COVID-19 and the shift to remote work

COVID-19 has accelerated the shift to remote work. Enabling knowledge workers to do their jobs from home or elsewhere brings benefits by increasing labour participation, avoiding unproductive commuting time (thus reducing the carbon footprint), and reducing the gender gap by enabling a partner with domestic care responsibilities to work. Not all jobs are suitable for remote work, but far more remote work is feasible than has been typical to date. The post-pandemic new normal is sure to differ both from the pre-pandemic normal and from current arrangements. Hybrid arrangements where part of the week is spent at the office, and a part at home, might well become the norm. Employers, workers, trade unions, and governments will need to adapt to the new normal. © 2023 the authors.

The Role of Teachers Unions in School Governance during COVID-19

When COVID-19 forced a set of extraordinary challenges upon the U.S. education system in March 2020, risk and uncertainty were constant. Many stakeholders sought to weigh in on the endless choices confronting school leaders, including the teachers who would implement those decisions. In speaking with teachers union and association leaders across the country, the authors found that, more often than not, they described collaborative relationships with district leaders. What was learned highlights critical practices sustaining these relationships, and the authors believe state leaders have the power to both model and encourage many such practices in school governance. The authors' analysis suggests that relations between district leaders and teacher membership organizations need not be contentious and adversarial. Rather, under the right circumstances, these relationships can incorporate conflict and negotiation alongside collaboration and mutual respect in a way that can strengthen decision making and policy implementation.

Revaluing work after COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath instigated a series of debates about economic value. From early discussions about "who counts as an essential worker" to post-pandemic arguments about what constitutes the "infrastructure" needed to rebuild the economy, the pandemic led to reexaminations of the kinds of investments and activities necessary for the continuity of our social system. This article examines these debates through the lens of the labor theory of value as expanded by feminists and ecologists. Drawing on my 2017 book, The Politics of Value, I discuss how the political-economic upheaval that the pandemic unleashed laid bare the essential nature of care and social reproductive work, low-wage labor, public sector provisioning, and ecosystem services. The stark dilemmas of holding body and soul together during the crisis created an opportunity to rethink the artificial lines between the market and the rest of life, highlighting the essential nature of activities formerly unrecognized or considered nonproductive. The article discusses how we might take advantage of this opening to create new vocabularies and measurement practices that take into "account" and fairly reward formerly invisible and unvalued forms of labor.

The Teacher as Union Member and Professional Educator: The Continuing Challenge of Bread and Butter and Professionalism

Teachers are central to education;they stand at the crossroads of education. It is chiefly through their efforts that the goals of education are achieved or thwarted. Susan Moore Johnson, Harvard Graduate School Professor of Education, sagely wrote just over 30 years ago, "Who Teaches Matters” (Teachers at work: Achieving success in our schools. Basic Books, New York, 1990, p. xii). Eric Hanushek concurs writing, "First, teachers are very important;no other measured aspect of schools is nearly as important in determining student achievement” (The economic value of higher teacher quality. National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, Calder The Urban Institute, Washington, DC, 2010, p. 3). The COVID-19 pandemic with its shutdown of many schools brought to the forefront the importance of teachers interacting with their students in classroom settings. Try as the teachers may, their virtual presence was a questionable substitute for the personal dynamics created by teachers with their students. Teachers consider themselves to be professionals, providing a fundamental service, and seek to present themselves to the public as professionals. Juxtaposed to the critical importance of the teacher is the fact that public school teachers are part of a heavily unionized workforce. For some, there is a challenge between being a professional educator and being a member of a union. Dana Goldstein, in The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession, asked, "Could unionized teachers fight for their own interests as workers for the educational interests of the city's children? Or were those two priorities at odds?" (The teacher wars: a history of America's most embattled profession. Doubleday, New York, 2014, p. 74). Essentially, is unionization organized in a way that supports the professionalism of teachers? DeMitchell and Cobb, in their study of unions and teacher professionalism, ask, "[Are] teacher unionism and collective bargaining compatible with teacher perceptions of professionalism?" (West's Educ Law Reporter 212:1-20, 2006, p. 19). This chapter explores the challenges of unions and teachers in developing and sustaining the union, which balances the traditional and legitimate responsibility that unions owe to the educators they represent while supporting the professional responsibility of the teachers to act in the best interests of their students. The discussion will begin with an exploration of professionalism - what does it mean to be a professional. Next, the rise of teacher unionization and the divergent paths of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers in relation to professionalism and unionization will be discussed. The organizing principle of the emerging state collective bargaining laws formats public sector laws consistent with the industrial union model of private sector unionization and the impact of industrial unionism on teachers and teaching. The chapter concludes with a review of DeMitchell and Cobb's research on the tangled fit of being both a union member and a professional educator. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Museum unions and social change: reopening with solidarity

