Showing papers on "Industrial relations published in 2017"

Trajectories of Neoliberal Transformation: European Industrial Relations Since the 1970s

Abstract: This book has both empirical and theoretical goals. The primary empirical goal is to examine the evolution of industrial relations in Western Europe from the end of the 1970s up to the present. Its purpose is to evaluate the extent to which liberalization has taken hold of European industrial relations and institutions through five detailed, chapter-length studies, each focusing on a different country and including quantitative analysis. The book offers a comprehensive description and analysis of what has happened to the institutions that regulate the labor market, as well as the relations between employers, unions, and states in Western Europe since the collapse of the long postwar boom. The primary theoretical goal of this book is to provide a critical examination of some of the central claims of comparative political economy, particularly those involving the role and resilience of national institutions in regulating and managing capitalist political economies.

Trajectories of Neoliberal Transformation

Abstract: This book has both empirical and theoretical goals. The primary empirical goal is to examine the evolution of industrial relations in Western Europe from the end of the 1970s up to the present. Its purpose is to evaluate the extent to which liberalization has taken hold of European industrial relations and institutions through five detailed, chapter-length studies, each focusing on a different country and including quantitative analysis. The book offers a comprehensive description and analysis of what has happened to the institutions that regulate the labor market, as well as the relations between employers, unions, and states in Western Europe since the collapse of the long postwar boom. The primary theoretical goal of this book is to provide a critical examination of some of the central claims of comparative political economy, particularly those involving the role and resilience of national institutions in regulating and managing capitalist political economies.

Collective Autonomy in the European Union: Theoretical, Comparative and Cross-border perspectives on the Legal Regulation of Collective Bargaining

Abstract: ‘Collective Autonomy in the European Union’ explores the question of collective autonomy by investigating the relationship between collective bargaining and legal regulation and its current evolution in the national contexts and in the EU internal market. The thesis aims at achieving a comprehensive understanding of the notion, function and exercise of collective autonomy and collective bargaining, and it argues that collective autonomy and collective bargaining in contemporary Europe present challenges that alter their basic features. To this end, the thesis undertakes a multifaceted analysis integrating three perspectives: a theoretical perspective analysing and combining the conceptual elements of collective autonomy and collective bargaining as defined in industrial relations theories, labour law theories, and in the discourses on global labour rights; a comparative perspective analysing how collective autonomy and collective bargaining have found legal regulation in the Italian and Swedish labour law and industrial relations contexts; a cross-border perspective examining how the EU regulation of the internal market freedoms of establishment and to provide services impacts on the features of collective autonomy and collective bargaining.By combining elements of international, European and comparative labour law, EU internal market law, and industrial relations, this thesis explores the unique features of collective autonomy and collective bargaining as socio-economic mechanisms having a normative power, whose functioning is however influenced by legal dynamics. Eventually, it examines the transformation that the foundations of collective autonomy and collective bargaining undergo in relation to the challenges deriving from both the processes of company-level decentralisation and the dynamics of the cross-border scenarios in the EU internal market. Ultimately, the thesis contributes to advancing the understanding of the foundations of collective autonomy and to exploring its operations beyond national borders. (Less)

Negotiating labour standards in the gig economy: Airtasker and Unions New South Wales:

Abstract: The ‘gig economy’ uses digital platforms to bypass many of the regular responsibilities and costs of employment. Ambiguity as to whether gig-economy workers are independent contractors, dependent c...

Corporate political activity, public policy uncertainty, and firm outcomes: A meta-analysis

Abstract: Although significant scholarship has been devoted to the study of corporate political activity, contradictory messages emerge regarding its impact on public policy outcomes and firm performance. Us...

