Negotiating Better Conditions for Workers during Austerity in Europe

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damian Grimshaw ◽  
Stefania Marino ◽  
Dominique Anxo ◽  
Jérôme Gautié ◽  
László Neumann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Pay Equity ◽  
Wage Setting ◽  
Local Union ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Government Workers

This chapter compares union actions affecting local government workers during a period of austerity across five European countries: France, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, and the UK. These five countries are characterized by different national industrial relations institutions, different systems of public sector wage-setting, and varied opportunities for local union influence. The study analyses the conditions under which trade unions have been able to reduce precarious work among local government workers (in-house and subcontracted) and to promote more equitable and solidaristic outcomes. It specifically focuses on union actions against pay precarity and employment precarity. It concludes by discussing the contributory roles played by national institutions, austerity measures, and unions’ power resources in shaping the prospects for pay equity and chain solidarities in Europe’s public sector.

Austerity and public sector trade union power: Before and after the crisis

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Schmidt ◽  
Andrea Müller ◽  
Irene Ramos-Vielba ◽  
Annette Thörnquist ◽  
Christer Thörnqvist
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Union Power ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Political Resources ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Uk

We use a power resources approach to examine the effects of the 2008–2009 financial and economic crisis on public sector trade union power in Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK, comparing structural, organizational, institutional, societal and political power resources before and after the crisis. Unions’ power resources have (at least temporarily) weakened in Spain, with a similar but less pronounced trend in the UK; whereas in Sweden and Germany, one can detect ambiguous but slightly positive signals, which reflect neither the crisis nor opposition to austerity. As well as structural, organizational and institutional power resources, societal and political resources are decisive for public sector trade unions.

scholarly journals Trade Union Practices in the EU and Latvia: Experience for Eastern Partnership Countries

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-118
Author(s):  
Sergejs Stacenko ◽  
Biruta Sloka
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Eastern Partnership ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Dialogue ◽  
Eastern Partnership Countries ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe article will show major dimensions in the experience of EU Member States that could be shared with the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. The framework of the study is the EU concept of trade unions in social dialogue and social partnership in the public sector. This study outlines the concept of social dialogue as a core element of industrial relations and will focus on industrial relations specifically in the public sector. The authors have elaborated the approach to industrial relations and social dialogue taking into account comparative approach to definitions provided by international institutions such as ILO and OECD, as well as institutions in the EU and Latvia. Latvia is also a case study for Eastern Partnership countries as these countries and their trade unions are in a transition period from socialist structures to structures that possess liberal economies. Trade unions in these countries are members of the International Trade Union Confederation. The major transformation that trade unions underwent from being part of the socialist system and becoming an independent institution since Latvia regained independence in 1991 has been studied. The paper discusses the current developments related to the position of Latvian Free Trade Union Federation in the system of decision-making process related to the public administration management. Finally, the prospective role of trade unions in the EU and in Latvia is analysed and possible revitalisation of trade union is discussed. This approach could be applied to the Eastern Partners of the EU.

Purging the Trade Unions

2020 ◽  
pp. 343-373
Author(s):  
Ewing Mahoney
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Service Trade ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
Legal Foundations ◽  
Legal Position

This chapter looks at government attempts to ban trade unions, considering the steps that were taken in lieu of an outright ban on trade union membership. Consistently with other measures taken at the time under the cover of security, government intervention to deal with the alleged menace of Communist infiltration of the civil service trade unions did not take the form of legislation. The legal position reflected both the lack of legal regulation of industrial relations generally and the lack of legal regulation of public-sector employment in particular. In practice, governments rarely needed to reveal or justify the legal foundations for their actions. The benefit for government is that although security policies might well be announced and made public, there would be little accountability thereafter if operated unobtrusively.

scholarly journals Compensation for State and Local Government Workers

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maury Gittleman ◽  
Brooks Pierce
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Labor Statistics ◽  
State And Local Government ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Government Workers ◽  
Bureau Of Labor Statistics ◽  
Public Sector Workers

Are state and local government workers overcompensated? In this paper, we step back from the highly charged rhetoric and address this question with the two primary data sources for looking at compensation of state and local government workers: the Current Population Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation microdata collected as part of the National Compensation Survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In both data sets, the workers being hired in the public sector have higher skill levels than those in the private sector, so the challenge is to compare across sectors in a way that adjusts suitably for this difference. After controlling for skill differences and incorporating employer costs for benefits packages, we find that, on average, public sector workers in state government have compensation costs 3–10 percent greater than those for workers in the private sector, while in local government the gap is 10–19 percent. We caution that this finding is somewhat dependent on the chosen sample and specification, that averages can obscure broader differences in distributions, and that a host of worker and job attributes are not available to us in these data. Nonetheless, the data suggest that public sector workers, especially local government ones, on average, receive greater remuneration than observably similar private sector workers. Overturning this result would require, we think, strong arguments for particular model specifications, or different data.