Over the past two years, an explosion of organised labour activity has emerged across the museum industry in the United States. As the museum world adjusts to the 'new normal' of pandemic life, it is essential that workers continue to join forces against the rampant precarity in the cultural sector, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the often-disastrous managerial responses to government shut-downs. Central to the healing of the sector after the trauma of pandemic-related layoffs and furloughs - and critical to the success of museums in the 21st century - is the shift in the self-identification of art museum workers away from the conceptualization of creative labour as removed from 'other' kinds of labour. This psycho-social transition on a mass scale opens the possibility of a movement of 'liberatory unionism' that can work to heal not just the museum sector, but harness worker power in support of intersectional social justice.

Take-off, turbulence and turnaround

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to explore the evolving nature of the work of cabin crew in a Scandinavian carrier in three eras, drawing on theories of gender and emotional labour.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on ethnographic data from fieldwork, interviews and documents.FindingsFrom being a feminized and temporary occupation for young, upper- and middle-class women in the 1970s, the occupation became a full-time job and with greater diversity of cabin crew. Today there are signs of the job becoming a precarious and temporary one of demanding and devalorized work in a polarized and class-divided labour market. Changing circumstances impact on the emotional labour requirement and terms and conditions at work.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation is that the research design was not initially longitudinal in the sense that the author does not have exactly the same kind of data from each era. The author has, however, been involved in this field for two decades, used multiple methods and interacted with different stakeholders and drew on a unique data material.Practical implicationsThe development in aviation is contributing to new discriminatory practices, driving employee conditions downwards and changing the job demands. This development will have practical consequences for the lives and families of cabin crew.Social implicationsThe analysis illustrates how work ‘constructs' workers and contributes in creating jobs that are not sustainable for the employees. Intensification of work, insecurity and tougher working conditions also challenge key features in the Nordic model such as proper pay, decent work and a life-long employment. Much indicates that the profession is again becoming a temporary one of demanding work with poor working conditions in a polarized and class-divided labour market.Originality/valueThe research contributes to the literature on emotional labour, gender and the evolving nature of the work of cabin crew. The unique data material, the longitudinal aspect of the research and the focus on a single network carrier are good in charting changes over time.

Telework and attitudes towards change in brazilian public organizations: experiences and challenges

Credit unions are exposed to credit risk like any other financial institution and this risk is defined as the possibility that the borrower does not fulfill his obligations with the cooperative, that is, of not honoring the commitment to pay his debts. To mitigate this risk, cooperatives make provisions for loan losses (PCLD), in order to cover this type of risk that is inherent to their operations. At the beginning of 2020, a strong public health crisis, caused by a seriously contagious pandemic with a high degree of mortality, which became known as the COVID-19 pandemic, impacted the entire economy, with serious social and economic consequences. These events caused a financial crisis that spread quickly, affecting the income of people, companies and the government, the latter having to help the first two through social and financial programs. Based on this context, this study aimed to analyze whether PCLD increased after the onset of the economic and health crisis in the 99 largest credit unions in Brazil, and these organizations were selected according to their total assets. The credit portfolios and PCLD of these organizations were analyzed from 2018 to 2021. This research is of a quantitative nature and its data collection took place through the BACEN database. The results pointed out that during the economic crisis, there was a significant and accentuated change in the PCLD of the cooperative institutions analyzed, but this change has been noticed since 2018, the beginning of the observations of this study.

