101,940 research outputs found
Economy and society in Europe: A relationship in crisis
No full text'Improving our understanding of how economy and society interrelate in Europe is of paramount importance. The rigorous and thought-provoking analyses about the interaction between markets and the institutions of society contained in this book undoubtedly represent an excellent example of how this improvement can be achieved, especially in these times of crisis.' - Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, London School of Economics, UK. © Luigi Burroni, Maarten Keune and Guglielmo Meardi 2012. All rights reserved
Migrant segregation and labour standards
No full textThe increasing evidence of migrant segregation in the labour market, and its effects on inequality, calls for theoretical explanations that may allow to distinguish the determining causes and, thereby, envisage possible solutions. The chapter presents the limitations of economic explanations and reviews the arguments used, implicitly or explicitly, in studies of migrant labour’s segmentation, distinguishing in particular those that focus on capitalism, on management, on the state, and on societal factors. It discusses strengths and weaknesses of each approach and proposes that, given the importance of flexibility as a line of segmentation, more attention to the labour process provides the link to combine different theories
Constructing uncertainty : unions and migrant labour in construction in Spain and the UK
No full textThe article provides a conceptualization of the link between recent migration flows and labour market uncertainty through the analysis of a critical example, the construction sector (characterized by economic volatility, worker mobility, employment insecurity, safety risk) in the UK and Spain (countries with large immigration, flexible labour markets and volatile construction sectors). Transnational labour mobility can be seen as a structural response to recent European dilemmas over how to combine flexibility and security, through the creation of a hyper-flexible buffer of migrant workers who, being disposable in case of downturn, can carry most of the uncertainty burden without causing political problems. This raises two issues: the social sustainability of such segmentation, in particular with regard to occupational health and safety; and the role organized labour can have, in particular in organizing such workers. The issues are analysed through labour market statistics and interviews with unionists, migrant organization representatives, employers and employment policy officers in both countries
Social failures of EU enlargement : a case of workers voting with their feet
No full text"Is the EU enlargement the success EU institutions proclaim? Based on fifteen years of fieldwork research across Central and Eastern Europe and on migrants in the UK and Germany, this book provides a less glittering answer. The EU has betrayed hopes of social cohesion: social regulations have been forgotten, multinationals use threats of relocations, and workers, left without institutional channels to voice their concerns, have reacted by leaving their countries en masse. Yet migration, for many, increases social vulnerability. Drawing on Hirschman's concepts of Exit and Voice, the book traces the origins of such failures in the management of EU enlargement as a pure economic and market-creating exercise, neglecting the inherently political nature of labour relations. The reinforcement of market mechanisms without political counterbalances has resulted in an increase in opportunistic exit behaviour by both employers and employees, and thereby in a worsening quality of democracy, at workplace, national and European levels. As a result of this process, the EU has become more similar to the North American Free Trade Agreement between USA, Canada and Mexico, where social rights are marginalized and economic integration does not translate into better development. "-
Multinationals in the new EU member states and the revitalisation of trade unions
No full textFears of social dumping in the enlarged EU have raised the question of who can defend employees in the new member states. This article addresses the issue through case study research on US and German-based multinationals operating in the automotive sector in Poland, Hungary and Slovenia. The evidence shows how trade unions and industrial relations institutions affect investors in different ways country-by-country, with some unexpected effects on the implementation of flexible employment practices by the investors. Foreign-owned enterprises witness cases of union revitalisation, breaking the “path-dependency” of post-communist unions, in spite of frequent employer hostility. Bottom-up factors such as production changes and local labour market trends are frequently found behind revitalisation, although foreign factors such as home-country models or international union solidarity occasionally also play a role. Such revitalisation, however, being company-based, raises issues on the capacity of trade unions to combine core worker representation with the defence of workers in the society as a whole
The (claimed) growing irrelevance of employment relations
No full textThe frequent claim that employment relations have become irrelevant is not new: it has been cyclically repeated over the last 40 years. What recent times have provided is critical cases where employment relations have been actively marginalised in the pursuit of an ideal neoclassic labour market: new market economies of Central Eastern Europe, recent reforms in crisis countries in Southern Europe and global competition on labour costs. The disastrous effects of these experiments confirm, in fact, the relevance of employment relevance
Modelli o stili di sindacalismo in Europa?
No full textTraditional comparative typologies of national trade union models, whether based on sociological functionalism or on institutionalism, have a number of limitations that are becoming ever more apparent. They exaggerate the internal coherence, homogeneity and continuity of union types; they neglect the role of cross-border influences, imitation, and linkages; they are still unable to classify unions in post-communist countries. Some typologies have the additional limit of ethnocentrism. This article defends the empirical and theoretical utility of taxonomy, at least when the level of abstraction is clear. However, typologies must be revisited in order to address the existing four limitations. An alternative, transnational typology is suggested, which analytically distinguishes social action from institutions. The resulting "types" point to some unexpected cross-national similarities and intra-national diversity, and for their dynamism deserve the label of "styles" rather than "models". Given some structural differences in collective action and association behaviour between small and large countries, the typology focuses only, at this stage, on the six largest countries in the "enlarged" EU: Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain and Poland
Round Table: implementing the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages in southern Europe: the odd case of Italy
No full textSouthern European countries, with their apparently high degree of collective bargaining centralisation and state regulations, may seem to be little affected by the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages. This article looks at the case of Italy, the EU country generally reported to have the highest collective bargaining coverage in Europe, to show how the situation on the ground is more problematic than conventional indicators suggest. Not only does Italy lack a national minimum wage and a legal framework for collective bargaining extension, but its apparent high level of collective bargaining coverage is vulnerable to wage dumping practices. The article identifies the weaknesses of the Italian system and proposes some possible lines of reform. © The Author(s) 2023
Multinationals' heaven? Uncovering and understanding worker responses to multinational companies in post-communist Central Europe
No full textThe article critically discusses the view that the new EU member states, due to their weakly organized industrial relations, provide a permissive environment allowing multinational companies to unilaterally implement their human resource management strategies. After describing the labour cost motivations of foreign investors and the weakness of organized labour in the region, the paper presents empirical evidence from case studies in the automotive sector in Poland, Hungary and Slovenia. All case studies confirm the existence of nationally specific, mostly informal forms of employee resistance limiting employer freedom, as well as some appearance of cross-border forms of resistance. Conclusions are drawn with regard to current debates on social dumping and Europeanization of industrial relations, stressing the value of bottom-up, shopfloor-sensitive approaches
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