Trade Union Confederations: A Comparative Study of Identity and Strategy

Confederations of trade unions are shown to accommodate both their own constituencies and their external social environments. This function is unique, and this mission of mediation is an important source of their organizational self-conception and autonomy. In the pursuit of strategy, trade union confederations play a game of trade-off and break-off with their partners in bargaining, and thus become involved in a sequence of dissociation and rapprochement, especially vis-à-vis ruling political parties—irrespective of ideological commitment. This observation is particularly true for modern industrial countries with “corporatist” leanings. It is exemplified for the case of Britain and West Germany.