Entgrenzte Flexibilität im Homeoffice

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Situation von Beschäftigten und Mitbestimmungsgremien im Homeoffice jenseits und in der Corona-Krise. Adressiert wird die Frage, inwiefern das Ausweichen ins Homeoffice als gesteigerte Qualität einer ohnehin flexibilisierten betrieblichen Arbeit zu deuten ist und welche Folgen damit einhergehen. Die Analyse basiert auf 47 Interviews, die seit Januar 2020 im Rahmen von zehn Betriebsfallstudien in den Bereichen Chemie/Pharmazeutik, Metall/Elektro, Nahrungsmittelindustrie und Dienstleistungen erhoben wurden. Die empirischen Befunde verweisen dabei insbesondere auf Herausforderungen in drei Bereichen: alltägliche Arbeitspraxis und Kollegialität, Geschlechterarrangements und Arbeit der betrieblichen Interessenvertretung. Zunächst skizziert der Beitrag die bisherige betriebliche Regelungspraxis orts- und zeitflexibler Arbeit;im Weiteren werden die empirischen Erkenntnisse zu den drei genannten Themenbereichen vorgestellt. Abschließend diskutiert der Beitrag die neue Qualität des Arbeitens als „entgrenzte Flexibilität".Alternate :This paper examines the situation of employees and works councils while working from home beyond and in the Corona crisis. It addresses the question of the extent to which the switch to working from home can be interpreted as an extension of the specific character of flexibilized work, and what the consequences are. The analysis is based on 47 interviews that have been conducted since January 2020 as part of ten company case studies in the chemical/pharmaceutical, metal/electrical, and food industries and in the services sector. The empirical findings point in particular to challenges in three areas: everyday working practice and collegiality;gender arrangements;and the practice of works councils. In the beginning, the article outlines the existing practice of regulating flexible work and working time;subsequently the empirical findings on the three topics mentioned are presented. Finally, the article discusses the new character of working as "de-bounded flexibility”.

State of care for EU mobile workers' rights in the Dutch meat sector in times of, and beyond, COVID-19

PurposeWith a focus on the position of EU mobile workers in the Dutch meat industry, this article discusses the multi-level State efforts to enhance protection of workers who experienced limited protection of existing State and private enforcement institutions. The COVID-19 pandemic, with virus outbreaks at Dutch meat plants, fuelled public and political will to structurally improve these workers' precarious work and living conditions. Yet, the process of policy change is slow. The authors show it is the gradual transformation in the institutional environment that the State needs to counter to become more protective for EU mobile workers.Design/methodology/approachUsing the gradual institutional change approach and the concept of State ignorance, the authors examine State responses drawing on interviews with expert stakeholders in the public and private domain, public administration records and newspaper articles.FindingsThrough knowledge creation, boosted social dialogue mechanisms, enhanced enforcement capacity and new housing legislation, the Dutch State focuses on countering gradual institutional change through which existing institutions lost their effectiveness as protectors of EU mobile workers. The organization of work is, nevertheless, not (yet) fundamentally addressed with tighter public legislation.Originality/valueThe findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the role of the State as multifaceted actor in institutional change processes towards increased protection for EU mobile workers.

In brief

Research shows that while inhaling gas and air (Entonox) in labour is safe for mothers and babies, long-term cumulative exposure may carry health risks. Work notice The right to strike The UK government's Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill is, at the time of going to press, at the committee stage in the House of Lords (the first chance for line-by-line examination). Visit bit.ly/ Clementine-register Working mums Maternity leave Careers After Babies research has found that of 848 mothers interviewed, 98% want to return to work after having a child but just 13% can make it work full-time, citing the cost of childcare and lack of flexibility from businesses as the reason. Find out more at hegenbergermedical.com/training Research Healthy eating support Researchers at the University of Hertfordshire are calling for better information on diet and nutrition to be made available to expectant parents.

Covid‐19 outbreak and stocks return on the West African Economic and Monetary Union's stock market: An empirical analysis of the relationship through the event study approach

This study uses the Wilcoxon's signed ranks test to identify the effect of the Covid‐19 outbreak on the stocks returns of companies listed on the West African Economic and Monetary Union's (WAEMU) stock market by considering two event dates (January 23, 2020 and March 2, 2020). To account for the temporal volatility in the event approach, the study resort to a GARCH model. Empirical findings suggest that January 23, 2020 event (first case of death due to Covid‐19 in China) have had a minor impact on the WAEMU stock market while the event on March 2, 2020 (first case of Covid‐19 in the WAEMU) strongly affected the financial market. This negative impact is much more pronounced for the distribution sectors (−34.16%). Robustness analysis reveals that the main information leading to disruption on the market is the weekly death cases and not the confirmed cases. In addition, government anti‐Covid‐19 measures such as social distancing and governance positively affect the stock return whereas lockdown, public health measures and movement restrictions contribute to a decline in the stock's price.

