Organised by transitions: the self-organisation of next-generation welfare professionals in Slovenia
Much is known about innovative union strategies to organise young workers, but little is known about how and why they self-organise outside of unions. Based on field research in Slovenia, we examine ‘next-generation welfare professionals’, a diverse group of students, unemployed graduates and precarious workers attempting to enter state-regulated, and relatively well unionised education and social protection professions. We argue that their self-organisation is a direct consequence of their precarious education-to-work transitions and consequent disembeddedness from the workplace and professional community. Their grievances stem from a mismatch between strict professional entry requirements and scarce paid internships, which lead to long unemployment spells, unsupportive active labour market schemes, and a fear of social exclusion. Their initial tactic was to establish communities from which a collective sense of injustices and self-organising emerged and they targeted policymakers with demands for sustainable government funded internships. Although their relations with established trade unions are not close, they do receive organisational support from the Trade Union Youth Plus that organises students, the unemployed and precarious graduates stuck in a transitional stage of ‘waithood’. Our findings show the need for unions to become more present within transitional zones that, are shaped by state policies.
-
Atzeni, M. (2009) Searching for injustice and finding solidarity? A contribution to the mobilisation theory debate, Industrial Relations Journal, 40(1): 5–16. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2338.2008.00510.x
-
Atzeni, M. (2016) Beyond trade unions’ strategy? The social construction of precarious workers organizing in the city of Buenos Aires, Labor History, 57(2): 193–214. doi: 10.1080/0023656X.2016.1086537
-
Behrend, C. and Hipp, L. (2017) Young Workers and the Labor Movement Reaching out to new members with the Students@Work project, Case study prepared for the research project Young Workers and the Labor Movement. Unpublished data.
-
Bishara, D. (2021) Precarious collective action: unemployed graduates associations in the middle East and North Africa, Comparative Politics, 53(3): 453–76. doi: 10.5129/001041521X15960715659660
-
Bohle, D. and Greskovits, B. (2012) Capitalist Diversity on Europe’s Periphery, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
-
Castel, R. (2003) From Manual Workers to Wage Laborers: Transformation of the Social Question, Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
-
Cha, J.M., Holgate, J. and Yon, K. (2018) Emergent cultures of activism: young people and the building of alliances between unions and other social movements, Work and Occupations, 45(4): 451–74. doi: 10.1177/0730888418785977
-
Cha, J.M., Holgate, J. and Yon, K. (2018) Emergent cultures of activism: young people and the building of alliances between unions and other social movements, Work and Occupations, 45(4): 451–74.
-
Charmaz, K. (2006) Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis, London: Sage Publications.
-
Coderre-Lapalme, G., Greer, I. and Schulte, L. (2021) Welfare, work, and the conditions of social solidarity: British campaigns to defend healthcare and social security, Work, Employment and Society, 0(00): Society 1–21, doi: 10.1177/09500170211031454.
-
Dörre, K. (2015) Tests for the underclass: the social effects of activating labour market policy in Germany, in D. della Porte, S. Hänninen, M. Siisiäinen and T. Silvasti (eds) The New Social Division, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 83–100.
-
Durazzi, N. and Geyer, L. (2020) Social inclusion in the knowledge economy: unions’ strategies and institutional change in the Austrian and German training systems, Socio-Economic Review, 18(1): 103–24. doi: 10.1093/soceco/mwz010
-
Giugni, M. (2016) The politics of unemployment in Europe: policy responses and collective action, Abingdon: Routledge.
