Industrial Relations in Germany

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Special Edition ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Academic Journal ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
The Core

This special edition of ‘WSI-Mitteilungen’, the academic journal of the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), focuses on the state of labour relations in Germany. The system of German industrial relations aroused lively interest following the corporatist crisis management of 2009/2010, which was credited with ‘Germany’s jobs miracle’. In 2019, it is apparent that although works councils and multi-employer collective bargaining—the core institutional pillars which shape the dual system of German industrial relations—are still alive, labour relations as a whole are undergoing substantial changes. It is the aim of this special issue to contribute to improving our understanding of these changes, and also to open up new perspectives on both the theory and practice of industrial relations. With contributions by Nadine Absenger, Martin Behrens, Wolfram Brehmer, Heiner Dribbusch, Helge Emmler, Anke Hassel, Wolfgang Schroeder, Thorsten Schulten and Daniel Seikel.

Background and rationale of collective bargaining around work-family issues in Italy

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Egidio Riva
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Family Issues ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Available Information

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline and assess the role of industrial relations in introducing work-family-related policies and investigate the drivers, nature and scope of contract provisions that were bargained in the following domains: flexible working arrangements, leave schemes, care services and other supportive arrangements. Analyses draw on information filed in a unique and restricted access repository, the SEcond-level Collective Bargaining Observatory (OCSEL) held by Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori (CISL), one of the major trade union organizations in Italy. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents and examines, by means of descriptive statistics and content analysis, available information on 285 company-level agreements around work-family-related issues that were signed in Italy between January 2012 and December 2015, in the aftermath of the great recession. Findings Work-family issues do not seem to be a major bargaining concern. The availability of specific arrangements is mostly limited to the domain of working time flexibility and it is not quite innovative in its contents. Besides, there is little evidence that the mutual gains rationale is embedded in collective bargaining in the field. However, mature and well-established labour relations result in more innovative and strategic company-level bargaining that is also conducive to work-family-related arrangements. Research limitations/implications The sample is not representative. Thus, the results obtained in this study cannot be extended to make predictions and conclusions about the population of collective agreements negotiated and signed in Italian companies in the period under scrutiny. Originality/value Research on the industrial relations context that lies behind the design and implementation of work-family workplace arrangements is still limited. Furthermore, the evidence is inconclusive. This manuscript intends to address this research gap and provide a much more nuanced understanding.

scholarly journals Diverging Trajectories: Economic Rebalancing and Labour Policies in China

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 105-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boy Lüthje
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Chinese Economy ◽  
Manufacturing Industries ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
Labour Management

This paper develops a new approach to analyse labour relations at the level of companies, industries, and regions in China. Referring to Western and Chinese labour sociology and industrial relations theory, the author applies the concept of “regimes of production” to the context of China's emerging capitalism. This article focuses on China's modern core manufacturing industries (i.e. steel, chemical, auto, electronics, and textile and garment); it explores regimes of production in major corporations and new forms of labour-management cooperation, the growing inequality and fragmentation of labour policies within the modern sectors of the Chinese economy, consequences for further reform regarding labour standards, collective bargaining, and workers’ participation.

scholarly journals Award, Agreement or Nothing? A Review of the Impact of S132(a) of the Labour Relations Act 1987 on Collective Bargaining

1970 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Harbridge ◽  
Stuart McCaw
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Collective Agreement ◽  
Court System ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Court Of Appeal

The on-going saga of the G.N. Hale redundancy dispute appears now to have run its course. From grievance committee, to the Labour Court, to the Court of Appeal, and back to the Labour Court, the case has attracted considerable attention - from the media and naturally from industrial relations practitioners, eager to learn the view of the New Zealand court system on the vexed matter of redundancy compensation. In the most recent Labour Coun decision on Hale (WLC89/90), Goddard C J held that while the employer was able to prove that the worker was genuinely made redundant the dismissal was unjustifiable because "the circumstances called for the payment of compensation; none was paid; and the amount that was offered and refused was fixed by unilateral decision of the employer and was inadequate". The effect of this decision is profound. Employers planning to make employees redundant have a new set of requirements to meet before their actions can be taken as justifiable. While it will remain the case that there is no right to compensation for a dismissal on the grounds of redundancy unless that right is conferred by a redundancy agreement or by an award or collective agreement, there may still be a right to compensation if the dismissal, although genuinely on the grounds of redundancy, is unjustifiable and thereby gives rise to a successful personal grievance. An employer will now need to focus on the circumstances of the redundancy to detetuaine whether it calls for compensation and where it does, the employer will need to offer, and have accepted, compensation that is both adequate and negotiated.

Civilian Crisis Management in an Accountability Crisis?

