About
What is the aim of the project?
The aim is to shed light on solidarity-based action as a unifying element of specific interactions. It can be assumed that cooperative handling within the different lines of conflict (between capital and labour, between workers and their interest groups in different sectors and from different countries) and in increasingly international labour markets is an essential element for the success of the European project and the democratic shaping of cohesion. Thus, transnational solidarity in the world of work is the focus of SOHA. Transnational solidarity is understood as a comprehensive, mutual problem-solving will of various European and national actors at different levels of action and in different regulatory or implementation contexts.
Within the European multilevel governance system, we analyze these already existing forms of cooperation especially at the micro as well as at the meso level. By focusing on transnational social dialogues as well as intermediary actors such as trade unions and employers associations, we tackle transnational solidarity from varying but complementing perspectives.
Solidarity, [ˌsɒlɪˈdærəti], noun:
the uniting of the interests,
feelings or actions (of a group)
(Cambridge Dictionary)
How do we define solidarity?
Solidarity in the context of work and employment relations traditionally was perceived within organised labour and class politics. However, this limitation has been criticized by scholars for being exclusionary with regards to questions e.g. of gender, precarious work and non-organized working sectors (Liedmann 2020). Likewise, transnationalisation and globalization affect employment relations massively. It is, hence, necessary to scrutinize places as well as motives for acts of transnational solidarity at work in Europe. In our project, we link the traditional organised labour perspective with a transnational employment relations context in order to uncover acts of transnational solidarity.
How is the project structured?
The overall project comprises two subprojects with different research foci as well as an accompanying knowledge transfer throughout the project period.
Subproject 1 is located at the Center for Labour Studies and Political Education and scrutinizes Transnational Social Dialogues as basis of solidarity.
Subproject 2 is located at the Institute for Labour and the Economy and scrutinizes Acts of solidarity by social partners.
Throughout the project duration, the project team will develop recommendations and curricula to implement the research results practically. For more informatione see: Transfer