-
Greer, I, Samaluk, B. and Umney, C. (2019) Toward a precarious projectariat? Project dynamics in slovenian and French social services, Organisation Studies, 40(12): 1873–95. doi: 10.1177/0170840618800109
-
Greer, I. (2016) Welfare reform, precarity and the re-commodification of labour, Work, Employment and Society, 30(1): 162–73. doi: 10.1177/0950017015572578
-
Heery, E., Williams, S. and Abbott, B. (2012) Civil society organizations and trade unions: cooperation, conflict, indifference, Work, Employment and Society, 26(1): 145–60. doi: 10.1177/0950017011426302
-
Hodder, A. and Houghton, D. (2015) Union use of social media: a study of the University and College Union on Twitter, New Technology, Work and Employment, 30(3): 173–89. doi: 10.1111/ntwe.12055
-
Holgate, J., Simms, M. and Tapia, M. (2018) The limitations of the theory and practice of mobilization in trade union organizing, Economic and Industrial Democracy, 39(4): 599–616. doi: 10.1177/0143831X18777608
-
Holst, H., Holzschuh, M. and Niehoff, S. (2014) YOUnion: Country Report Germany, Report, Jena: Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena.
-
Honwana, A.M. (2012) The Time of Youth: Work, Social Change, and Politics in Africa, Sterling: Kumarian Press.
-
Kelly, J.E. (2002) Rethinking Industrial Relations: Mobilization, Collectivism and Long Waves, New York, NY: Routledge.
-
Keune, M. (2015) Trade Unions and Young Workers in Seven EU Countries, Report, Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam.
-
Keune, M. and Pedaci, M. (2020) Trade union strategies against precarious work: common trends and sectoral divergence in the EU, European Journal of Industrial Relations, 26(2): 139–55. doi: 10.1177/0959680119827182
-
Lowe, G. and Rastin, S. (2000) Organizing the next generation: influences on young workers’ willingness to join unions in Canada, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 38(2): 203–22. doi: 10.1111/1467-8543.00159
-
Martínez Lucio, M., Marino, S. and Connolly, H. (2017) Organising as a strategy to reach precarious and marginalised workers: a review of debates on the role of the political dimension and the dilemmas of representation and solidarity, Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 23(1): 31–46.
-
McAlevey, J.F. (2016) No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
-
O’Reilly, J., Leschke, J., Ortlieb, R., Seeleib-Kaiser, M. and Villa, P. (2019) Comparing youth transitions in Europe: joblessness, insecurity, institutions, and inequality, in J. O’Reilly, J. Leschke, R. Ortlieb, M. Seeleib-Kaiser and P. Villa (eds) Youth Labor in Transition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 1–32.
-
OECD (2017) Education at a Glance 2017: OECD Indicators, Paris: OECD.
-
Però, D. (2020) Indie unions, organizing and labour renewal: learning from precarious migrant workers, Work, Employment and Society, 34(5): 900–918.
-
Piore, M.J. and Safford, S. (2006) Changing regimes of workplace governance, shifting axes of social mobilization, and the challenge to industrial relations theory, Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 45(3): 299–325. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-232X.2006.00439.x
-
Reese, E. (2011) They Say Cutback, We Say Fight Back! Welfare Activism in an era of Retrenchment, New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
-
Rubery, J., Grimshaw, D., Keizer, A. and Johnson, M. (2018) Challenges and contradictions in the ‘normalising’ of precarious work, Work, Employment and Society, 32(3): 509–27. doi: 10.1177/0950017017751790
-
Samaluk, B. (2017a) Austerity stabilised through European funds: the impact on Slovenian welfare administration and provision, Industrial Relations Journal, 48(1): 56–71. doi: 10.1111/irj.12168
-
Samaluk, B. (2017b) Innovative trade union practices addressing growing precarity characterised by rescaled governance and the shrinking welfare state: the case of Slovenia, in B. Magdalena and K. Marta (eds) Beyond the Crisis: Strategic Innovation Within CEE Trade Union Movements, Brussels: ETUI, pp 197–217.
-
Samaluk, B. (2021) Precarious school-to-work transitions: entering welfare professions under a workfarist regime, Work, Employment and Society, 35(1): 137–56. doi: 10.1177/0950017020931335
-
Serrano Pascual, A. and Waddington, J. (2000) Young People: The Labour Market and Trade Unions, Report prepared for the Youth Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation, Brussels: ETUC.
