Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

LYUDMYLA REFERENCES LITERATUR VOLYNETS
VARIETIES OF UNIONISMS IN FSU
Despite the introduction of pluralist principles
across FSU countries, IR arenas do in fact
continue to be dominated by previously existing
(ex-official) trade unions. This situation hinges
on differences in labour’s formative processes.
Existing unions across FSU adapted their roles
and conducted “cosmetic” reforms (Kabalina
und Komarovsky 1997). Newly established
unions, in order to develop their roles, initially
embark on the contestation of arenas by means
of collective action and strikes. As independent
unions emerge, even if they fail to break the
dominance of ex-official unions, they challenge
their adaptive role which leads to rivalry and
incoherence of labour movement across CIS 7 .
The initial position from which ex-official
unions in CIS countries entered the formation
process was characterized by subordination, a
“transmission-belts” identity, pro-management
interest, and dependence on the resources
provided by the state and management. New
unions were established in protest to continuing
subordination and a pro-management position
of unions at the point when workers’ grievances
multiplied (also Kubicek 2004). Both
membership and resources were absorbed by
former official unions and must be established
from scratch by new unions. In fragile, semidemocratic
regimes, democratic principles of
unionism appear as embarrassing. Here, independent
unions are viewed with suspicion by
the presiding authorities and ex-official unions 8
and are opposed by both.
From these somewhat different starting conditions,
there emerge different trajectories of
union formation. For ex-official unions, striving
to ensure their institutional survival and
retaining their dominance becomes a priority.
Ideally, in order to sustain long-term they
need to break from subordination and acquire
independence. For newly established unions,
the formative processes are about the contestation
of arenas dominated at present by the
ex-official unions. They are about gaining recognition
and extension of membership base. In
the view of above mentioned differences, the
kind and sources of union weaknesses cannot
be generalized in the same manner for both
former official and newly established unions.
WEAKNESSES OF THE TRADE UNION MOVE-
MENT IN THE CONDITIONS OF POST-SOCIALIST
TRANSFORMATION
Crowley (2001) and Crowley und Ost (2001)
shaped the definition of union weaknesses
while arguing that “… workers and unions
were unable to shape conditions of work and
public policy in accord with their interests…
it has been the object and not the subject of
the postcommunist reform” (Crowley und Ost
2001: 219-220). In terms of aggregate macro
indicators (e.g. membership decline, low wages
and weak union input to policy-making),
unions are correctly argued to remain weak.
However, locally the issues of union weaknesses
play out differently as the conditions of
the same severities local IR outcomes vary 9 .
For example, whereas union membership
decline could be explained by Seite page 221
structural factors 10 , notable is that former
official and independent unions
do not reveal similar membership dynamics.
Here, the drastic fall in ex-official union density
was contrasted by slow but steady growth