Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-mggfc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-18T21:20:37.628Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Expanding Welfare State Borders: Trade Unions and the Introduction of Pro-Outsiders Social Policies in Italy and Argentina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2021

MARCELLO NATILI Open the ORCID record for MARCELLO NATILI [Opens in a new window]  and
ANGELICA PURICELLI
MARCELLO NATILI
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan, Via Conservatorio 7, 20122 Milan, Italy email: [email protected]
ANGELICA PURICELLI
Affiliation:
Network of Advancement of Social and Political Studies, University of Milan, Via Conservatorio, 7 - 20122 Milan, Italy email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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.

Keywords

trade unionswelfare statedualizationItalyArgentina
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , April 2023 , pp. 339 - 357
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altman, D. and Castiglioni, R. (2020), Determinants of equitable social policy in Latin America (1990–2013). Journal of Social Policy, 49(4), 763–784.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armelino, M. (2011), Syndicat et politique durant les gouvernements kirchnéristes. Problèmes d’Amérique latine, 82(4), 33–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atzeni, M. and Ghigliani, P. (2009), Labour movement in Argentina since 1945: The limits of trade union reformism, in Phelan, C. L. (ed.), Trade unionism since 1945: Towards a global history, Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Baccaro, L., Hamann, K. and Turner, L. (2003), The Politics of Labour Movement Revitalization: the Need for a Revitalized Perspective, European Journal of Industrial Relation, 9(1), 119–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baccaro, L. and Lim, S. H. (2007), Social pacts as coalitions of the weak and moderate: Ireland, Italy and South Korea in comparative perspective. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 13(1), 27–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berton, F., Ricchiardi, M. and Sacchi, S. (2012), The political economy of work security and flexibility. Italy in a comparative perspective. The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Choi, H. -L. and Mattoni, A. (2010), The contentious field of precarious work in Italy: Political actors, strategies and coalitions. WorkingUSA, 13(2), 213–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Culpepper, P. D. and Regan, A. (2014), Why don’t governments need trade unions anymore? The death of social pacts in Ireland and Italy.Socio-Economic Review, 12(4), 723–745.Google Scholar
Davidsson, J. B., and Emmenegger, P. (2013), Defending the organisation, not the members: Unions and the reform of job security legislation in Western Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 52(3), 339–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durazzi, N. (2017), Inclusive unions in a dualized labour market? The challenge of organizing labour market policy and social protection for labour market outsiders. Social Policy and Administration, 51(2), 265–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durazzi, N., Fleckenstein, T. and Lee, S. C. (2018), Social solidarity for all? Trade union strategies, labor market dualization, and the welfare state in Italy and South Korea. Politics and Society, 46(2), 205–233.Google Scholar
Emmenegger, P., Häusermann, S., Palier, B. and Seeleib-Kaiser, M. (eds.) (2012), The age of dualization. The changing face of inequality in deindustrializing societies. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1985), Politics against markets: The social democratic road to power. Princeton Legacy Library.Google Scholar
Etchemendy, S. and Collier, R. B. (2007), Down but not out: Union resurgence and segmented neocorporatism in Argentina (2003–2007). Politics and Society, 35(3), 363–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrera, M., Fargion, V. and Jessoula, M. (2012), Alle radici del welfare all’italiana. Marsilio.Google Scholar
Garay, C. (2017), Social policy expansion in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
George, A. L. and Bennet, A. (2005), Case Studies and Teory Development in the Social Sciences. Detroit: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Gordon, J. (2015), “Protecting the Unemployed: Varieties of Unionism and the Evolution of Unemployment Benefits and Active Labor Market Policy in the Rich Democracies,” Socio-Economic Review, 13(1), 79–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gori, C. (2020), Combattere la povertà. Laterza.Google Scholar
Haggard, S. and Kaufman, R. (2008), Development, democracy and welfare states: Latin America, East Asia and Eastern Europe. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Huber, E. and Stephens, J. D. (2012), Democracy and the left: Social policy and inequality in Latin America. University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ibsen, C. L. and Tapia, M. (2017), Trade union revitalisation: Where are we now? Where to next? Journal of Industrial Relations. 59 (2), 170–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jessoula, M. (2009), La politica pensionistica. Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Jessoula, M. (2017), La riforma delle pensioni Poletti-Renzi: un passo verso la soluzione del «trilemma» delle pensioni?, “ Politiche Sociali, Social Policies ”, 1, 169–174.Google Scholar
