British industrial relations and the European Community

The purpose of this paper is to review the influence that Britain's membership of the European Community has had on industrial relations in Britain. More specifically the so-called ‘Social Dimension’ of the 1992 internal market is assessed. The conclusion is that British industrial relations will continue to be influenced by developments in the European Community for the rest of the 1990s and beyond. However, it is more likely that there will be a weaving of a European dimension into national industrial relations systems rather than the imposition of a new EC-wide model.     

基于协商民主视野下基层工会的民主管理职能研究

随着我国社会经济的不断发展和人民生活水平的不断提高,社会生活发生了翻天覆地的变化。在日益复杂的社会环境下,企业与事业单位面临着巨大的挑战。随着我国社会的变革、法律的完善和员工权利意识的变化,劳资关系纠纷等问题日益严峻。在这种情况下,基层工会的民主管理作用受到社会的广泛关注和重视。企业与事业单位要想降低内耗、凝聚员工的力量、提高市场竞争力,就必须对基层工会的民主管理给予重视。     

Between Regime Fragmentation and Realignment: Irish Industrial Relations in the 1990s

The future of European industrial relations systems has been discussed in the literature in terms of either ‘inter-regime competition’, or progressive ‘intra-regime fragmentation’. Within the context of this debate the article examines developments in Irish industrial relations during the 1990s. The impact of fragmentation on attempts to realign Irish industrial relations practices and institutions in support of a ‘high road’ national competitive and industrial strategy is examined.     

All benchmarkers now? Benchmarking and the ‘Europeanisation’ of industrial relations

Rather than legal enactment and collective bargaining being the main engines of the ‘Europeanisation’ of industrial relations, benchmarking and ‘soft’ forms of regulation are increasingly to the fore. This article traces the origins of benchmarking from management tool to regulatory instrument, in particular analysing its functioning at the levels of the Euro–company, Euro–sector and the Community itself. Without better processes, better data and better implementation, the paper concludes, benchmarking is likely to prove no more effective a means of co–ordination than the traditional Community method.     

Free movement,equal treatment and workers' rights: can the European Union solve its trilemma of fundamental principles?

This article analyses the trilemma the EU is facing concerning three fundamental principles on which the Community rests: free movement of services and labour; non‐discrimination and equal treatment, and the rights of association and industrial action. With rising cross‐border flows of services and (posted) labour after the Eastward enlargement, the conflict between these rights has triggered industrial disputes and judicial strife. In the view of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), highlighted in the Laval Quartet, some principles are more fundamental than others. Tracing the ‘dual track’ along which European integration has evolved, whereby supranational market integration has been combined with national semi‐sovereignty in industrial relations and social policies, our claim is that the supremacy of free movement over basic social rights implied by the ECJ judgments is leading Europe in a politically and socially unsustainable direction. To prevent erosion of the European Social Models and of popular support for European integration, the politicians have to reinsert themselves into the governance of the European project. A pertinent start would be to ensure that the rising mass of cross‐border service workers in Europe become subject to the same rights and standards as their fellow workers in the emerging pan‐European labour market.     

Trade unions,management and European works councils: Opening Pandora's box?

This paper makes a contribution to the ongoing debate on transnational worker representation in light of the European Works Council (EWC) directive. Three issues in particular are highlighted which we believe contribute to the organizational and political developments of EWCs. First, we present some variables which have stimulated worker representatives to 'network' with each other across national boundaries prior and parallel to the EWC directive. Looking at factors other than the EWC directive can give us a greater appreciation of the likely interactive nature of employee representatives, trade unions and management in the new forums. Second, and in particular, we explore whether certain elements of existing national industrial relations systems either stimulate or limit interest by employee representatives in forming and aligning themselves to transnational forums. Given that the German and British industrial relations systems are so different, and that the divergence between them is seen as an impediment to EU attempts to promote the growth of an integrated European system (Crouch, 1993), the research compares developments in these two countries. Third, the paper explains how management is responding to developments in transnational worker representative forums within the context of divergent industrial relations systems. We highlight in particular the way management is able to utilize institutional aspects of national systems in conditioning transnational worker representation in the newly structured forums. Such responses, we argue, raise questions regarding our understanding of convergence and divergence in industrial relations.     

