Minimum wage regimes. Statutory regulation, collective bargaining and adequate levels, by Dingeldey, I., Grimshaw, D., Schulten, T. (eds). Abingdon: Routledge,2021.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Miró
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Statutory Regulation

Collective working conditions for everyone?! – Collective provisions with erga omnes effect and statutory extension of collective agreements from a German law perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-174
Author(s):  
Claudia Schubert ◽  
Laura Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners

Not only in Germany but in many European states the level of coverage by collective agreements is declining. Since collective bargaining autonomy is based on the principle of voluntary membership, one of its weaknesses lies in the declining degree of organisation on both the employers’ and the employees’ side. In the long term, weak unions cannot ensure fair working conditions. As a result, collective bargaining agreements lose their inherent warranty of correctness. In the legal policy discussion, this has led to calls for the legislator. In response, in 2014 the German legislature passed the ‘Act to Strengthen the Autonomy of Collective Bargaining’ ( Tarifautonomiestärkungsgesetz) to lower the requirements for the extension of collective agreements and to introduce a national minimum wage. As this has not led to significant improvements, there are further-reaching proposals for the statutory extension of collective agreements. The extension of collective bargaining agreements to non-members does not strengthen the social partnership on the employee side. However, it is a legitimate means to avoid a race to the bottom in competing for the lowest social standard; extensions help in creating common labour standards as long as a sufficient margin is maintained for the social partners to negotiate sector-specific regulations and to shape working conditions. A legal system, which is based on rights of freedom and does not consider the freedom of association to be a solely goal-orientated right, offers limited options to strengthen the social partners through legislation. Extensions become increasingly difficult to justify, the higher the existing level of legal protection. Especially in countries with minimum wage legislation and a large amount of employee protection legislation the justification requirements increase. However, at least in Germany, to date the judiciary has not sufficiently considered these aspects. Even though international laws leave substantial freedoms to the states, all legal systems that are based on a strong and vital social partnership should be interested in obtaining and protecting the plurality of collective bargaining agreements. They should only lay down limits, where there are tendencies of eroding solidarity among workforces due to the parallel existence of several collective bargaining agreements. The associations themselves possess limited resources for extending their member base. Still, the more the individual can gain from association membership, the more likely employees and employers are to join their respective associations. Therefore, the state should demonstrate restraint regarding the regulation of labour conditions. However, such restraint will prove difficult for welfare states. Their governments will most likely opt to eliminate deficiencies through legislation, even at the price of further weakening collective bargaining autonomy. Compared to extensions, legal provisions have the disadvantage of being too general and less flexible because of the much slower adaptation process. Therefore, the main argument in favour of extensions is that they facilitate the differentiation of mandatory working conditions. To ensure their legitimation, a number of design options can be considered. Regarding this, neither European nor international law impose high requirements but existing differences between national legal systems demand custom-fit solutions.

scholarly journals Collective bargaining coverage, works councils and the new German minimum wage

2018 ◽  
pp. 0143831X1876230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lutz Bellmann ◽  
Mario Bossler ◽  
Hans-Dieter Gerner ◽  
Olaf Hübler
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Works Councils

scholarly journals Development in the Regulation of Wages and Working Conditions: The Employee Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laust Høgedahl ◽  
Henning Jørgensen
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Title Page ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Employee Perspective ◽  
High Level ◽  
Point Of Departure

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">The Nordic countries are renowned for their high level of unionization and collective bargaining. However, globalization, Europeanization, and an increasing individualization are often pictured as factors suppressing collective regulation. In this article, we look at the developments in the regulation of wages and working conditions from a macro perspective by combing two large cross- sectional surveys into a longitudinal study with point of departure in the Danish case. We find that collective bargaining coverage continues to stand surprisingly strong, both in terms of being very widespread and in employee awareness, but Danish wage and salary earners also have an interest in extra support in the form of generalization and/or a politically regulated minimum wage </div></div></div>

scholarly journals An incomplete breakthrough

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-96
Author(s):  
Qiuyin Hu
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
German Law ◽  
Wage Setting ◽  
Member States ◽  
Minimum Wage Legislation ◽  
Wage Floor ◽  
The Eu

This article reflects on how appropriately the German Minimum Wage Act— the latest national minimum wage legislation within the EU— has been constructed so as to remedy the fading role of collective bargaining in wage setting and curb the increasing in-work poverty across the country. Based on identifying four fundamental parts of a minimum wage regime, it examines successively the corresponding provisions in the German law, with frequent comparisons with the legislation of several other Member States. It is found that Germany has refrained from learning the positive legislative experiences of its EU counterparts, and has developed a minimum wage regime that is distinct in more than one aspect. Such a wage floor, however, loses efficiency and momentum before serving the original purposes of its own introduction.

scholarly journals Wage Rigidity, Collective Bargaining, and the Minimum Wage: Evidence from French Agreement Data

2013 ◽  
Vol 95 (4) ◽  
pp. 1337-1351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanvi Avouyi-Dovi ◽  
Denis Fougère ◽  
Erwan Gautier
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Wage Rigidity

International Review: Industrial Relations in Britain under New Labour, 1997-2010: A Post Mortem

2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 402-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Brown
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
New Labour ◽  
International Review ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
Economic Context

A revival of trade unions was widely expected when Blair’s New Labour government took over from the Conservatives in Britain in 1997. This did not occur and collective bargaining continued to retreat. This article discusses the implications of the changing economic context for the government’s legal innovations, notably, statutory trade union recognition and a minimum wage, and describes the consequences for industrial relations. It concludes that New Labour’s legacy may lie in its nurturing of the institutions of social partnership and the use of conciliation.

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