This paper analyzes the development of trade unions' adaptation strategies
towards the new challenge posed by the dualization of national labour markets
into a stable core of standard employment and a growing margin of flexible,
often precarious employment. On the basis of the controversial discussion
surrounding the theory of Varieties of Capitalism (VoC), the main objective is
to shed light on the question of how institutional frameworks shape unions´
adaptation strategies. By comparing the developments and union strategies in
Germany, Poland and Slovenia – identified as traditionally rather coordinated
market economies – the paper aims to connect the still much separated debates
on Western and Eastern European regional institutional regimes