Britain in a social Europe: industrial relations and 1992

This article suggests that European Community social policy is now moving into a third stage that is having an increasing impact on the UK. However, continuing differences in European labour markets, collective bargaining and trade union organisation make it impossible to identify a common European pattern of industrial relations     

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This article notes some patterns of diversity as well as some moves towards harmonization of industrial relations arrangements and that there are certain parallel trends in European countries. It examines developments affecting unions, employers and the state as well as the changing approaches to collective bargaining. It goes on to discuss the increasing impact of the European Union (formerly European Community) and it concludes that, rather than finding much convergence, there are continuing and significant differences between European countries.     

The reluctant bargainers? McDonald’s,unions and pay determination in Germany and the UK

There is growing evidence that multinational enterprises (MNEs) increasingly develop organisation-based employment strategies, which promote the transmission of employee relations practices across national borders. This article provides an analysis of one MNE’s employee relations practice and what appears to be its preference for operating, where possible, independently of national industrial relations systems. The findings, which draw on a UK/German comparison, raise a number of questions about the adequacy of even highly juridifed national systems to protect workers rights in practice.     

The persistence of social pacts in Europe

This article argues that, despite pessimistic forecasts for their future, social pacts remain a central element of industrial relations across many member states of the European Union. Social pacts provide a mechanism of pragmatic adaptation to the trilemma of reconciling market integration, intergovernmentalism and democratic accountability. In addition, recent developments in the general direction of social dialogue and social pacts, in some of the new member states, indicate a learning process to enable economic catch‐up while engaging in institutional innovation. Finally, the article argues that social pacts remain important in ensuring a voice for labour across Europe.     

The European sectoral social dialogue: questions of representation and membership

In the debates on the European social dialogue as a potential level of supranational industrial relations, the key questions of representations and mandates are often neglected. To what extent can the European sectoral social dialogue act for national constituencies across 27 Member States in the perspective of collective action by European associations? This article addresses this question by the means of three dimensions: the representation of heterogeneous members, the various degrees of national players' commitment in the European committees and finally, the definition of a common agenda among members.     

Corporate environmental performance evaluation: evidence from the MEPI project

In recent years research has been rapidly and actively emerging on indicators of environmental performance in industry. Crucial issues are the kind of information that must be taken into account, is available and is relevant, as well as standardization and aggregation of such information. This paper reports on the experience gained in these matters, in the scope of a European Commission funded project involving seven research partners across Europe. Practical applications of the project cover six industrial sectors within six European countries. Exploiting the adopted indicators allows us to draw conclusions about the influence of various factors, including the national context, on environmental performance, and to provide both managers and decision makers with information that is useful for the overall improvement of environmental strategies and environmental regulation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment     

Do European trade unions foster social solidarity? Evidence from multilevel data in 18 countries

Trade unions have been analysed quantitatively primarily in their role as vested interest organisations, attempting to quantify the excludable benefits they provide to members rather than examine their wider impact in an institutional context. Power resource theory acknowledges unions as social agents but assumes the willingness to oppose neoliberalism is constant, limited only by scarce power resources. Whilst true in general terms, this fails to explain trends of increasing labour market dualism in resource‐rich industrial relations regimes. This article examines social solidarity as a union power resource, measuring the impact of trade union membership on social attitudes of solidarity. Data were collected from the 2016 European Social Survey for 18 countries, grouped into five distinct industrial relations regimes. The findings suggest that, at European level, union membership still has a significant effect on all dimensions of social solidarity, but these relationships vary significantly across industrial relations regimes.     

Liberalising the German model: institutional change,organisational restructuring and workplace effects

Institutional change at supranational, European Union level affects national and firm level institutions in various ways. This article traces effects of liberalisation measures in the airport industry enacted in two airport firms in Germany. The study, based on qualitative empirical research, found that EU liberalisation facilitated company creation of subsidiaries (subsidiarisation) and elevated shareholder interest in corporate governance. These factors affected institutional practices and cultural norms within the German industrial context that in turn influenced significant alterations in employment and workplace relations. Considerable disruption of the German social partnership model of corporate governance and industrial relations was observed. However, in addition to patterns of convergence towards neoliberal practices and outcomes frequently observed in Anglo‐Saxon systems, the study found some elements of effective retention of cultural institutional resources of the German model. Both ‘path departure’ and social embeddedness appear to coexist.     