Human resource practices, employee attitudes and small firm performance

Abstract: This article uses the matched employee–employer dataset from the Workplace Employment Relations Study of 2011 (WERS2011) in Britain to empirically examine the direct relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) performance in the United Kingdom, as well as the potential moderating effect of organisational commitment/job satisfaction on the HRM-performance linkage. We find a positive and direct relationship between the use of certain formalised human resource (HR) practices and SME performance, measured by financial performance and labour productivity. More importantly, we find that the positive relationship between HR practices and financial performance varies between SMEs with high job satisfaction and low job satisfaction, and that the relationship is weakened in SMEs with high job satisfaction. The results suggest that certain HR policies and practices may improve small firm performance, especially within firms with low levels of commitment and satisfaction.

Integrated and isolated impact of high-performance work practices on employee health and well-being: A comparative study.

Abstract: We investigate the positive relationships between high-performance work practices (HPWP) and employee health and well-being and examine the conflicting assumption that high work intensification arising from HPWP might offset these positive relationships. We present new insights on whether the combined use (or integrated effects) of HPWP has greater explanatory power on employee health, well-being, and work intensification compared to their isolated or independent effects. We use data from the 2004 British Workplace Employment Relations Survey (22,451 employees nested within 1,733 workplaces) and the 2010 British National Health Service Staff survey (164,916 employees nested within 386 workplaces). The results show that HPWP have positive combined effects in both contexts, and work intensification has a mediating role in some of the linkages investigated. The results also indicate that the combined use of HPWP may be sensitive to particular organizational settings, and may operate in some sectors but not in others.

Marketization, inequality, and institutional change: Toward a new framework for comparative employment relations:

Abstract: This article develops a framework for analyzing the social effects of marketization, defined as the imposition or intensification of price-based competition. The conceptual background is debates in...

Labor Platforms and Gig Work: The Failure to Regulate

Abstract: Since 2012, the platform economy has received much academic, popular, and regulatory attention, reflecting its extraordinary rate of growth. This paper provides a conceptual and theoretical overview of rapidly growing labor platforms, focusing on how they represent both continuity and change in the world of work and its regulation. We first lay out the logic of different types of labor platforms and situate them within the decline of labor protections and the rise of intermediated employment relations since the 1970s. We then focus on one type of labor platform — the ondemand platform — and analyze the new questions and problems for workers and the political problem of labor regulation. To examine the politics of regulating labor on these platforms, we turn to Uber, which is the easiest case for labor regulation due to its high degree of control over work conditions. Because Uber drivers are atomized and ineffective at organizing collectively, their issues are most often represented by surrogate actors — including plaintiffs’ attorneys, alt labor groups, unions, and even Uber itself — whose own interests shape the nature of their advocacy for drivers. The result of this type of politics, dominated by concentrated interests and surrogate actors, has been a permissive approach by regulators in both legislative and judicial venues. If labor regulation has not occurred in this “easy” case, it is unlikely to occur for gig work on other labor platforms.

Firms as Political Entities: Saving Democracy through Economic Bicameralism

Abstract: When people go to work, they cease to be citizens. At their desks they are transformed into employees, subordinate to the hierarchy of the workplace. The degree of their sense of voicelessness may vary from employer to employer, but it is real and growing, inflamed by populist propaganda that ridicules democracy as weak and ineffective amid global capitalism. At the same time, corporations continue untouched and even unremarked as a major source of the problem. Relying on 'economic bicameralism' to consider firms as political entities, this book sheds new light on the institutions of industrial relations that have marked the twentieth century, and argues that it is time to recognize that firms are a peculiar institution that must be properly organized in order to unshackle workers' motivation and creativity, and begin nurturing democracy again. For more information, please visit the accompanying website: www.firmsaspoliticalentities.net.

European Works Councils: Development, Types and Networking

Abstract: Contents: Introduction European works councils in the context of European Industrial relations European works council: origins, forms and dynamics of development - a typology Networking EWCs: initiatives - needs - prospects EWCs in a European multi-level systems of industrial relations Prospect: EWCs - between forum, actor and network Bibliography.

