This paper attempts to compare trade unions’ strategies in Spain, Italy and Portugal vis-à-vis government’s austerity measures since the beginning of the crisis in 2008. The main aim is to give some insights about the interactions between unions’ strategies (social pacts versus general strikes) and governments’ strategies (concertation versus unilateral decision-making) during the process of political exchange (Pizzorno, 1977). The effects of the opportunity structure (Streeck and Hassel 2003) on union’s strategies will also be analysed.
The main argument is that although Spanish, Italian and Portuguese unions’ strategies are influenced by the government’s strategies, the model of industrial relations of each country and the links with political parties, we can find a co-variation in unions’ strategies due to the different unions‘ political identities. Finally, the paper argues that further research on unions' political identities is needed if we want to explain this variation.
