Economic Integration and State Responses: Change in European Industrial Relations since Maastricht

The article analyses industrial relations change in the six largest EU countries since 1992 in relation to increased internationalization pressures. Based on qualitative and quantitative analysis, it distinguishes between associational and state governance, and detects that despite a predominant, but not universal, trend of weakening trade unions and collective bargaining, no overall liberalization has occurred in the political regulation of employment (employment policies, welfare state, labour law, state support to collective bargaining, public sector). Rather than converging towards neoliberalism, industrial relations emerge as more politically contingent and dependent on multiple forms of power, which are affected by internationalization in different ways.     

The Layering of Meso‐Level Institutional Effects on Employment Systems in Japan

Japan's corporate governance and employment relations systems have been under considerable pressures to reform towards a more Anglo‐American model, against a back‐drop of intensified global competition and slow economic growth over two ‘lost’ decades. But what is the relationship between these systems, and specifically, how does corporate governance structure condition employment relations practice? This paper adopts the ‘Systems, Society, Dominance and Corporate (SSDC) effects’ framework in order to contextualize and evaluate the outcomes of these pressures, particularly in the period following the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It reports case study data from various parts of the Japanese economy drawn from a series of firm‐based interviews and a variety of secondary sources. It is argued that there has been a strong degree of continuity in certain employment practices, such as lifetime employment, even in relatively new high technology firms, but that the pattern for other practices, such as seniority‐based pay, is more mixed with increasing differentiation between industries and individual organizations. We articulate a layered assessment of the varying SSDC effects at play in corporate Japan. This differentiation across industries and organizations is a function both of strategic choice (corporate effects) and also the increasing variation in the meso‐level institutional pressures that are experienced at organizational level; that is, the differentiation in the sources and nature of dominance effects that are relevant.     

Co‐ordinated Bargaining: A Process for Our Times?

This article draws on past as well as present to offer a systematic overview of co-ordinated bargaining, which many commentators see as a likely vehicle for the 'Europeanization' of industrial relations. It argues that co-ordinated bargaining is indeed likely to play a major role within the EU, reflecting not only trade union pressures but also management's use of benchmarking to promote organizational change and competitiveness. The pace with which co-ordinated bargaining develops is likely to vary considerably both within and between sectors, however, leading to multi-speed 'Europeanization' and further decentralization of collective bargaining within national systems.     

Rule Enactment in a Pan‐European Labour Market: Transnational Posted Work in the German Construction Sector

This article analyses the micro‐level rule enactment of the posting of workers framework in the German construction sector. I examine how actors draw on different power resources in order to influence policies without formal negotiation within transnational workspaces and thereby initiate institutional change. Drawing on interviews with posted workers, managers, unionists, works councillors and labour inspectors I show how transnational subcontracting allows the emergence of different regulatory spaces at national and workplace level. The article concludes that the informal renegotiation of employment relations in transnational workspaces is likely to destabilize the posting framework negotiated at policy level.     

Institutions Are What Actors Make of Them — The Changing Construction of Firm‐Level Employment Relations in Spain

This article analyses the variation and change in firm‐level employment relations in Spain between the transition to democracy and the global financial crisis. Using three auto companies as case studies, I address a crucial puzzle in the institutional literature on comparative employment relations: How do employment relations change and vary, even when national employment relations institutions do not? This article argues that differences in actor ideologies shape the construction of national institutions at the firm level, which explains change and variation of employment relations over time and across cases. The study identifies four drivers of ideological change — generational change, leadership change, identity work and diffusion — that impact the variation and change in employment relations at the firm level.     

The Impact of European Integration and German Unification on Industrial Relations in Germany

Can the present turmoil in German industrial relations be attributed to the effects of the Single Market, or to unification, or to other factors? European regulation or legislation may intervene in the German industrial relations system, may remove responsibilities from national actors, or may, by deregulation, induce stronger interdependence between national regimes. Various instances are considered to evaluate the actual and potential EU impact on German industrial relations. The evidence suggests that fears of ‘social dumping’ in the richer member-states are largely unfounded, and that the effects of unification and the recession on German industrial relations are currently more significant than the impact of European integration.     

New insights from a multilevel approach to the regional digital divide in the European Union

This paper contributes to the literature on digital divide by analysing regional- and country level determinants of the regional digital divide in the EU, based on panel data and using the multilevel analysis- the three level random slope model. The results indicate that only a mix of effective regional and national measures could mitigate the regional digital divide in the EU. Stimulating regional economic growth, increasing the tertiary education attainments, boosting R&D expenditure, and discouraging early leaving from education are regional- and national level policy measures that are found to successfully reduce the regional digital divide in the EU.     

Problems of Fit: Changing Employment and Labour Regulation

This paper indicates key issues in identifying and assessing change in the employment relationship. It explores various challenges that the changing shape of employment poses for both legal regulation and regulation provided through collective bargaining. It suggests different rationales for seeking a better fit and discusses various adjustments and changes to achieve this. Finally, I argue that problems of fit (misfit), and the need for adaptation to which this gives rise, are relevant also to the study of industrial relations.     

河北省弱势群体灵活保障就业体系研究

构建和谐社会,必须关注社会弱势群体,我国政府已经把社会弱势群体就业作为政策关注的重中之重,而欧盟灵活保障模式在解决欧盟成员国就业问题上凸显了其有效性。根据对河北省弱势群体就业现状的分析,结合欧盟灵活保障就业模式,从强化教育培训体系、强化失业保险的功能、实施积极劳动力市场政策和建立健全社会对话机制等方面提出了构建河北省弱势群体灵活保障就业体系的对策。     

The Unexpected Appearance of a New German Model

Most Continental European labour markets and welfare states have experienced a substantial transformation. Germany is a case in point as it exhibits increasing levels of employment and a growing share of low pay and non‐standard work. The article claims that changes in labour market institutions play a major role, but changes in industrial relations at the sectoral level and individual firms' staffing practices are equally important. Regarding labour market institutions, the pattern found in Germany shows sequences of reforms addressing the margins of the labour market and contributing to a growing dualization of employment. This dualization trend was reinforced by micro‐level dynamics in industrial relations and company employment practices, where we can observe growing reliance on mechanisms of internal flexibility for the skilled core workforce and increasing use of non‐standard types of employment in less specifically skilled occupations, in particular in the private service sector. Hence, the adjustment of the German model can only be understood by taking into account the interaction of policy change and actors' adaptive behaviour.     

On the asynchronous approvals of GM crops: Potential market impacts of a trade disruption of EU soy imports

Due to their high protein content, soybeans are important feedstuffs in the European Union (EU). However, the cultivation of soybeans using genetically modified (GM) varieties in non-EU countries is increasing and the EU authorization of GM products takes longer than in other countries, leading to an asynchronous approval between the EU and non-EU countries that might induce soybean trade disruptions. This paper uses an integrated modelling system to simulate Argentina, Brazil and the United States ending soybean exports to the EU. The impact on world trade and on the EU import prices of soy products is analysed with a computable general equilibrium model. EU soy imports are shown to decline, and the import price of soybeans in the EU increases. The effects on EU agricultural markets are analysed based on a partial equilibrium model. Feed costs in the EU are found to increase with poultry and pork the most affected: production and exports decline and imports increase. However, the effects of a trade ban are found to be less profound than in many other studies due to compensating substitution effects at various market levels: increasing imports from third countries, increasing domestic oilseed production and the use of other protein feeds.     

The Involvement of Civil Society Organizations in British Industrial Relations: Extent,Origins and Significance

This article examines the involvement of civil society organizations (CSOs) in UK industrial relations. Organizations of this type, including advocacy, campaigning, identity and community organizations have attracted increasing attention from employment relations scholars in recent years. The study reported in this article demonstrates that CSOs have become increasingly active in the sphere of work and employment, partly in response to trade union decline but also owing to political opportunities, afforded by the labour market policy of the New Labour government. It is claimed that CSOs operate at multiple levels of the industrial relations system and interact with the state, employers and trade unions. They generate significant effects within UK industrial relations and can rightly be judged significant ‘new actors’ on the UK employment scene.     

South Korea's Automotive Labour Regime,Hyundai Motors’ Global Production Network and Trade‐Based Integration with the European Union

This article explores the interrelationship between global production networks (GPNs) and free trade agreements (FTAs) in the South Korean auto industry and its employment relations. It focuses on the production network of the Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) — the third biggest automobile manufacturer in the world — and the FTA between the EU and South Korea. This was the first of the EU's ‘new generation’ FTAs, which among other things contained provisions designed to protect and promote labour standards. The article's argument is twofold. First, that HMG's production network and Korea's political economy (of which HMG is a crucial part) limited the possibilities for the FTA's labour provisions to take effect. Second, that the commercial provisions in this same FTA simultaneously eroded HMG's domestic market and corporate profitability, leading to adverse consequences for auto workers in the more insecure and low‐paid jobs. In making this argument, the article advances a multi‐scalar conceptualization of the labour regime as an analytical intermediary between GPNs and FTAs. It also provides one of the first empirical studies of the EU–South Korea FTA in terms of employment relations, drawing on 105 interviews with trade unions, employer associations, automobile companies and state officials across both parties.     

Collective Voice under Decentralized Bargaining: A Comparative Study of Work Reorganization in US and German Call Centres

This article compares the process of and outcomes from work reorganization in US and German call centres, based on four matched case studies in the telecommunications industry. Both German cases adopted high‐involvement employment systems with broad skills and worker discretion, while the US cases relied on a narrow division of labour, tight discipline and individual incentives. These outcomes are explained by differences in institutional supports for collective voice. Works councils in the German companies used their stronger participation rights to limit monitoring and encourage upskilling at a time when US managers were rationalizing similar jobs. Findings demonstrate that industrial relations institutions can have a substantial influence on employment systems in work settings characterized by decentralized bargaining and strong cost pressures.     

Impact of roaming regulation on revenues and prices of mobile operators in the EU

We use a difference-in-differences approach to assess the impact of the EU roaming regulation on mobile operators’ average revenues per user (ARPU) and the retail prices of mobile services. Our results suggest that due to the regulation the ARPU of EU mobile operators decreased since 2007 on average by 9.1%. When considering purchasing power parities, the decline of ARPU is estimated on average at 5.8%, but in this case we cannot reject that there was no decrease at all. We also find that the impact of the regulation on ARPU depends on traffic imbalances, which may be related to tourism flows, and has a stronger negative impact on operators from countries with a surplus in tourism traffic. There is however no difference in the impact of the regulation on cross-country and national operators. Moreover, our results suggest that the Roam Like at Home (RLAH) regulation implemented in June 2017 had no impact on the tariffs of national mobile plans.     

从制度经济学视角解析中小企业融资难问题

中小企业是推动国民经济发展,构造市场经济主体,促进社会稳定的基础力量。特别是当前,在确保国民经济适度增长、缓解就业压力、实现科教兴国、优化经济结构等方面,均发挥着越来越重要的作用。但也应看到,融资问题已成为制约中小企业发展的最大障碍和瓶颈。基于制度经济学的研究视角,通过交易费用理论、产权理论及强制性制度变迁理论对中小企业融资难问题进行剖析。     

Comparative Industrial Relations Research: Towards Reversing the Gender Bias

This paper seeks to begin the reversal of the gender bias in comparative industrial relations research which is still focused on comparing and contrasting the regimes that cover mainly male manual workers. There is little systematic evidence on industrial relations practices in private or even public services, for non-manual workers or for atypical workers. These employment areas are central for women's employment and are of increasing importance in the labour market, but few attempts have been made to compare industrial relations regimes by reference to the protection they afford to women. Taking into account industrial relations practice in these areas can change significantly the classification and estimated coverage of collective bargaining systems. By 'mainstrearning' gender issues it also becomes clear that current macroeconomic policy proposals have major gender implications that are ignored in current debates     

The Rise of Experimentalism in German Collective Bargaining

This paper addresses the debate on union strategies by analysing industrial relations change in three of Germany's most internationalized sectors: chemicals, metalworking and construction. It characterizes two logics of change in German industrial relations: a battlefield logic and an experimentalist logic. It demonstrates historical trends towards centralization of wage bargaining in each sector before looking at recent pressures for decentralization and flexibility. In chemi‐cals, the social partners control decentralization. In metalworking increasing flexibility is characterized by a mismatch between the national‐level union and the district‐level employers. Finally, the construction union seeks to replace the centralized bargaining system with a state minimum wage.     

Harmonised collection of national food consumption data in Europe

Since 2005, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has worked in close cooperation with organisations operating in the field towards harmonising dietary survey methodology and building a common European Union (EU) food consumption database. Harmonised food consumption data are the basis for improving accuracy of EU-wide exposure assessments and also supports nutrition surveillance, diet and health related studies. Improved risk assessments assure more targeted risk management and permit more accurate risk communication resulting in increased consumer confidence. The most important step in this direction was the development of the EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database, which compiles existing national dietary information from the Member States (MS). MS used different methods to collect food consumption data, which makes it difficult to carry out EU-wide analyses or country-to-country comparisons. Furthermore, as the consumption patterns are continuously changing, regular update of the available information is necessary. Therefore, in 2011 EFSA launched the “What’s on the Menu in Europe? - EU Menu” project, with the aim of providing financial and technical support to carry out national dietary surveys in the EU. It focuses on collecting data from six population groups (from three months to 74 years of age) using harmonised methods described in the EFSA Guidance on the EU Menu methodology that has been endorsed by the EU institutions through the EFSA Network on Food Consumption Data. EFSA is currently supporting 36 surveys on children and/or adults from 18 Member States and four pre-accession countries. All projects are expected to be finalised by 2023.