The role of trade unions in environmental governance : exploring workers legitimacy judgments

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

Trade unions are increasingly expected to play a role in sustainability transitions, but their legitimacy as environmental governance actors remains underexplored. Our study uses a multidimensional framework to examine how workers, both union members and non-members, evaluate trade union legitimacy “from below.” This framework distinguishes between normative legitimacy, based on environmental values, and instrumental legitimacy, reflected in perceived dual-mandate capability. Survey data from Slovenia reveal robust normative support for union involvement in sustainability, fueled by environmental concern. In contrast, instrumental legitimacy is more conditional and closely linked to union membership. Interestingly, non-members with high environmental concern express even stronger expectations for union involvement than members do. These findings suggest that legitimacy is co-constructed through value alignment and perceived effectiveness rather than inherited from institutional status. By centering worker perceptions, we contribute to environmental governance scholarship by positioning unions as civic actors whose legitimacy is formed “from below” and to legitimacy theory by showing how internal and adjacent publics assess unions' purpose and performance, suggesting that these evaluations may condition unions' authority claims in contested transitions.

• Language: English
• Keywords: instrumental legitimacy, normative legitimacy, Slovenia, sustainability transitions, union revitalization
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: In print
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 14 str.
• Numbering: Vol. , no.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-187901
• UDC: 331.105.44:502.131.1(497.4)
• ISSN on article: 1756-9338
• DOI: 10.1002/eet.70140
• COBISS.SI-ID: 291187971
• Publication date in RUL: 16.09.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Environmental policy and governance
• Shortened title: Environ. policy gov.
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• ISSN: 1756-9338
• COBISS.SI-ID: 517702937

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: 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