Labor market reforms in Europe: towards more flexicure labor markets?

Abstract: Labor market segmentation refers to a salient divide between secure and insecure jobs and is related to problems in important areas, including macro-economic efficiency, workers’ well-being and repercussions for social cohesion. EU-28 countries have started a new wave of labor market reforms in the aftermath of the 2008/2009 crisis to tackle a number of issues, including labor market segmentation. This particularly concerns reforms in: (1) employment protection, i.e. dismissal protection and restrictions on fixed-term contracts; (2) unemployment benefit generosity and coverage; and (3) the intensity of active labor market policies. The paper provides an overview of reform patterns and tries to assess whether and to what extent these reforms have led to less dualized, more ‘flexicure’ labor markets in terms of dismissal protection, the provision of unemployment benefits and access to ALMPs. In particular, we will provide some evidence on potential changes in hirings on temporary contracts.

The European Social Dialogue in Perspective: Its future potential as an autopoietic system and lessons from the global maritime system of industrial relations

Abstract: There are three starting points for this thesis. First, there is the system of ESD, which is criticised for lacking capacity to improve the working conditions within the EU. Secondly, there is the ...

Growing Apart: The Changing Firm-Size Wage Premium and Its Inequality Consequences

Abstract: Wage inequality in the United States has risen dramatically over the past few decades, prompting scholars to develop a number of theoretical accounts for the upward trend. This study argues that large firms have been a prominent labor-market institution that mitigates inequality. By compensating their low- and middle-wage employees with a greater premium than their higher-wage counterparts, large U.S. firms reduced overall wage dispersion. Yet, broader changes to employment relations associated with the demise of internal labor markets and the emergence of alternative employment arrangements have undermined large firms’ role as an equalizing institution. Using data from the Current Population Survey and the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we find that in 1989, although all private-sector workers benefited from a firm-size wage premium, the premium was significantly higher for individuals at the lower end and middle of the wage distribution compared to those at the higher end. Between 1989 and ...

Supra-union and intersectional organizing: An examination of two prominent cases in the low-wage US restaurant industry

Abstract: In this article, we examine strategic approaches by the Restaurant Opportunities Center and the Fight for 15 campaign to organizing low-wage workers in the US restaurant industry. Existing industrial relations literature explains that traditional trade unions have had little success in organizing these workers – a growing number of whom identify as racial minorities, women, and immigrant workers – due in part to structural challenges to unionization. However, despite existing institutional and legal obstacles, in recent years two ‘supra-union’ cases of low-wage worker organizing have spread across the nation, resulting in unanticipated economic, legal, and political gains for this diverse group of workers. To better understand the recent success of these alternative forms of worker organizing, we bring the literature on intersectionality, under-utilized in the examination of labor movement organizing, into the industrial relations context. We argue that the Restaurant Opportunities Center and Fight for 15...

Dependent self-employment: Trends, challenges and policy responses in the EU

Abstract: Across the EU28, there is not only a significant ‘jobs gap’ with only 70.1 per cent of the working age population in jobs, but also concerns over the quality of jobs. One particular concern is that employees are being falsely classified as self-employed by employers in order to circumvent collective agreements, labour laws (e.g., minimum wages, working time legislation), employment tax and other employer liabilities implied in the standard contract of employment, and that the emergent ‘gig’ or ‘platform’ economy is accelerating this trend. This report evaluates this emergent employment relationship, here termed ‘dependent’ self-employment, which covers those classified as self-employed who do not meet one or more of the following criteria: (1) they have more than one client; (2) they have the authority to hire staff, and/or (3) they have the authority to make important strategic decisions about how to run the business. Tackling dependent self-employment is not so much about making this work standard but more about making all work decent. Although the misclassification of dependent self employment needs to be urgently addressed, either by reclassifying it as dependent employment or recognising a new hybrid category and attaching rights and protection to such work, at the same time, decent work deficits across all employment relationships need to be tackled. This requires firstly, collective responses, including the strengthening collective bargaining, and secondly, adapting social protection to better reflect the demise of the standard employment relationship of permanent full time dependent employment, and a world in which the quantity of jobs mean that 30 per cent of the working age population will not be in employment.

