Shaping solidarity: A mixed-methods approach to unionisation trends and workers’ strategies in the creative industries – the Italian case in a European context

This article examines the evolving relationship between self-employed creative workers and trade unions, exploring the reconfiguration of collective engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic within a specific case study. Using a mixed-methods approach, we first analyse two decades (2002–2018) of European Social Survey data across different models of capitalism to provide an overview of unionisation trends among creative workers. We then integrate findings with qualitative insights from an Italian case study, focusing on workers’ changing strategies. While Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) contextualises institutional constraints to unionisation, Crozier’s Strategic Actor Theory (SAT) highlights worker agency in responding to them. Drawing primarily on SAT, we argue that, despite institutional barriers and occupational fragmentation, the pandemic created opportunities for workers to engage with unions, recognising their lobbying power in shaping emergency employment protection and income support. This study contributes to the debate on union revitalisation by showing how workers’ agency influences collective strategies in changing labour market conditions.