Labour Markets and their Regulation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Menz
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Training Systems ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Labour Market Participation ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Historical Trajectory ◽  
And Training

This first empirical chapter provides an in-depth analysis of changes to the models of industrial relations in six countries, considering general patterns of change, their sources, and their precise impact. A general trend towards liberalization plays out differently depending on power resources, institutional constellations, and historical trajectory. Societal trends, including increasing female and ethnic minority labour market participation and increases in atypical forms of employment, present challenges for trade unions. Employer associations are losing members, but can wield the powerful threat of outsourcing abroad. Finally a tour d’horizon of education and training systems establishes how they link into the structure of labour markets.

‘We just get a bit set in our ways’: renewing democracy and solidarity in UK trade unions

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-222
Author(s):  
Heather Connolly
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Job Security ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Strategic Direction ◽  
Collective Representation ◽  
Union Renewal ◽  
Dialectical Process ◽  
Government Workers ◽  
Solidarity Union

In a broader context of austerity, sustained financial pressures and policies of restructuring and outsourcing have steadily eroded traditional features of UK public sector employment such as job security, fair reward and collective representation through trade unions. This article examines how a UK trade union representing local government workers attempted to respond more effectively to radical restructuring plans. By engaging in a process of democratic experimentation, full-time officials from above and activists from below sought to challenge the existing ‘insider’ relationship between branch officers and management, which was seen as ineffective in responding to a severe disruption in the regulation of local government employment. Drawing on participatory ethnographic research, the findings show the importance of leadership in the processes towards union renewal and the tensions and struggles underlying democracy and solidarity. Union renewal is presented here as a dialectical process and set of responses involving both strategic direction from above and membership pressure and activism from below.

scholarly journals Review – Reclaiming Local Democracy: A progressive future for local government

2017 ◽  
pp. 171-173
Author(s):  
Gordon Morris
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Political Choice ◽  
The Uk

This is a book that needed to be written. First published in 2014, Ines Newman takes a timely, refreshing, and broad look at local government.  Although it relates mainly to the UK, colleagues throughout the Commonwealth will find this book both interesting and relevant.  Her thoughtful approach has, I think, optimism at its heart.  The work is an effective counterpoint to the prevailing neoliberal orthodoxy that “austerity”, with its consequential public sector cuts, is unavoidable. As Newman makes clear, “austerity” is a political choice.  

‘The Bullock Report and European Experience’: What We Can Still Learn about Worker Directors from Hugh Clegg

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-212
Author(s):  
Michael Gold
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Policy Transfer ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Corporate Accountability ◽  
Governance Reform ◽  
European Experience ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Worker Exploitation

Hugh Clegg’s paper, ‘The Bullock Report and European Experience’, written in 1977, analyses the role of worker directors appointed to the boards of UK companies, a move which formed part of the then Labour government’s Social Contract with the trade unions designed to stem the country’s long-term industrial decline. My commentary argues that three aspects of the paper are likely to strike the contemporary reader most forcibly. Initially it seems alien as it describes a world of collectivist industrial relations that was erased by the Conservative government elected in 1979. Yet on closer reading its main theme - reforming corporate accountability - emerges as all too familiar, as worker exploitation and other corporate scandals have continued largely unchecked to the present. And we may reflect that more recent research into policy transfer has improved our contemporary understanding of the barriers to corporate governance reform since the 1970s. Clegg correctly cautioned against attempting to import institutions from countries such as Germany into the UK, a view that has since been refined by analysis of the contrasts between co-ordinated and liberal market economies. Reforming corporate governance requires tailor-made policies, not those transferred merely on grounds of success in their original host countries.

The Closed Shop and the National Health Service: A Case Study in Public Sector Labour Relations

1988 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Harrison
Keyword(s):  
National Health Service ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Health Service ◽  
National Health ◽  
Health Authority ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Labour Relations

ABSTRACTDuring the second half of the 1970s, the practice of the closed shop became widespread in some parts of the British public sector, but was resisted in others. This paper examines the issue in relation to the National Health Service, where trade unionists made frequent demands for the closed shop and where many managers were apparently not unwilling to concede it. Yet very few closed shops actually resulted. The paper examines the origin and patterns of these demands, health authority policies towards them, and their outcomes in terms both of the operation of the closed shops which were agreed, and the reasons for failure to agree. The conclusion is that although NHS industrial relations had apparently matured very rapidly between 1973 and 1977, the trade unions were neither strong enough nor united enough to enforce the closed shop; nor were industrial relations so far developed as to make the practice a natural next step.

scholarly journals What next for unions in Central and Eastern Europe? Invisibility, departure and the transformation of industrial relations

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Umut Korkut ◽  
Alex de Ruyter ◽  
Manos Maganaris ◽  
David Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Social Dialogue ◽  
Public Sector Employment ◽  
Outward Migration

This article examines union revitalization in Central and Eastern Europe, focusing on two countries: Hungary and Latvia. Trade unions have not only had to cope with a declining membership base, but have also had to respond to austerity programmes and government cuts in public sector employment. We argue that the inability of unions to provide a strong voice for alternative policies to the current neoliberal orthodoxy has been driven by a declining membership base, but also by weakened social dialogue mechanisms, limited industrial representation and an ageing membership profile, exacerbated by net outward migration in recent years. However, we find that unions in Latvia and Hungary have responded differently to these issues.

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