Enhancing transnational labour solidarity: the unfulfilled promise of the Internet and social media

Abstract: This article examines the activities of Union Solidarity International (USI), a new UK-based organisation in the international union arena. USI seeks to encourage and support international solidarity between trade unions and other worker movements around the world by harnessing the dynamism of the Internet and social media. Drawing on a combination of in-depth semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis, Google Analytics and social media data, the findings of this case study suggest that USI is successfully developing an international audience in the United States, the UK and Ireland. However, USI's ability to reach beyond English-speaking countries and mobilise people to engage in collective action appears limited. The article makes an important contribution to the growing literature on social media in industrial relations through analysing the extent to which digital technologies can contribute to effective transnational labour solidarity.

Trade union participation in CSR deliberation: an evaluation

Abstract: Whereas there has been considerable interest in the concept of political corporate social responsibility (CSR), trade unions have been largely omitted from such scholarly discussion. This article explores the potential of trade unions as the other in political CSR and the contribution of trade unions to deliberative democracy with the firm. We discuss the importance both of the legitimacy and the efficacy of the other in political CSR. We proceed to assess trade unions as legitimate and effective deliberative partners with the firm towards CSR, evaluating the contribution of trade unions to deliberative democracy and also the potential outcomes for trade unions in adopting this role.

The Economics of Trade Unions: A Study of a Research Field and Its Findings

Abstract: Richard B. Freeman and James L. Medoff’s now classic 1984 book What Do Unions Do? stimulated an enormous theoretical and empirical literature on the economic impact of trade unions. Trade unions continue to be a significant feature of many labor markets, particularly in developing countries, and issues of labor market regulations and labor institutions remain critically important to researchers and policy makers. The relations between unions and management can range between cooperation and conflict; unions have powerful offsetting wage and non-wage effects that economists and other social scientists have long debated. Do the benefits of unionism exceed the costs to the economy and society writ large, or do the costs exceed the benefits? The Economics of Trade Unions offers the first comprehensive review, analysis and evaluation of the empirical literature on the microeconomic effects of trade unions using the tools of meta-regression analysis to identify and quantify the economic impact of trade unions, as well as to correct research design faults, the effects of selection bias and model misspecification. This volume makes use of a unique dataset of hundreds of empirical studies and their reported estimates of the microeconomic impact of trade unions. Written by three authors who have been at the forefront of this research field (including the co-author of the original volume, What Do Unions Do?), this book offers an overview of a subject that is of huge importance to scholars of labor economics, industrial and employee relations, and human resource management, as well as those with an interest in meta-analysis.

Report of the director-general

Abstract: 2. Maybe I will start by telling you something important that I observed in Helsinki. It’s an initiative called SLUSH, started by students. I met the president, his name is Andreas Saari. Saari in my language means “winner”. He exemplifies actually the winning spirit of youth. I had a chance to see the SLUSH initiative in Helsinki, where they connect new ideas from youth with financers. When I visited during the event, there were 1600 financers who were willing to finance new ideas that were coming from youth.

Collective Bargaining and Innovation in Germany: A Case of Cooperative Industrial Relations?

Abstract: At the level of theory, the effect of collective bargaining on innovation is contested. The large proponderance of the U.S. evidence clearly points to adverse effects, but other-country experience suggests that certain industrial-relations systems, or the wider regulatory apparatus, might even tip the balance in favor of unions. Our pooled cross- section and difference-in-differences estimates provide some weak evidence that German collective bargaining inhibits innovation. However, in conjunction with workplace representation, there is the suggestion that it might actually foster innovative activity.

