Beyond density: Improving European trade unions’ representativeness through gender quotas

Abstract

Trade unions’ legitimacy is rooted in membership, since unions result from the organization of workers who found they were stronger through a collective voice. Accordingly, union representativeness has been assessed primarily through ‘density’ – the ratio of union members to the total workforce. We argue that density is crucial but insufficient. First, the decline in trade union membership jeopardizes internal legitimacy; second, unions have developed external legitimacy when acting beyond their members. Inspired by the multifaceted concept of ‘political representation’, we suggest a fairer approach which adds the composition of unions’ boards – beginning with gender – to density whenever unions act on behalf of all workers. Specifically, we contend that trade unions willing to take part in the European negotiations should adopt gender quotas on their boards. This approach is likely to stimulate equality in the labour market, while contributing to unions’ revitalization, thus fostering the quality of democratic institutions.