Since the 1980s, trade unions have increasingly adopted conservative stances, defending traditional workers and their entitlements. The literature on dualisation shows how unions have contributed to creating a divide between entrenched ‘insiders’ in core industries and an expanding periphery of ‘outsiders’, concerning both employment and welfare protections. In this thesis, I challenge the notion of dualisation as a stable institutional equilibrium and reject the characterization of unions as rent-seekers or defenders of the status quo. I show that there is significant variation in how labour markets and welfare states have been regulated over the past two decades, partly due to the evolving preferences and roles of unions in the politics of socio-economic reform. The central point of the thesis is that, although unions consented to dualisation in the 1990s, they soon became disillusioned with it. Various factors, including pressures from the labour market periphery and dwindling organisational resources, have prompted these actors to move away from narrow strategies and work towards bridging divides in the workforce. At the same time, strategies to reverse dualisation differ considerably across contexts. Some unions focus on filling gaps in previously segmented welfare systems (thus attempting to reverse welfare dualisation), while others prioritise re-regulating labour markets at the periphery (aiming to reverse labour market dualisation). By combining a time-series cross-sectional analysis of 20 OECD countries with in-depth case studies of Italy and the Netherlands, the thesis shows that trade unions are now turning (back) to solidarity, but their strategies vary according to the institutional contexts in which they operate.
Luca Cigna is a PhD researcher in Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute (EUI). In his research, he explores the evolving nature of work and the ‘new logic of collective action’ in advanced economies, with a focus on trade unions, labour markets and social policy institutions. Over the course of the PhD, he has contributed to debates at the intersection between welfare states, industrial relations and comparative political economy. His work appeared on outlets such as the Journal of European Public Policy, Social Policy & Administration, and the European Journal of Industrial Relations. Before starting a PhD at the EUI, Luca was awarded a Master in Public Policy summa cum laude at Sciences Po Paris, and a Bachelor Degree in Political Science at the University of Bologna. During his doctorate, he spent research stays at the University of Amsterdam Institute for Labour Studies (UvA-AIAS) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Political Science as a Fulbright scholar. His PhD has been funded by the Wellbeing Returns on Social Investment Recalibration (WellSIRe) ERC advanced grant, coordinated by Prof. Anton Hemerijck.