Mapping Key Dimensions of Industrial Relations

Dr. Christian Welz

University of Arkansas, Dublin, 08 June 2016

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Varieties of IR

Research questions

Key dimensions

Views of stakeholders

IR cluster perspective

Indicators

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4

Outline of the presentation

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5

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3

Varieties of IR1

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Outline of the presentation

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Definition of industrial relations

industrial relations (IR) – “the focal point of the field (…) is the employee-employer

relationship.” (US Social Science Research Council 1928)

– “(…) the consecrated euphemism for the permanent conflict, now acute, now subdued, between capital and labour.”(Miliband,1969, 80, cited by Blyton/Turnbull, 2004, 9)

– “The central concern of IR is the collective regulation (governance) of work and employment.” (Sisson 2010)

Industrial relations regimes

• Liberal market vs. coordinated market economies

– Peter Hall and David A. Soskice, 2001,

Varieties of Capitalism: the institutional foundations of comparative advantage,

Oxford University Press.

Liberal Msarket Economies

• UK– corporate governance: shareholder dominated; performance

represented by current earnings and share prices – employee relations: short term, market relations between employee

and employer; top management has unilateral control of the firm– industrial relations: employer organisations and unions relatively

weak; decentralised wage setting; insecure employment (“hire and fire”; fluid labour markets)

– vocational training / education: vocational education offered on market; labour force has high general skills

– inter-firm relations: market relations, competition; use of formal contracting and subcontracting relationships.

Coordinated Market Economies

• GERMANY– corporate governance: long-term bank-dominated insider systems;

cross-directorships; cross-shareholding; – employee relations: long term, formalised participation of

employees; consensus decision-making with management– industrial relations: trade unions and employers organised;

industry-wide collective bargaining and pay determination; employment relatively secure

– vocational training: elaborate industry-based training schemes; labour force has high industry-specific and firm-specific skills

– inter-firm relations: development of collaborative networks; cooperation among firms in diffusing technologies

Industrial relations regimes

• 5 geographical clusters

– Jelle Visser, 2008, in: EC, Industrial Relations in Europe Report, Brussels, DG EMP.

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Centre-East

South

Centre-West

North

West

5 IR clusters

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5 IR clustersNorth Centre–West South West Centre–East

IR regime Nordic corporatism social partnership polarised

pluralismliberal

pluralismtransition economies

role of SPs in public policy institutionalised irregular/

politicised rare/event-driven irregular/politicised

role of State limited ‘shadow’ of hierarchy frequent intervention non-intervention organiser of

transition

power balance labour-oriented balanced alternating employer-oriented state

bargaining style integrative distributive/conflict-oriented acquiescent

employee representation

union based/high coverage

dual channel/high coverage variable/ mixed union based/

small coverage

predominant level of CB

sector sector/company company

Trade Unions

Intersectoral level

Government

Employers

Intersectoral level

Sectoral level Sectoral level

Company level

Levels of CB

Company level

BelgiumFinland

AustriaDenmark1France1GermanyGreeceIreland1ItalyLuxembourg1NetherlandsPortugal1Spain1Sweden1

Denmark2France2Ireland2Luxembourg2 Portugal2Spain2Sweden2UK

Trade Unions

Intersectoral level

Government

Employers

Intersectoral level

Sectoral level Sectoral level

Company level

Levels of CB

Company level

Slovenia 1

Bulagaria1Cyprus 1Slovakia 1Slovenia 2

Bulgaria2CroatiaCyprus 2Czech Rep.EstoniaHungaryLatviaLithuaniaMaltaPolandRomaniaSlovakia 2

Trade Union density rate(ESDE 2015)

Employer density rate(ESDE 2015)

Collective bargaining coverage and dominant level of CB (ESDE 2015)

Days not worked due to industrial action – 2009-2013 (ESDE 2015)

Monthly minimum wage _ 2011 v 2016 EIRO 2013/14

BGRO LV EE LT HU CZ PL SK HR PT EL ES SI MTEU CY DE IE FR BE NL UK LU0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500EUR 2011 2016

Average hourly labour costs (2012) EIRO 2014

BG LV PL SK CZ GR CY UK IT DE FI SE LU DK0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45EUR

Real labour productivty (2012) EIRO 2014

EE SI LV LT PL CZ MT CY EU IT BE AT FI DE SE FR NL IE0

10

20

30

40

50

60EUR per h worked

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Research questions

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Outline of the presentation

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Research questions

1. Which elements can be identified as the key dimensions and sub-dimensions of a comparative framework for industrial relations?

2. Which indicators and which data sources can be used for measuring these dimensions?

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Key dimensions

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Outline of the presentation

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Key dimensions

INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY

JOB & EMPLOYMENT

QUALITY

INDUSTRIAL COMPETITVENESSSOCIAL JUSTICE

Industrial democracy

participation

influence

autonomy

representation

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Views of stakeholders

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3

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Outline of the presentation

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Employers

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Trade Unions

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Governments

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IR cluster perspective

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Outline of the presentation

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5 IR clusters

Centre-East

South

Centre-West

North

West

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Indicators

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Outline of the presentation

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Industrial democracy

participation

influence

autonomy

representation

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indicators: selection criteria- Relevance: Can the indicator be brought into strong association with one or

several issues of one of the four key dimensions? Will the indicator be able to detect and display a variation that is important enough to warrant further investigation? Due to its importance, this criterion was double-weighted.

- Validity & embeddedness: Does the indicator indeed measure what it claims to

measure? Is it not confounded by other factors? I.e. does the measure adequately represent all facets of a concept? How well is it embedded in the overall concept?

- Availability and accessibility of data: Is time-series data available? In which

intervals? Is data accessible in the first place? The higher the interval, the more useful the data!

- Comparability: Is aggregated comparable across all EU member states plus

Norway? I.e. are all countries in the EU covered by the indicator?

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draft indicators: industrial democracysub-dimension indicator source score

government intervention in wage bargaining

ICTWSS

min wage setting mechanisms ICTWSStime resources for employee reps ECS 2013

wage driftEurWORK/Eurostat (own calculation)

working time driftEurWORK/Eurostat (own calculation)

collectively agreed pay changes EurWORKcollectively agreed working hours EurWORK# working days lost through industrial action

ILO (>2006), ECS 2013, ETUI

level of employee involvement in decision-making ECS 2013indirect employee participation ECS 2013direct employee participation ECS 2013predominant level of wage bargaining ICTWSSemployee representation at the workplace (any form) ECS 2013trade union density OECDemployer organisation density ECS 2013collective bargaining coverage SES or ECS

representation

influence

participation

autonomy

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indicators: industrial democracy

any proposals for other indicators ???-------