Unions and sustainability transitions: Expectations and paradoxes (TU-ST)

The environmental and social problems of today's global society are largely a reflection of resource-wasting models of excessive mass production and consumption, which need to be replaced with socially and environmentally balanced mechanisms, achieving more responsible and sustainable consumption and production (SCP). During the last few decades, the creation and use of goods and services in a way that they are 'nature and worker' friendly has gained more national, international, even global attention, making SCP a priority for many institutions (e.g. UNEP, European Commission, etc.). Trade unions (TUs) are a formal stakeholder in the sustainability transitions, yet the role of actors in the context of transition processes (and TUs in particular) is under-examined theoretically and empirically. In practice, TUs have also not been acknowledged as relevant partners in institutional dialogues on SCP, mainly because of the historic divide between the 'traditional' TU issues (working conditions, employment, wages and labour rights) and new climate change policies and regulations that can represent a threat to existing jobs. Consequently, TUs are seen as contradictory organisations, facing a “social justice vs. the environment dilemma”, as well as a 'short-term interests vs. long-term goals conflict', which even further complicates the possibility of their engagement in the sustainability transitions. Nonetheless, when dealing with SCP, the acknowledgement of the agency of TUs as decisive actors in sustainability transitions (they actually represent workers as workers through a democratic representative structure) is crucial and will be placed at the centre of our project. The main aim of the project will thus be to analyse whether and how TUs agency has been activated within the existence of complex, multifaceted problems related to sustainability transitions. First, our analyses will try to establish the involvement of TUs in sustainability transitions varies across the EU. This will be complemented by exploring how TUs in Slovenia engage with sustainability transitions, what tensions and challenges they face and how they seek to solve the tensions (environmental protection/job creation/workers expectations). Moreover, the project will also assess the workers' perspectives on the role and activities of TUs in addressing SCP and environmental issues. The project will contribute to the development of the scientific field in several ways: with 1) theoretical and empirical originality, contributing valuable theoretical and empirical insights on the role of TU in sustainability transitions and the tensions they are facing; 2) methodological innovation, applying a transformative mixed-method for the study of the research problem from different perspectives and the use of qualitative and quantitative methods (e.g. advanced secondary data analysis, including of numerical data derived from databases, Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), qualitative content and discourse analysis, multivariate analysis and structural equation modelling); 3) empirical contributions, which will be developed into practical implications, including policy recommendations; 4) (inter)national character of the project, combining a multitude of knowledge and skills of the national and international researchers (extensive knowledge on TUs, sustainability, social responsibility and organisations – Faculty of Social Sciences, and macro sustainability issues as well as advanced methodological approaches – the Institute for Economic Research), who have rich experience in best practice recommendations for management and policy and dissemination through professional/educational practices, and are in close cooperation with TU associations at the national and EU levels, as well as with distinguished researchers from abroad; 5) dissemination and sharing of the results to the scientific field, and 6) ensuring public access to the survey data.