How to represent the unrepresented? Renewing the Collective Action Repertoires of Autonomous workers in Three countries

Abstract The archetypal model of full-time regular employment is now increasingly challenged by wide-ranging alternatives. The most common feature of such alternatives is a progressive evolution in the standard employment relationship towards a fragmentation of work with specific tasks and greater autonomy over the way of performing a job. Numerous working processes that do not conform with traditional forms of control are excluded from the domain of labour legislation and social protection. Therefore, these alternative forms of work do not seem devoid of risks, raising the question of new forms of collective action capable of dealing with them. This chapter compares three ways of renewing social dialogue in a more inclusive perspective through case studies embedded in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. We analyze union and non-union initiatives by scrutinizing the ‘functional equivalents’ they provide to open-ended standard employment relationships and their engagement in a process of collective capacity building. Drawing on the institutional literature, we explore the links between the industrial relations system, the flexibility of labour markets and the modalities of collective action feasibly provided. Our analysis demonstrates the undeniable influence of the institutional context.