Trust in educational leadership in times of crisis: The superintendent-teacher union leader trust dynamic

This qualitative case study explores the role that trust plays between the superintendent and the teacher union leader of a public school district in the Northeast United States during the COVID-19 pandemic using the framework of interpersonal trust-building (Zand, 1972). Further, it uses the five facets of trust (Tschannen-Moran, 2001) to identify the leadership practices that have the greatest impact on perceptions of trust in this relationship. Specifically, this study addresses the following research question: How, if at all, does trust influence the relationships and practices of educational stakeholders during times of crisis? Based on semi-structured interviews, document reviews, and observations, findings support previous research indicating that trust develops only with the benefit of time and, once established, allows for more direct communication and more efficient and collaborative problem-solving. Data also indicate that the facet of benevolence exerts the greatest impact on perceptions of trust in the superintendent's and teacher union leader's working relationship. Finally, the accumulation of shared experiences over time help develop a shared sense of identity between the superintendent and teacher union leader, resulting in stronger perceptions of trust and a greater sense of shared purpose. This shared sense of identity may also serve as a proxy for time, allowing parties to make assumptions about the other's future behavior based on perceived group memberships, thereby jump-starting the development of trust in the relationship. Recommendations include purposefully demonstrating benevolent behaviors in order to more effectively develop trust in a relationship and, whenever possible, communicating a shared sense of identity based on common values and beliefs. These findings have implications for district and school leaders who want to more intentionally establish trusting relationships and can inform the preparation, induction, and learning of district leaders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

European Cross-Sectoral Collective Bargaining as Post-Crisis Social Policy

This article proposes a policy project, centered around coordinated collective bargaining at the European Union level, to redistribute income towards low-wage workers in post-crisis Europe. It suggests we allow labor unions in sectors employing low-wage workers to present common wage demands across sectors and EU Member States. It shows that this would make union wage increases less harmful to workers and consumers than under uncoordinated sectoral bargaining, while coming more directly at the expense of managers and investors. The article then describes existing EU legal institutions that-although they do not quite amount to the policy proposed here-constitute useful precedents for it. These institutions are European social dialogue, European Works Councils, and European Framework Agreements bargained for by multinational firms and worker representatives. The article also discusses doctrines of EU competition and internal market law that could potentially be held to prohibit European cross-sectoral collective bargaining coordination. The article lays out arguments in favor of finding such coordination lawful, so that it may form part of the EU's policy arsenal to address wrenching economic inequalities worsened by the ongoing economic and health crises.

Cooperating for a better future

Este documento aborda lo que considero los principales problemas del mundo, aunque reconozco que también hay otros problemas en la actualidad, como la inflación y la guerra en Ucrania. Intentaré abordar los principales problemas, que son de interés para el CIRIEC, que es una organización internacional que presta especial atención a lo que se denomina el Tercer Sector" o "Economía Social", un área que se sitúa entre el sector empresarial privado y el gobierno a pesar de que no soy, debo admitirlo, un experto en este último campo. Lo trataré en el contexto de la discusión de un par de problemas a los que nos enfrentamos en el mundo y que me parecen realmente importantes. El primer problema es la desigualdad económica, de la que sé algo. El segundo problema es el cambio climático y los problemas medioambientales, que creo que son los más importantes. También me referiré al final a algunos problemas relacionados con la pandemia del COVID. En todos los problemas, lo que podríamos llamar el Tercer Sector puede desempeñar un gran papel.Alternate :This paper addresses what I consider to be the world's main problems, although I recognise that there are also other problems at present, such as inflation and the war in Ukraine. I will try to address the main problems, which are of interest to CIRIEC, which is an international organisation that pays particular attention to what is called the Third Sector" or "Social Economy", an area that lies between the private business sector and the government despite I am not, I must admit, an expert in this last field. I will deal with it in the context of discussing a couple of problems we face in the world that I think are really important. The first problem is economic inequality, which I know something about. The second problem is climate change and environmental problems, which I think are the most important. I will also refer at the end to some problems related to the COVID pandemic. In all the problems, what we could call the Third Sector can play a big role.

Transformation of Public Control Over Observance of the Legislation on Work and Health Care in the Conditions of Remote Work

In the conditions of digitalization, along with standard forms of labor organization (individual and collective), other forms are becoming more widespread: remote and home-based work, as well as work on the flexible working hours.The introduction of remote work within quarantine measures, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, has become a mandatory step in order to preserve the health of workers and ensure uninterrupted work. Itrequires the formation and implementation of a legal mechanism labor relations and control.The purpose of this study has development of scientifically substantiated proposals and recommendations on transformational changes of the mechanism of public control over observance of the legislation on work and health care, to open features of functioning of components of such mechanism in the conditions of remote work. To achieve the goal of the study, the methodological principles and approaches of legal science were used. The analysis showed that in generalthe current legislation provides for a number of powers related to the control of trade unions over compliance with labor legislation and the adoption of measures to protect the rights of workers. A positive innovation is the distinction between remote and home work.In order to improve the legal regulation of trade union powers, it is proposed to improve the legal regulation of the collective bargaining sector, to introduce an effective mechanism for trade unions to join the current system of social partnership acts, which will attract new forces to the trade union movement. Copyright © 2023. All Rights Reserved.

