Young Workers and Trade Unions ― A Global View

In most cases young workers all over the world carry out low-paid, low-status and insecure work. As their position in the labour market becomes increasingly precarious, one may expect them to join unions to get more protection. Nevertheless most young workers remain disengaged from trade union activity and trade unions are struggling with the loss of members and an increasing ageing effect.Young Workers and Trade Unions provides an understanding of the processes in which unions engage with young people and the views and opinions young people hold relating to collective representation. One of the key strengths of the collection is the selection of specific national cases of high relevance to contemporary debates of precariousness, trade union revitalization strategies and austerity policies.

Andy Hodder is a lecturer in the Management Department at the University of Birmingham, UK. He has conducted research into the relationship between young workers and trade unions in the UK and is continuing to work on issues associated with union mobilization and activism. Andy is a member of the British Academy of Management, the British Sociological Association and the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics. He is also on the Executive Committee of the British Universities Industrial Relations Association.

Lefteris Kretsos is a senior lecturer of Industrial Relations at the University of Greenwich, UK, and Member of the ESRC Peer Review College. His research is focused on the rising trends and patterns of precarious employment, especially among young workers in the context of economic crisis. Lefteris has been involved in various research projects for the European Commission, ESRC, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and various trade union organisations. He is also heavily involved in the completion of a project funded by the European Research Council on the effects of marketization into European societies.