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

Gasparri, Stefano; Ikeler, Peter; Fullin, Giovanna

Authors

Stefano Gasparri Stefano.Gasparri@uwe.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management

Peter Ikeler

Giovanna Fullin



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