Pathways in Decentralised Collective Bargaining in Europe

Decentralisation of collective bargaining in Europe poses challenges to collective bargaining structures, inequality in employment conditions, and fragmentation in trade unions' powers, but it may also be an answer to business needs in competitiveness and organisational flexibility.

Format: Hardback
Length: 248 pages
Publication date: 15 September 2023
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

One of the major challenges in labour relations in Europe is the ongoing decentralization of collective bargaining from national and sectoral levels to company levels. While decentralization may be seen as a response to business needs for competitiveness and organizational flexibility, it also poses significant risks. One of the primary concerns is the erosion of collective bargaining structures, which can lead to greater inequality in employment conditions and fragmentation in trade union powers. Recent qualitative research has highlighted the high variations across European countries and economic sectors in the degrees, forms, and impacts of decentralization. This book aims to explore the continuity and change in regulating and practicing collective bargaining in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden. Through interdisciplinary and multi-level perspectives, the authors examine the ways in which national regimes and social partners' power resources shape trade unions' strategies and influence in company bargaining. Cross-country comparisons, including company case studies in manufacturing and retail, reveal the divergent effects of national regimes and social partners' power resources on trade unions' strategies and influence in company bargaining.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789048560233