Comparative industrial relations theory: the role of national culture

This paper explores the use of national culture in comparative industrial relations theory to explain the cross-national pattern of industrial relations institutions. A critical review of the existing body of theory argues that it has not adequately explained cross-national differences in the main industrial relations variables. The review also establishes that, with few exceptions, national culture is currently given negligible weight as an explanatory variable. It is argued that a cultural theory of cross-national difference is required. Following a critical assessment of the work of Hofstede, a cultural model is developed based on his definition and specification of culture. Some hypotheses linking Hofstede's dimensions of culture with our industrial relations variables are derived. As an empirical test of the model, industrial relations variables are regressed on Hofstede's cultural indices. National culture is found to be significantly associated with all the major characteristics of industrial relations systems investigated. The paper concludes that national culture is the primary determinant of cross-national variations in industrial relations institutions and that culture is likely to be a force for ongoing diversity in labour market systems.     

论会计信息质量的现状与管理

随着我国市场经济体制的日趋完善,社会各界越来越关注会计信息质量。本文分析了目前会计信息失真现状及原因,并结合实际对如何解决会计信息失真问题提出建议。     

HRM and IR in multinational corporations in Denmark: uneasy bedfellows?

As multinational corporations operate in multiple countries, headquarters must take into account differences in local settings when seeking the means to coordinate and control subsidiaries. The local system of industrial relations sets the framework for what kind of human resource management a multinational corporation can implement. Yet another question is whether the still stronger multinationals can change the existing systems of industrial relations, directly or indirectly.

The paper analyzes four Danish enterprises over a 10-year period. This longitudinal study shows that none of the multinationals directly try to interfere in local industrial relations. However, by exercising their management prerogative in a way that differs from the Northern European tradition of industrial relations, they do influence the cooperation between employers and employees. In particular, the results show, that a shift from a stakeholder to a shareholder management style and an increased degree of HQ control have an effect on the whole cooperative atmosphere in each of the companies. In the long run, they may affect the collective bargaining system as such.     

A European true and fair view?

After a brief historical introduction, the paper examines the true and fair view (TFV) requirement in the Fourth Directive, and in the corresponding company legislation in UK, France and Germany. Differences and nuances are explored from a language and translation viewpoint and also related to pre-Fourth Direc tive requirements and culture. The extent of true harmonization is questionable. Recent experience and usage of TFV in the UK is critically described and related to the broader European context. The general drift of the argument is that countries are tending to interpret TFV in the context of national culture, national accounting tradition and national GAAP. From a properly European perspective there is a need for changes in attitude from all concerned. TFV and GAAP are living and dynamic concepts. They are affected by the cultures within which they are used. Homogeneous attitudes to such concepts imply homogeneous cultural contexts, and this raises questions of a most fundamental nature.     

The Americanisation of the European business system?

This article examines the impact of contemporary business practices within the American business system on established patterns of industrial relations (IR) management in European subsidiaries of US multinationals, specifically how established firm‐level settlements for the management of IR may or may not combine with host‐country effects to constrain such innovations. The empirical material leads us to evaluate subsidiaries of US multinationals as a contingent factor indicating that institutional effects at the level of the national business system are likely to be more embedded than the effects of ownership on employment and IR at firm level.     

社会资本视角下的社区治理

社区和谐是社会和谐的微观基础,构建和谐社会应该从社区治理入手.社区居民之间普遍的信任、互惠的规范和通过社区组织所建立起来的致密的社会参与网络构成了社区社会资本,它们既是社区治理的基础,也是实现社区发展和社会和谐的社会资源.因而我们有必要培育作为社会资本的认同感、人际互信、平等交换规范和公民参与网络,以推进社区治理与社会和谐.