Jessoula, M. and Alti, T. (2010), Italy: An Uncompleted Departure from Bismarck. In Palier, B. (ed.), A Long Goodbye to Bismarck? The Politics of Welfare Reform in Continental Europe. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Google Scholar
Jessoula, M., Graziano, P., and Madama, I. (2010), Selective flexicurity in segmented labour markets: The case of Italian mid-siders. Journal of Social Policy, 39(4), 561–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korpi, W. (1983), The democratic class struggle. Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Levitsky, S. (2003), Transforming labor-based parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in comparative perspective. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitsky, S. and Murillo, M. V. (2005), Argentine democracy: The politics of institutional weakness. Penn State University Press.Google Scholar
Lo Vuolo, R. (2013), The Argentine “Universal Child Allowance”: Not the poor but the unemployed and informal workers, in Lo Vuolo, R. (ed.), Citizen’s income and welfare regimes in Latin America. Palgrave Macmillan US.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madrid, R. (2003), Labouring against neoliberalism: Unions and patterns of reform in Latin America. Journal of Latin American Studies, 35(1), 53–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mesa-Lago, C. (1978), Social security in Latin America: Pressure groups, stratification, and inequality. University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Molina, O. and Rhodes, M. (2007), Industrial relations and the welfare state in Italy: Assessing the potential of negotiated change. West European Politics, 30(4), 803–829.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naczyk, M. and Seeleib-Kaiser, M. (2015), Solidarity against all odds: Trade unions and the privatization of pensions in the age of dualization. Politics and Society, 43(3), 361–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nannicini, T., Sacchi, S. and Taddei, F. (2019), The trajectory of the Jobs Act and the politics of structural reforms between counter-reforms and ambiguity, Contemporary Italian Politics, 11( 3), 310–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Natili, M. (2019), The politics of minimum income: Explaining path departure and policy reversal in the age of austerity. Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Natili, M. and Jessoula, M. (2019), Children against fathers? The politics of intergenerational recalibration in Southern Europe.Social Policy and Administration, 53(3), 343–356.Google Scholar
Niedzwiecki, S. (2014), The effect of unions and organized civil society on social policy: Pension and health reforms in Argentina and Brazil, 1988–2008. Latin American Politics and Society, 56(4), 22–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palier, B. and Thelen, K. (2010), Institutionalizing dualism: Complementarities and change in France and Germany. Politics and Society, 38(1), 119–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Picot, G. (2012), Politics of segmentation: Party competition and social protection in Europe. Routledge.Google Scholar
Pierson, P. (2004), Politics in time: History, institutions, and social analysis. Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pilati, K. and Perra, S. (2020), Labor conflicts and trade unions. Social movement and radical political unionisms in France and Italy, Italian Political Science, 14 (3), 167–187.Google Scholar
Raitano, M. (2017), Poveri da giovani, poveri da anziani? Prospettive previdenziali e vantaggi della pensione di garanzia, Social Cohesion Paper, n. 1/2017.Google Scholar
Rathgeb, P. (2018), Strong Governments, Precarious Workers, Labor Market Policy in the Era of Liberalization, Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Regalia, I. and Regini, M. (1998), ‘Italy: the dual character of industrial relations’, in Ferner, A. and Hyman, R. (eds.), Changing Industrial Relations in Europe, Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Regalia, I. and Regini, M. (2018), Trade unions and employment relations in Italy during the economic crisis. South European Society and Politics, 23(1), 63–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rossi, F. M. (2017), The poor’s struggle for political incorporation: The Piquetero movement in Argentina. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rueda, D. (2007), Social democracy inside out. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sacchi, S. (2018), The Italian welfare state in the crisis: Learning to adjust? South European Society and Politics, 23(1), 29–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sacchi, S., Pancaldi, F. and Arisi, C. (2011), The economic crisis as a trigger of convergence? Short-Time work in Italy, Germany and Austria.Social Policy and Administration, 45(4), 465–487.Google Scholar
Simoni, M. (2010), Labour and welfare reforms: The short life of labour unity, in Mammone, A. and Veltri, G. A. (eds.), Italy today: The sick man of Europe (pp. 229–242), Routledge.Google Scholar
Streeck, W. and Hassel, A. (2004), Trade unions as political actors, in Addison, J. T. and Schnabel, C. (eds.), International handbook of trade unions. Elgar.Google Scholar
Weisstanner, D. (2020), Insiders under pressure: Flexibilization at the margins and wage inequality. Journal of Social Policy, 1–20.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Natili and Puricelli supplementary material

Natili and Puricelli supplementary material

Download Natili and Puricelli supplementary material(File)
File 16.2 KB