Exit, Voice, and Solidarity: Contesting Precarity in the Us and European Telecommunications Industries

Downsizing and outsourcing have contributed to increased job insecurity and inequality across the industrialized west. But under what conditions do companies take alternative approaches to restructuring that balance market demands for profits with social demands for high quality jobs? Virginia Doellgast compares the US and European telecommunications industries to show how labor can succeed. Market liberalization and shareholder pressure pushed employers to adopt often draconian cost cutting measures, but in certain countries labor unions pushed back with creative collective bargaining and organizing campaigns. Their success depended on the intersection of three factors: constraints on employer exit, support for collective worker voice, and strategies of inclusive labor solidarity. Based on findings from ten country studies, this book shows how different national political economic contexts shape what workers can and cannot accomplish.