The Roads to Multi‐Employer Bargaining: Trade Union Strategies for Multi‐Employer Bargaining

How do sectors move from company to multi‐employer bargaining? Using five comparative cases, this article analyses how multi‐employer bargaining (MEB) is established in sectors where it was previously absent. Based on literature on structural conditions and the power resources approach, the article finds that common to most cases is a cultural understanding of what is multi‐employer bargaining and union perseverance. Based on this ground, the analysis suggests two (stylized) paths to multi‐employer bargaining. In concentrated markets, unions can build on associational and structural power, while in unconcentrated labour markets, the mobilization of societal and institutional power seems necessary.