Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to promote a timely, innovative new book in the field of trade union renewal, Unions Renewed.
I was fortunate to be asked to comment on an early draft, and recommend the book as one of the few contemporary examinations of the challenges and opportunities of renewal in the context of financialisation.
The primary focus of this new book is not just on the rise and expansion in the power, influence and impact of the financial services sector, but more specifically, the way in which financialisation (the catch-all term for this trend) has impacted upon work and workers generally, and the capacity of trade unions more specifically.
A critically important example of financialisation here is the way in which wage share (and thus bargaining powers for trade unions) for workers has diminished whilst profits for an elite tier of financial institutions has vastly increased
Financialisation diverts resources away from real economy activities and fuels asset price bubbles which then increases the risk of financial crisis with further consequences for the real economy.
Financialisation can amplify boom and bust cycles in the real economy. There is a strong case for saying that if the UK financial sector had been smaller pre the 2008 crisis, the subsequent crisis would not have been as deep and prolonged.
A key strength of the book is the examination of the differing ways in which trade unions can respond. This includes a timely and welcome re-assessment of the value of alternative models of worker control e.g. co-operatives.
You can buy a copy of the new book via this link:
https://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509539116&subject_id=2
In Solidarity
Ian
