Trade unions and sustainability : an integrative review

Bembič, Branko (author), Golob, Urša (author), Podnar, Klement (author)

Despite the growing presence of trade unions (TUs) in sustainability discussions, academic research on their role is still scattered. This article presents an integrative review of 110 peer-reviewed English-language academic articles on this topic, indexed in Scopus and Web of Science and published between 1997 and early 2025. Through an iterative coding process, we identified five meta-theoretical perspectives: socio-technical transitions (MLP); imperial mode of living/treadmill of production (IML-ToP); industrial relations (IR); Marxist/critical political economy; and degrowth/ecological political economy. We then used these perspectives to map the conceptual architecture of the field. Theoretical orientation significantly influences the interpretation of TU strategies, ranging from obstructive and reformist to transformative. Existing tensions between labour's material dependence on unsustainable systems and its potential as an ecological agent of change are variously theorised, yet rarely resolved. By highlighting the associations between conceptual frameworks and evaluative conclusions, we provide a lens through which to reflectively assess this emerging field and outline avenues for more pluralistic and theoretically grounded research into labour-environment relations.

• Language: English
• Keywords: industrial relations, integrative review, just transition, labour environmentalism, sustainability, trade unions
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: str. 6392-6407
• Numbering: Vol. 34, iss. 5
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-178158
• UDC: 331.105.44:502.131.1
• ISSN on article: 1099-1719
• DOI: 10.1002/sd.70698
• COBISS.SI-ID: 265375491
• Publication date in RUL: 20.01.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Sustainable development
• Shortened title: Sustain. dev.
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• ISSN: 1099-1719
• COBISS.SI-ID: 517831705

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: Odnosi med delodajalci in delojemalci, sindikati, trajnost (ekologija)

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: J5-4581
• Name: Sindikati in trajnostni prehod: pričakovanja in paradoksi (S-TP)

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0193
• Name: Analiza dela, izobraževanja in zaposlovanja