2020 ◽  
pp. 276-288
Author(s):  
Carolyn Moser
Keyword(s):  
Member State ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
State Level ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
European Level ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
The Core ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Supranational Level

This chapter brings all the findings of this volume together. The point of departure was the finding of a de jure–de facto discrepancy regarding peacebuilding activities carried out under the CSDP: while the formal institutional and procedural features of EU peacebuilding are fundamentally intergovernmental, its administrative and operational realities have become Europeanized. This development prompts the question to what extent the transfer of powers by Member States to Brussels-based EU civilian crisis management structures has been matched with the establishment of appropriate accountability mechanisms at the European level. With a view to answering this interrogation, the chapter provides a concluding overview of existing accountability arrangements—political, legal, and administrative in nature—from both a de jure and a de facto perspective. The core finding is that while there is a considerable accountability deficit existing in law, this deficit has incrementally been countered by practice. As a result of this de facto readjustment of accountability, checks and balances are stronger at the EU than at Member State level, and individuals have de facto better—even though not perfect—judicial and administrative redress options at the supranational level. The conclusions further sketch out lessons learned, both for theory and practice, and provide an outlook on accountability in (civilian) CSDP.

Gli effetti della liberalizzazione del trasporto pubblico locale sulle relazioni industriali: Regno Unito e Italia a confronto

2009 ◽  
pp. 337-364
Author(s):  
Hamish Mathieson ◽  
Roberto Pedersini
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Labour Costs ◽  
The Uk

- This article examines the extent to which a number of hypothesised consequences for industrial relations in the context of liberalisation have been realised, such as a strengthening of managerial prerogatives and unilateral actions, the emergence of specific competitive pressures on labour costs, work flexibility and worker protections, the fragmentation of collective bargaining with an emphasis on company-level regulation. The sector selected is local public transport and in particular the bus industry. In the article the ownership structure of the bus industry, its regulatory and labour relations features are discussed in the context of governmentinitiated reforms in the UK and Italy. Evidence from empirical research conducted in both countries will then be presented and discussed in the conclusions.Key words: Liberalisation, Public services, Local public transport, Industrial relations, United Kingdom, Italy.Parole chiave: Liberalizzazione, Servizi pubblici, Trasporto pubblico locale, Relazioni industriali, Regno Unito, Italia.

scholarly journals New Zealand's Collective Employment Contracts: Update November 1992

1970 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Harbridge
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Employment Contracts ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Direct Corollary ◽  
Public Record

The Employment Contracts Act 1991 contains a very different thrust than that of New Zealand's earlier industrial relations legislation. That thrust is directed at the decollectivisation of the labour relations system, encouraging enterprise bargaining over multi-employer bargaining, and promoting individual rights as equal to those of any collective. A direct corollary of these policies is reflected in the decision to keep no public record of collective bargains. Confidentiality of settlement outcomes has become an important aspect of negotiations. While Government policy has determined that there will be no public record of collective bargains, it has decided that, for "analytical and research" purposes, employers who enter into collective employment contracts that cover 20 or more staff should forward copies of those contracts to the Secretary of Labour. No such obligation rests with unions or other employee organisations who enter into contracts. The absence of a comprehensive public record of collective bargaining has made it very difficult to ascertain the effects of the legislation, but then, that is something that can be used to advantage by those who support the Act.

Labour regulation in small firms

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida Regalia
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Traditional Theory ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Labour Regulation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight a series of critical points in the traditional theory (and practice) of ER/IR, in search of a more comprehensive paradigm. Design/methodology/approach After an introduction based on a literature review, the paper draws on the results of recent empirical research, and particularly of a survey of employment relations in Italian small firms, in order to explore the extent to which practices conform to traditional expectations on the functioning of collectively mediated IR systems. Findings Through the combination of two dimensions – the representation of labour and the degree of workplace welfare – a typology of ER models in small firms is thus delineated unveiling the diffusion of “anomalous” configurations, in which labour organization and workplace welfare are disconnected from one another. Research limitations/implications The research results, which are here instrumentally used as an example of a much broader range of facts and behaviours that challenge the traditional wisdom, disclose a number of implications at theoretical level, that still need to be fully appreciated. They include the need to consider: the structure and composition of resources available to ER/IR actors both within and beyond workplaces; and the conditions for good labour relations also in absence of representation. Originality/value The paper contributes to the debate on the possibilities of positive and socially acceptable ways of setting the rules of work in the globalized scenario by focussing not on new, fashionable issues, but on an old problem often neglected by classic studies on industrial relations in the golden age.

Workers' freedom of association in Botswana

1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Molatlhegi
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Market Place ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Conditions Of Employment

The year 1992 saw significant reforms to the Botswana labour law and industrial relations system. Before then, as was the case elsewhere in Africa, the Botswana government had adopted highly interventionist policies with respect to industrial relations. The changes introduced in 1992 were aimed at shifting labour relations to the market place. State intervention, though not completely eliminated, has been greatly reduced as a result. The changes in labour law and the industrial relations system have brought to the fore the debate about the nature, content and extent of workers' freedom of association in the country. The changes mean that more than ever before collective bargaining will play a significant role in the determination of wages, terms and conditions of employment.

scholarly journals The Collective Bargaining Process

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-45
Author(s):  
Alton W.J. Craig
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Bargaining Process ◽  
Task Force Report ◽  
Labour Relations

This paper attempts to highlight the parts of the Woods 1 Report dealing with the collective bargaining process. The author discusses how the goals (inputs) of labour and management are converted to outputs via the mechanisms of collective bargaining, and gives his personal opinions on the positions advanced in the Task Force Report. 1. Canadian Industrial Relations, The Report of the Task Force on Labour Relations, Ottawa, the Queen's Printer, 1969. This document will be referred to throughout this paper as the Task Force Report.

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