2021/11/23 by Marcello Natili, MARCELLO NATILI, ANGELICA PURICELLI +1 · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Labor Movements and Unions #Political Economy and Marxism #Social Policy and Reform Studies
paper · doi:10.1017/s0047279421000660
openalex publication_date 2021/11/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/21
Abstract This article investigates the drivers of trade union choices in the social policy arena in the age of austerity. Against the background of a political economy literature mostly emphasising trade union support for their stronger constituency – i.e. the ‘insiders’ – the article shows the existence of mechanisms potentially inducing trade unions to broaden their demands. Empirically, the study rests on an in-depth comparative analysis of the political process inducing the two largest trade unions in Argentina and Italy, the CGT and the CGIL, to support ‘pro-outsider’ social policy actively. Besides the comparison of two different geographical areas – though not so different in terms of original welfare state configuration – the main contribution of this article is outlining how the combination of dwindling organizational resources and growing competition from social movements and/or new radical unions leads traditionally insider-oriented unions to reach out to new constituencies and advocate expanded redistributive demands.