Financial stability and monetary policy of the Central Bank of West African Countries: a Markov-Switching model

Purpose This paper aims to examine the response of monetary policy to financial instability in the West African Economic and Monetary Union.Design/methodology/approach Through annual aggregated data from 1970 to 2019, the empirical strategy is based on the Markov regime-switching model with fixed probabilities.Findings The results revealed that the monetary policy of the central bank of the West African Economic and Monetary Union is characterized by two regimes (calm and distress) with respect to the trend of financial stability. The authors also found that the occurrence of the calm regime was likely greater than that of the distress regime. In addition, the calm regime is longer than the distress regime. The authors finally revealed that the central bank reacts to financial instability risk by increasing its short-term interest rate when financial instability reaches a threshold.Research limitations/implications The limitation of this study is the unavailability of monthly or quarterly data that are more suitable for the methodological approach adopted.Originality/value This study is the one to estimate the response of the Central Bank of West African Countries to financial stress using a novel approach based on the Markov-Switching regression.

Sozialpartnerschaft unter Spannung

Dieser Beitrag untersucht anhand von Pressemitteilungen, Gastbeiträgen der Vorsitzenden und Presseinterviews, wie die Tarifparteien der deutschen Metall- und Elektroindustrie, Gesamtmetall und IG Metall, die Corona-Krise in der Öffentlichkeit darstellten. Die mit dieser Untersuchung eingenommene Framing-Perspektive verspricht Aufschluss darüber, wie die Tarifparteien die Handlungsfähigkeit der Sozialpartnerschaft einschätzen und welche Prioritäten sie setzen. Die Sozialpartnerschaft steht auch in den Kernbereichen des deutschen Wirtschaftsmodells in zunehmendem Maße unter Druck. Das spiegelt sich auch in unserer Analyse wider. Während auf den ersten Blick in der Beschreibung der Krise und dem Ruf nach staatlichen Hilfen zur Unterstützung der Wirtschaft und Sicherung der Beschäftigten eine Interessenkoalition besteht, ist diese genauer betrachtet durch ein starkes Ungleichgewicht gekennzeichnet. Nicht nur handelt es sich um rein strategische Kooperation bei spezifischen Themen (Autoprämie, Kurzarbeitergeld). Die Arbeitgeberseite besteht außerdem auf Lohnzurückhaltung und lässt die gewerkschaftlichen Aufrufe zur weiter reichenden gemeinsamen Verantwortungsübernahme unbeantwortet. Insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund weiterer Auswirkungen der Pandemie auf den Arbeitsmarkt wird so die gewerkschaftliche Verhandlungsmacht geschwächt und die Sozialpartnerschaft gerät weiter unter Druck.Alternate :This paper examines how the collective bargaining parties of the German metal and electrotechnical industry, Gesamtmetall and IG Metall, portrayed the Corona crisis in the public sphere. The empirical basis consists of press releases, guest contributions by the chairpersons and press interviews. The framing perspective adopted by this study promises to shed light on how the collective bargaining parties assess the agency of social partnership and what priorities they set. Social partnership is generally coming under increasing pressure even in the core areas of the German economic model. This is also reflected in our analysis: While at first glance there is a coalition of interests in the description of the crisis and the call for state aid to support the economy and provide employement security, a closer look reveals a strong imbalance. Not only is this common interest restricted to purely strategic cooperation on specific issues. What is more, the employer side insists on wage restraint and leaves unanswered the trade unionsʼ calls for joint assumption of social responsibility. Particularly against the backdrop of further effects of the pandemic on the labor market, this weakens the unionsʼ bargaining power and puts further pressure on the institutional pattern of social partnership.