-
Simms, M., Eversberg, D., Dupuy, C. and Hipp, L. (2018) Organizing young workers under precarious conditions: what hinders or facilitates union success, Work and Occupations, 45(4): 420–50. doi: 10.1177/0730888418785947
-
Smith, M., Leschke, J., Russell, H. and Villa, P. (2019) Stressed economies, distressed policies, and distraught young people: European policies and outcomes from a youth perspective, in J. O’Reilly, J. Leschke, R. Ortlieb, M. Seeleib-Kaiser and P. Villa (eds) Youth Labor in Transition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 104–31.
-
Smolej Jež, S., Ramović, S., Žiberna, V. and Vidrih, N. (2017) Spremljanje Socialnovarstvenih Programov - Poročilo o Izvajanju Programov v Letu 2016, Ljubljana: IRSSV.
-
Smolej-Jež, S., Kovač, N., Vidrih, N. et al. (2016) Spremljanje Izvajanja Programov Socialnega Varstva (za leto 2015), Ljubljana: Inštitut Republike Slovenije za socialno varstvo.
-
STA (2015) Ministrica: treba je poskrbeti za vse pripravnike enako, saj mnogi pripravništev nimajo plačanih, https://www.24ur.com/novice/slovenija/protest-studentov-pripravnistva-so-obvezna-denarja-zanje-pa-ni.html.
-
Stanojević, M. and Broder, Ž. (2012) Trade unions in Slovenia: historical development and the current situation, SEER Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Eastern Europe, 15(3): 303–13.
-
Stanojević, M. and Klarič, M. (2013) The impact of socio-economic shocks on social dialogue in Slovenia, Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 19(2): 217–26.
-
Sušnik, M. (2010) Študentska pobuda za pripravbištvo v socialnem varstvu, Diplomska naloga, Fakulteta za socialno delo, Univerza v Ljubljani.
-
SZS (2015) Analiza Operacije: Spodbujanje Zaposlovanja Iskalcev Prve Zaposlitve na Podrocju Socialnega Varstva - Pripravniki za Obdobje 2010-2015, Report, Ljubljana: Socialna zbornica Slovenije.
-
Tapia, M. (2013) Marching to different tunes: commitment and culture as mobilizing mechanisms of trade unions and community organizations, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 51(4): 666–88. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2012.00893.x
-
Tapia, M. and Turner, L. (2018) Renewed activism for the labor movement: the urgency of young worker engagement, Work and Occupations, 45(4): 391–419. doi: 10.1177/0730888418785657
-
Tapia, M. and Turner, L. (2018) Renewed activism for the labor movement: the urgency of young worker engagement, Work and Occupations, 45(4): 391–419.
-
Vandaele, K. (2012) Youth representatives’ opinions on recruiting and representing young workers: a twofold unsatisfied demand?, European Journal of Industrial Relations, 18(3): 203–18. doi: 10.1177/0959680112452692
-
Vandaele, K. (2019) How can trade unions in Europe connect with young workers?, in J. O’Reilly, J. Leschke, R. Ortlieb, M. Seeleib-Kaiser and P. Villa (eds) Youth Labor in Transition, Oxford: University Press, pp 660–88.
-
Vidonja, P. (2015) Shod za ureditev pripravništva v socialnem varstvu, Po-moč, 1(3): 6–9.
-
Weghmann, V. (2019) The making and breaking of solidarity between unwaged and waged workers in the UK, Globalizations, 16(4): 441–56. doi: 10.1080/14747731.2018.1558819
-
ZRSZ (2015) Mladi in Trg Dela, Report, Ljubljana: ZRSZ.
| May 2022 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Full Text Views | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| PDF Downloads | 0 | 0 | 0 |
We are a leading social science publisher
committed to making a difference.
Bristol University Press and
Policy Press
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk