More voice after more exit? Unstable industrial relations in Central Eastern Europe

The article examines the industrial relations developments in the post‐communist countries that entered the EU in 2004. Rather than introducing the ‘European Social Model’, EU accession has led to some social tensions, in spite of relatively strong economic growth, because of deregulation, European Monetary Union conditions and the enduring need to compete for foreign investment. EU institutional promotion of social dialogue through the Directive on Information and Consultation of Workers, sector social dialogue committees and the European Employment Strategy has only had limited effects in increasing the ‘voice’ of employees in employment relations. National‐level social dialogue has produced poor results and has even been weakened in Slovenia (where it was originally strong) and, initially, in Slovakia. The lack of ‘voice’ for employees has led to increased ‘exit’ through political populism/abstention and migration. A double paradox emerges. Pro‐labour policies are being developed not by the EU, but rather by its opposite, Euro‐sceptical governments (in Poland and Slovakia), while in the workplaces, employers are forced to concessions not by their employees, but by those who leave and cause labour shortages. However, there is also some evidence of a resurgent ‘voice’ from below, through strikes, organising campaigns, informal collective protests and collective bargaining innovations. Drawing on both theory and history of industrial relations, it is concluded that some preconditions for more stable social compromises including more ‘voice’ are emerging.     

‘Breaking the ICE’: workplace democracy in a modernized social Europe

The EU seeks to improve its labour market performance through implementing the Lisbon and European Employment Strategies which encourage the modernization of work organization through the development of partnership with the assistance of an ‘appropriate’ regulatory framework. Key aspects of this latter framework concern workers' rights regarding information, consultation and participation in corporate governance. European labour laws, introduced in the 1970s, sought to strengthen employers' consultation with their workforce and, more recently, the changing economic, technological and organizational environment has returned issues related to workplace democracy to the top of the social policy agenda. Here we evaluate the significance of the new Directive on Information and Consultation with Employees (ICE) within the context of this planned modernization of European social policy. In doing so, we re-examine the historical development of workers' consultation laws in Europe and assess the economic rationale for regulating workplace social dialogue in an enlarged Social Europe.     

Conflict,militancy and crisis in Italian industrial relations: a response to Terry

Terry's explanation of the role of the law in the flexibility of Italian industrial relations is disputed. Instead the political and social nature of the labour movement is used to explain what amounts to a ‘crisis’ for Italian unions     

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.     

Learning from past mistakes? recent reforms in Italian industrial relations

Since the early 1990s, major reform efforts aimed at reducing industrial conflict, rationalising public sector labour relations, restructuring collective bargaining arrangements, and re-establishing tripartite ‘con-certation’ have transformed Italian industrial relations. This article argues that because these new reforms have been accompanied by significant shifts in both Italy's political system and the unions’ own organisation, they stand a better chance of succeeding than previous reform projects.     

The political constitution of labour from Donovan to Blair

This article looks at changing patterns of labour regulation over the last 50 years ago. We begin with the contribution of the ‘Oxford School’ within industrial relations analysis and its influence on the Donovan Royal Commission. We then discuss the architecture of the British corporate state and the approach of successive Conservative administrations between 1979 and 1997. Next, we consider labour market analysis and interventions under New Labour alongside emerging European influences and rights-based models of justice. We conclude with some final comments regarding contemporary labour market thinking.     

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.     

The role of the state in Central and Eastern European industrial relations: the case of minimum wages

Governments in Central and Eastern Europe are dominant players in the field of industrial relations, acting in a ‘liberalisation dilemma’ between the needs of further state regulation to compensate the shortcomings of autonomous self‐regulation by social actors and the demands of liberalised markets in the enlarged EU. Compared with the different types of industrial relation systems in Western Europe, a transitional model with specific etatist features has emerged. This becomes particularly evident when analysing the decision‐making process in Tripartite Councils and its function in determining national minimum wages. The article underlines the recent trends of differentiation and convergence of such pay principles as well as urgent tasks of the state to regulate the unsolved problems of poverty, labour markets and labour standards.     

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.     

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 Europeanisation—or the Erosion—of Industrial Relations?

This article considers the impact of European integration on industrial relations. An industrial relations regime can be understood as a tension between employment structured by market dynamics and broader social regulation, between the principles of contract and status. Economic Europeanisation threatens this relationship. Its survival may depend on new forms of supranational regulation, but not necessarily as the ‘social dimension’ of Europeanisation is customarily conceived.     

Multinational corporations as institutional entrepreneurs: the dynamic interplay between automobile firms and the Turkish vocational education and training system

This article analyses the two-way relationship between multinational companies (MNCs) and Turkey's vocational education and training system through case studies of Japanese and German MNCs in the automotive industry. Drawing on semistructured interviews, it addresses the initiatives the MNCs have taken to guarantee skilled employees and their interaction with the Turkish vocational education and training system. The analysis shows how the MNCs have been ‘institutional entrepreneurs’ by introducing new practices. This was possible as the host environment has been open to change but also a requirement where strong industrial relations systems constituted an essential but missing home country institution.     

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     

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.     

Politique du logement et classes sociales

The quantitative and qualitative study of consumption reveals profound inequalities between social classes. What is the situation in those sectors of consumption where the state plays an important role? An analysis of the social structure of the population living in ‘moderate rent housing’ (Habitations à loyer modéré) in the urban area of Paris goes some way towards providing the answer. The probability of benefiting from this type of state aid is higher for qualified than for unqualified workers (especíally if the latter are immigrants). Much depends, however, on the political orientations of local authorities: the political dimension of social relations has therefore some bearing on the social outcome of state intervention. The different qualities of use value of HLM housing (comfort and location) are very unevenly distributed among social classes, and that distribution reflects the segregation that is apparent throughout the housing system in the Paris urban area. It state intervention produces an overall improvement in workers' living conditions, the way in which this improvement is achieved is still marked by deep social inequalities.     

Equipements collectifs et consommation sociale

Collective consumption has become a major issue in recent developments in urban research, as a focal point in the analysis of the aspect of urbanization concerned with social conditions of reproduction of the labour force. A survey of traditional approaches shows that they adopt a conception of the state as promoter of increasing welfare. The limitations of econometric measures of ‘social welfare’ and the associated theories of consumer choice are also discussed. Recent radical studies consider collective means of consumption as means of domination and repression by the state, either by way of an Althusserian analysis of ideological state apparatus, or by an extension of the critique of psychiatric institutions elaborated by M. Foucault. The concrete analysis of collective consumption must go beyond this useful but unilateral perspective, also beyond the recurrent empiricist temptation to use concepts as ‘boxes’ for direct classification of empirical objects, and try to link together theoretically the various and contradictory aspects of socialized consumption processes. Various concepts must be developed regarding the nature of social relations of consumption: relations of production and circulation, ownership and real appropriation of the means of consumption, forms of socialization transforming these relations, nature of the use value of the means of consumption and relation with the concrete process of its realization, forms of the division of labour, ideological processes inside the consumption process. The movements and results of class struggle in the reproduction sphere can be followed through the analysis of the contradictions in collective consumption—between state domination and repression and development of the labour force, between socialization of consumption, also considering precisely its social distribution, and capitalist interests.     

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.     

A Look at the ‘Hidden Side’: Turkish Women in Berlin’s Ethnic Labour Market

Recent studies show that ethnic economies are an increasingly vital part of the larger national economy. This is especially true in the case of the Turkish ethnic economy in Germany. This article sheds light on a ‘hidden aspect’ of Berlin’s Turkish ethnic economy: the structure and role of Turkish female labour and female self-employment. It begins with a general discussion on the significance of the gender concept in the international debate on ethnic economies – including findings on minority and immigrant women in self-employment in Europe. The second section of the article focuses on Berlin, using an analysis of the official labour market data at hand to sketch the gendered structure of Berlin’s labour market. The third section presents exploratory empirical data concentrating exclusively on female Turkish entrepreneurs and employees. The results indicate that some of the gendered traits of the ethnic economies described in the international literature also appear in the Berlin survey: the under-representation of women as entrepreneurs and their difficult position in the overall labour market. Furthermore, the data suggest that the concept of ‘ethnic business’ as typically presented in the literature turns out to be a ‘male’ concept and is hardly applicable to the case of the Turkish women in Berlin. The common features of the concept (ethnic clientele, suppliers, labour or involved kin, orientation towards the ethnic community) applied only partially to the Turkish women entrepreneurs. — Des études récentes ont démontré que les économies ethniques sont une partie de plus en plus vitale de l’économie nationale. Ceci est particulièrement vrai dans le cas de l’économie ethnique turque en Allemagne. Cet article explore un ‘aspect caché’ de l’économie ethnique turque à Berlin: la structure et le rôle de la main d’oeuvre féminine turque et des femmes travailleuses indépendantes turques. Il commence par une discussion générale sur la signification du concept du genre dans le débat international sur les économies ethniques – y compris les données concernant les travailleuses indépendantes immigrantes et de minorité ethnique en Europe. La seconde partie de l’article est consacrée à Berlin, et donne un aperçu de la structure du marché du travail de Berlin par rapport au genre grâce à une analyse des données disponibles du travail officiel. La troisième section présente des données empiriques exploratoires concernant les employées et les femmes entrepreneurs turques exclusivement. Les résultats indiquent que certains des traits de genre des économies ethniques décrits dans les bibliographies internationales se retrouvent dans l’enquête sur Berlin: la sous-représentation des femmes entrepreneurs et leur position difficile dans le marché du travail dans son ensemble. De plus, les données suggèrent que le concept de ‘commerce ethnique’, comme il est habituellement présenté dans les travaux sur ce sujet, est un concept ‘masculin’ et qui ne peut guère ? tre appliqué au cas des femmes turques de Berlin. Les points communs du concept (la clientèle ethnique, les fournisseurs ethniques, la place de la famille ou des employés ethniques, une orientation vers la communauté ethnique) ne s’appliquent que partiellement aux femmes entrepreneurs turques.     

Islands in the stream? The challenges and resilience of the Danish industrial relations model in a liberalising world

Nordic industrial relations models have often been highlighted as being successful ‘highroads’ in advanced capitalism. However, the economic crisis has increased pressures to liberalise and deregulate labour markets. Although this challenges the Danish industrial relations model, there are several countermeasures, in particular strong unions and the supportive institutional context, which have prevented erosion indicating the resilience and adaptability of the model.     

The rise and fall of social partnership in postsocialist Europe: the Commonwealth of Independent States

Traditional trade unions throughout the postsocialist world embraced ‘social partnership’ as a means to secure their institutional survival in a radically changed economic and political environment. The commitment of national governments to social partnership ebbed and flowed through the 1990s, but it was confirmed, at least rhetorically, in Central and Eastern Europe by the prospect and requirements of accession to the European Union. This article explores the fate of social partnership in the ‘other half’ of Europe, the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, where social dialogue has largely been abandoned and trade unions alternatively marginalised or subordinated to the state apparatus.