ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a more complex analysis of the state and its relationship with trade unions and movements in the post-crisis period. It introduces a framework that explores the internal relation of structures and processes answering the following questions: are trade unions state apparatuses or social movements? The chapter explores this through two case studies – the role of trade unions in Portugal and Ireland – where each offers a different perspective of the dynamics in an attempt at building a wider state-focussed approach to struggle, concentrating on actors and changes that are the “solid melts into air”. It outlines the specifics of the cases, and the shifting position of trade unions through anti-austerity protest movements. The chapter provides an example of Ireland and Portugal stress how the relationships between the state, trade unions, and movements unfold as a tug of war.
