Trade union strategy in fashion retail in Italy and the USA: Converging divergence between institutions and mobilization?

Gasparri, Stefano; Ikeler, Peter; Fullin, Giovanna

Abstract

We investigate trade union strategies in fashion retail, a sector with endemic low-wages, precarity and a representation gap. Unions in Milan organized ‘zero-hours contract’ workers, while their counterparts in New York established an alternative channel of representation, the Retail Action Project. We argue, first, that the dynamics of both cases are counter-intuitive, displaying institution-building in the USA and grass-roots mobilization in Italy; second, union identity stands out as a key revitalizing factor, since only those unions with a broad working class orientation could provide an effective representation for fashion retail workers.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 22, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Dec 19, 2018
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jan 23, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 23, 2019
• Journal: European Journal of Industrial Relations
• Print ISSN: 0959-6801
• Electronic ISSN: 1461-7129
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 345-361
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0959680118817681
• Keywords: fashion retail, union revitalization, flexible work, zero-hours contracts, worker centers, union identity, industrial relations institutions
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/855779
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/0959680118817681
• Additional Information: Additional Information : © 2018. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications
• Contract Date: Jan 23, 2019