Accounting for Cross-Country Differences in Employee Involvement Practices: Comparative Case Studies in Germany, Brazil and China

Abstract: Employee involvement is a contested concept in organizations. While the mainstream of the research debate has focused on measuring the strength of employee involvement (EI), this article emphasizes the existence of very different forms of EI. It draws on case studies of the German, Brazilian and Chinese plants of a German automobile manufacturer to analyse forms of EI and to investigate their societal determinants. The article reveals considerable differences in the design of employee involvement between the self-organization model and the competition/social involvement model. It shows how industrial relations and cultural factors lead to these very different approaches.

Explaining cross-national variation in workplace employee representation:

Abstract: Debates on the desirability of workplace employee representation are rarely evidence based. We use a workplace survey covering 27 EU countries to show that its incidence is strongly and independently correlated with the degree of centralization in a country’s industrial relations regime and the extent of legislative support. Industry profits are important in explaining trade union presence but are unimportant in the case of works councils. We find support for the exit-voice model, traditionally associated with Anglophone regimes, whereby worker representation is associated with poorer perceptions of the employment relations climate and with lower voluntary quit rates.

Impact of digitalisation and the on-demand economy on labour markets and the consequences for employment and industrial relations. Final Study. CEPS Special Report, August 2017

Abstract: Digitalisation is transforming business landscapes and the world of work and redefining the boundaries of production, consumption and distribution. This has created tremendous opportunities, as new products, processes and techniques have emerged, but has also created threats, as new ways of employment pose new challenges to employers and employees. The overall consequences for labour markets, however, are still uncertain, which is reflected in the wide variation in the outcomes of the existing research. The initial government responses appear to be reactive rather than proactive, and targeted towards mitigating the side effects of digitalisation instead of aiming to reap its potential benefits.

Balancing tensions: Buffering the impact of organisational restructuring and downsizing on employee well-being

Abstract: This study examines the impact of employee experiences of restructuring and downsizing on well-being. The job demands-resources model was used to develop hypotheses related to job demands in the form of work intensity and job resources in the form of consultation. The job demands-resources model allows for direct incorporation of employee perceptions and does not assume a singular, predetermined consequence of HRM practices. Hypotheses were tested via structural equation modelling on a nationally representative sample of over 5,110 employees from the Republic of Ireland in 2009. The findings indicate that work intensity serves as a conduit through which experiences of restructuring and downsizing negatively impact employee well-being. Notably, consultation served as a buffer, diminishing the extent of this negative experience. The findings illuminate the complex pathways that shape how restructuring and downsizing are perceived by employees and the consequences for well-being. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.

Why Has the Indian Automotive Industry Reproduced “Low Road” Labour Relations?

Abstract: Indian policymakers are now centrally concerned with the future of manufacturing as the basis for economic development, prosperity and rising living standards. The automotive industry is pivotal to this transformation. All global carmakers now have major investments in India, often operating alongside major Indian transnational corporations. Key automotive clusters are in the National Capital Region, the Chennai Metropolitan Region and the “Chakan corridor” near the city of Pune, as well as emerging clusters and production facilities in several other parts of the country. Much of the optimism about the auto industry flows from its historically transformative role in Western Europe, the USA and Japan where it sets standards in quality manufacturing, technology, wages and employment relations. Understandably, some have predicted that the expansion of auto production in India should lead to similar “high road” labour relations, based on high wages, long-term employment contracts, stable career paths, social protection and enterprise-based benefits. But the evidence suggests otherwise. The Indian auto industry has instead reproduced “low road” employment relations based upon high wage inequality and employment relations that are over-reliant upon labour contractors. Serious industrial conflict has been common. Given the global developmental promise of the auto industry, why has this happened? Critiquing the global production networks framework from an uneven and combined development perspective, this chapter argues that the answer lies in a combination of India’s distinctive national and regional norms, social relations and institutions with the global carmakers’ governance practices.