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How to Represent the Unrepresented? Renewing the Collective Action Repertoires of Autonomous Workers in Three Countries

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The Representation of Workers in the Digital Era

Part of the book series: Dynamics of Virtual Work ((DVW))

Abstract

The archetypal model of full-time regular employment is now increasingly challenged by wide-ranging alternatives. The most common feature of such alternatives is a progressive evolution in the standard employment relationship towards a fragmentation of work with specific tasks and greater autonomy over the way of performing a job. Numerous working processes that do not conform with traditional forms of control are excluded from the domain of labour legislation and social protection. Therefore, these alternative forms of work do not seem devoid of risks, raising the question of new forms of collective action capable of dealing with them. This chapter compares three ways of renewing social dialogue in a more inclusive perspective through case studies embedded in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. We analyze union and non-union initiatives by scrutinizing the ‘functional equivalents’ they provide to open-ended standard employment relationships and their engagement in a process of collective capacity building. Drawing on the institutional literature, we explore the links between the industrial relations system, the flexibility of labour markets and the modalities of collective action feasibly provided. Our analysis demonstrates the undeniable influence of the institutional context.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Broodfonsen seems to be an exception, with entrepreneurs supporting each other in case of illness. We wanted to go beyond the mere existence of security funds and individual solidarities.

  2. 2.

    http://www.oecd.org/fr/france/Employment-Outlook-France-FR.pdf

  3. 3.

    Five representative confederations are competing, CGT, CFDT, FO, CFTC, CFE-CGC. Gumbrell-McCormick and Hyman (2013) thus talk about “adversarial” industrial relations) while three other (i.e. UNSA, Solidaires and FU) seek to be equally recognised.

  4. 4.

    The wage portage regime is defined in the Labour Code (Article L. 1251–64) as “a set of contractual relations organized between an umbrella company, a salaried worker and a client company, involving the wage-earning system for the concerned worker and the remuneration of the service provided to the customer by the umbrella company”.

  5. 5.

    I.e., Deregulation Assessment Employment Relationships (standard model agreements specifying what is and what is not an employment relationship).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    Laura Beuker & François Pichault

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  1. Laura Beuker
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  2. François Pichault
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Correspondence to Laura Beuker .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Raquel Rego

  2. Universidade de Coimbra, Faculdade de Economia Centro de Estudos Sociais, Coimbra, Portugal

    Hermes Augusto Costa

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Beuker, L., Pichault, F. (2022). How to Represent the Unrepresented? Renewing the Collective Action Repertoires of Autonomous Workers in Three Countries. In: Rego, R., Costa, H.A. (eds) The Representation of Workers in the Digital Era . Dynamics of Virtual Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04652-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04652-0_3

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