Disconnected spaces: introducing environmental perspectives into the trade union agenda top-down and bottom-up

Abstract

This article compares how visions for integrating environmental issues into the union agenda are articulated from two different positions in the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO). The article is based on an analysis of ‘life history interviews’ and directs attention to the biographical circumstances under which individuals are able to work with environmental issues in unions. The analysis shows that the conditions for integrating environmental issues are weakened by the hierarchical culture of the organisation and by high levels of institutionalisation. LO furthermore lacks routines for mobilising the interests of environmental enthusiasts, and being positioned at headquarters hampers the abilities of union officials to mobilise environmental interests among members. Comparing the experiences from Sweden with the case of Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) in Spain shows that success depends on a relationship between individual engagement and political. Union transformation is contingent on developing issues that connect the immediate interests of workers with their long-term interests as citizens, such that a new workers’ identity can develop and lead to practices that overcome the ‘metabolic rift’.

Keywords:

• trade unions
• environment
• life history interview
• organic intellectuals
• Sweden
• Spain

Acknowledgements

The authors are extremely grateful to Sven Nyberg, Lars Henriksson and Joaquín Nieto for their generous participation in the project and for comments on a previous version of the text. We owe our knowledge to their openness and insights. Any misinterpretations are entirely our responsibility. We also want to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their supportive and helpful comments.

Notes

1. The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbund, SSU) is a branch of SAP and LO.

2. Industrifacket Metall (IF Metall) is the second largest affiliate of LO. It was organised in 2006 through a merger of the Swedish Industrial Union (Industrifacket) and the Swedish Metalworkers Union (Metall). Currently, it represents around 325,000 members (http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrifacket_Metall).

3. The title translates roughly to ‘The end of the road’.

4. Löfvén, who used to be the chairman of IF Metall, is currently the leader of SAP, and as of September 2014, the current prime minister of Sweden.

Additional information

Funding

We are grateful to the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) for funding this project.

Notes on contributors

Ragnar Lundström

Ragnar Lundström is Lecturer of Sociology. His previous publications have primarily focused on the critical analysis of public discourse about welfare cheating, and news media portrayals of crime victims. His current research interests relate mainly to the topics of climate change, labour movement activism, and political activism online.

Nora Räthzel

Nora Räthzel is Professor of Sociology. Her research interests are globalisation, environmental labour studies, trade union movements globally and their environmental strategies, transnational corporations. Her latest publications include: Trade Unions in the Green Economy. Working for the Environment, with David Uzzell, Routledge, 2013. and: Transnational Corporations from the standpoint of Workers, with Diana Mulinari, Aina Tollefsen. Palgrave. 2014.

David Uzzell

David Uzzell, is Professor of Environmental Psychology and Director of the Environmental Psychology Research Centre at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. His principal research interests include critical social science approaches to changing consumption and production practices in relation to climate change, environmental labour studies, and identity processes, collective memory and the heritage.