Interessenpolitik in der Corona-Krise

Der Beitrag beleuchtet die Rolle der Mitbestimmung in der Ausnahmesituation der Pandemie. Anhand von exemplarischen Befunden aus drei Handlungsfeldern – der Entwicklung und Umsetzung von Maßnahmen zum Infektionsschutz, der Stabilisierung der Beschäftigung sowie der Verlagerung von Arbeit ins Homeoffice – wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob die Beteiligung am betrieblichen Krisenmanagement zu einer Stärkung oder Schwächung der Interessenvertretung führt. Die Befunde zeigen eine aktive und häufig auch als erfolgreich wahrgenommene Betriebsratsarbeit, sie zeigen aber auch erhebliche Branchenunterschiede, fortgesetzte Spaltungstendenzen und erweiterte Beteiligungsoptionen, denen die Verankerung in der Mitbestimmung fehlt. Dies deutet auf Pfadabhängigkeiten einer Mitbestimmung im Krisenmodus hin.Alternate :This paper deals with the role of co-determination in the extraordinary situation of the pandemic. Presenting exemplary findings from three fields of action, i.e. development and implementation of measures for infection prevention, stabilization of employment, and relocation of work into the home office, the paper addresses the question whether participation in crisis management leads to a strengthening or weakening of the workersʼ interest representation. The empirical findings reveal an active role of the works councils which in most cases has been perceived as successful. On the other hand, there are also indications of significant differences according to branches, continued tendencies toward fragmentation, and extended participation options lacking anchoring in the codetermination norms and institutions. These results point to path dependencies of codetermination in the crisis mode.

Health and Safety Reps in COVID-19-Representation Unleashed?

The paper explores the role of UK union health and safety representatives and changes to representative structures governing workplace and organisational Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) during COVID-19. It draws upon a survey of 648 UK Trade Union Congress (TUC) Health and Safety (H&S) representatives, as well as case studies of 12 organisations in eight key sectors. The survey indicates expanded union H&S representation, but only half of the respondents reported H&S committees in their organisations. Where formal representative mechanisms existed, they provided the basis for more informal day-to-day engagement between management and the union. However, the present study suggests that the legacy of deregulation and the absence of organisational infrastructures meant that the autonomous collective representation of workers' interests over OHS, independent of structures, was crucial to risk prevention. While joint regulation and engagement over OHS was possible in some workplaces, OHS in the pandemic has been contested. Contestation challenges pre-COVID-19 scholarship suggestingthat H&S representatives had been captured by management in the context of unitarist practice. The tension between union power and the wider legal infrastructure remains salient.

(Re)shaping Amazon labour struggles on both sides of the Atlantic: the power dynamics in Germany and the US amidst the pandemic.

With the initial context of COVID-19 fuelling Amazon's exponential growth, this article investigates how the pandemic (re)defined labour struggles, i.e., cultivating labour's structural, associational and institutional powers in two case study countries, Germany and the US. By analysing these power resources in its two largest markets, I argue that Amazon's structural conditions by which it organises its warehouse labour, which predate the pandemic, have continued to act as obstacles to collective labour action. While in Germany, ver.di continues to mobilise its workplace power but has been unable to get Amazon to sign a collective agreement, the pandemic triggered unprecedented workplace mobilisations and the pursuit of associational power in the US, albeit with varying outcomes. Despite their different industrial relations systems and labour struggles, these two cases highlight the key role of shop-floor organising to put pressure on Amazon, while Amazon's continued rejection of unions as negotiating partners further underlines the importance of regulating Amazon's union-busting tactics.

Dans un contexte où la COVID-19 a alimenté la croissance exponentielle d'Amazon, cet article examine comment la pandémie a (re)défini les luttes syndicales, en soulignant son impact sur les pouvoirs structurels, associatifs et institutionnels des travailleurs dans les deux pays étudiés, à savoir l'Allemagne et les États-Unis. En analysant ces ressources de pouvoir sur les deux plus importants marchés d'Amazon, l'auteur fait valoir que les modalités structurelles de l'organisation de sa main-d'œuvre par Amazon dans les entrepôts d'Amazon, qui sont antérieures à la pandémie, ont continué à faire obstacle à l'action collective des travailleurs. En Allemagne, le syndicat unifié des services (ver.di) continue de mobiliser ses forces sur le lieu de travail sans parvenir à faire signer une convention collective à Amazon. Aux États-Unis, la pandémie a entraîné des mouvements de mobilisation sans précédent sur les lieux de travail, à la recherche d'un pouvoir associatif, mais avec des résultats inégaux. Malgré leurs différences en termes de systèmes de relations industrielles et de luttes syndicales, ces deux cas mettent en évidence le rôle clé de la mobilisation des travailleurs à la base pour faire pression sur Amazon ; quant au fait qu'Amazon continue de récuser les syndicats en tant que partenaires de négociation, il souligne l'importance de réglementer les tactiques antisyndicales de cette entreprise.