism and the reasons for difference in national developments. The individual national case studies are valuable in themselves, and provide the cogent and thoughtful analysis that you would expect from Richard Hyman. It is equally clear that he is committed to a “trade union project” that is essential to the support and protection of working people. It is his analysis of the way forward that will be the most provocative and this is not simply confined to the pages of the concluding chapter but permeates the argument throughout. It is of course, whether you might agree or disagree, essential reading.
