Unions and sustainability transitions: Expectations and paradoxes

News

Project description

Research shows that trade unions can be both a force for change and continuity in the sustainability transition, on the one hand proactively supporting the transition, but on the other playing the role of idle advocates or opponents of regulation, and in extreme cases even denying the scientific consensus that underlines the problematic nature of climate change.

Although trade unions are an important actor in the field of sustainable development, their role in this context has not yet been sufficiently explored theoretically and empirically.

The aim of this project is to explore how trade unions in Slovenia engage with the sustainability transition, what tensions and challenges they face, and how they attempt to resolve perceived tensions arising from conflicts between job creation and environmental protection and workers' expectations. In addition, the project will also explore workers' views on the role and performance of trade unions in addressing social and environmental issues. To this end, the project has four main objectives:

Objective 1: Positioning (national) trade unions as actors in research on sustainable transitions, identifying tensions and challenges for trade unions related to these transitions and exploring ways to address them.

Objective 2: To present the situation of EU Member States in terms of similarities and differences in trade union involvement in sustainability/climate change policy at a high level of analysis.

Objective 3: To examine the position and functioning of trade unions in the context of sustainability transitions; positions of their officials, strategies, perceived tensions and responses to challenges related to sustainability issues.

Objective 4: Analyse the nomological network (i.e. observable manifestations) at the individual/micro level, focusing on (1) union members' representations of union positioning and action in the context of sustainability transitions, (2) expectations and (3) their own position on relevant sustainability issues.

Reports

Project group

Centre for Organisational and Human Resources Research

Urša Golob is a full professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana and an associate researcher at the Centre for Organisational and Human Resources Research. Her research focuses on issues of social responsibility and sustainability. She is a co-founder of the International Conference on Communicating Social Responsibility and a member of the board of the Slovenian Conference on Social Responsibility IRDO. Her work has been published in a number of renowned international journals. She has also edited several special issues of international journals on social responsibility.

Branko Bembič is an assistant professor at the Organisational and Human Resource Management and Development Chair and a researcher at the Centre for Organisational and Human Resources Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. He has also worked with the International Labour Organisation as a national expert for Slovenia in the field of industrial relations. His areas of interest include the sociology of work, industrial relations, the critique of political economy and economic history. He has written several journal articles and book chapters on these topics.

Klement Podnar is a full professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, and an associate researcher at the Centre for Organisational and Human Resources Research. His extensive research portfolio includes topics related to various aspects of corporate communication and marketing, with a focus on issues of organisational identification and commitment. He is also active in the field of corporate social responsibility and sustainability. He has edited several special issues of international journals on social responsibility.

Jasna Mikić Ljubi is a researcher and assistant professor at the Centre for Organisational and Human Resources Research. Her research interests include gender, language, social inequalities and the labour market. She participates in several national and international projects. She is also the author of the book Gender and Language (FDV Publishers, 2021), a member of the editorial board of the Review of Economics and Economic Methodology (REEM) and head of the Terminology section of the Slovenian Sociological Association.

Ana Marja Mustafai is a young researcher at the Centre for Organisational and Human Resources Research and a PhD student at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. Her research focuses on different aspects of work, including in relation to different organisational outcomes such as organisational identification and commitment.

Jožica Čehovin Zajc is an assistant professor at the Centre for Organisational and Human Resources Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences, UL, and at the Faculty of Health at UL, where she teaches methodological courses and conducts research. Her research interests lie in a broad spectrum of the sociology of work and health.

Institute for Economic Research

Kaja Primc is a research associate at the Institute for Economic Research in Ljubljana and an assistant professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana. Her research focuses on environmental management, sustainable consumption, circular economy, social impact measurement and energy poverty.

Renata Slabe Erker is a researcher at the Institute for Economic Research in Ljubljana. She has worked on numerous research projects in the field of environmental economics and sustainable development. Recently, her research has focused on the economic impacts of climate and energy policies, energy poverty, greening public infrastructure, measuring social impacts and the circular economy.

Darja Zabavnik is a young researcher at the Institute of Economic Research in Ljubljana and a PhD student at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana. Her research focuses mainly on econometric modelling of the national economy and the study of transmission channels between the financial and real sectors.