scholarly journals Beyond coverage: the politics of occupational pensions and the role of trade unions. Introduction to special issue

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Skevik Grødem ◽  
Anniken Hagelund ◽  
Jon M Hippe ◽  
Christine Trampusch
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Occupational Pensions ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Introductory Article ◽  
The Many ◽  
Coverage Rates

As public pensions are being retrenched across Europe there is an ongoing shift towards occupational pensions. But the trend is not uniform, and this special issue demonstrates the huge variations in occupational pension systems. This introductory article introduces the politics of this shift. We first outline how occupational pensions deviate from textbook social policy. Industrial relations and the challenges trade unions face feature more strongly than in public social policies. Also, the schemes themselves may take the shape of individual savings schemes, as opposed to the more redistributive arrangements of public social policies. We suggest that theoretical approaches such as the literature on embedded markets (inspired by Polyani), and on the shifting nature of industrial relations as well as on ‘issue networks’ (inspired by Heclo) will be helpful. The article provides an overview of the state of knowledge, building on recent European comparative studies. We argue that it is time to move beyond comparisons of coverage rates and turn attention towards the many dimensions along which occupational pensions vary between countries and within countries.

Divergent occupational pensions in Bismarckian countries: the case of Germany and Austria

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Wiß
Keyword(s):  
Financial Market ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Strategic Thinking ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Pension Reforms ◽  
Occupational Pensions ◽  
Pension Schemes ◽  
Defined Contributions ◽  
Union Structure

Pension reforms and the changing public/private pension mix of the last decades are well documented. However, a more detailed look at the design of occupational pensions reveals remarkable differences even in countries that are usually treated as similar in the literature. Germany and Austria share many similarities and are having to cope with similar reform pressure. However, the design of occupational pensions varies substantially. Why? In Germany, trade unions are regularly involved in occupational pension schemes and benefits are calculated on the basis of defined contributions (DC), but with minimum return guarantees preventing losses in times of financial turmoil. By contrast, trade unions rarely participate in Austrian occupational schemes. In Austria, pure DC schemes without guarantees resulted in heavy occupational pension cuts during the recent financial market crises. Following the method of difference, the article explains this difference by trade union structure, unions’ strategic thinking and (lacking) reform threats supported by employers.

What’s the Problem?

2020 ◽  
pp. 5-26
Author(s):  
Bob Smale
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Identity Theory ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
Systematic Observation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Categorization Theory ◽  
Marketing Social

This chapter asks why it is important to understand union identities and starts from the position that unions, as with other organisations, project distinct identities in the public domain. It then asks what is wrong with existing theoretical approaches, recognising that earlier writers either adopt some form of categorisation or more flexible frameworks. It explores the application of organisational identity theories to the understanding of union identities and the significance of niche to trade unions. It explains how niche union identity and niche unionism can be understood through systematic observation and analysis of observable characteristics and identification of the sources of union identity. It recognises the very limited consideration of niche in industrial relations literature and to better understand the concept explores theories drawn from marketing, social identity theories, self-categorization theory and identity theory.

Religious Narrative

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-9
Author(s):  
Armin Geertz
Keyword(s):  
Special Issue ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Religious Narrative ◽  
The Many ◽  
Definition Of

This introduction to the special issue on narrative discusses various ways of approaching religious narrative. It looks at various evolutionary hypotheses and distinguishes between three fundamental aspects of narrative: 1. the neurobiological, psychological, social and cultural mechanisms and processes, 2. the many media and methods used in human communication, and 3. the variety of expressive genres. The introduction ends with a definition of narrative.

Legal Expertise: A Critical Resource for Trade Unionists? Insights into the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cécile Guillaume
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
Collective Redress ◽  
Critical Resource ◽  
The Law ◽  
Legal Expertise

Abstract Based on in-depth qualitative research conducted in one of the major French trade unions (the CFDT), this article explores to what extent and under what conditions trade unions adopt different legal practices to further their members’ interests. In particular, it investigates how ‘legal framing’ has taken an increasingly pervasive place in trade union work, in increasingly decentralised industrial relations contexts, such as France. This article therefore argues that the use of the law has become a multifaceted and embedded repertoire of action for the CFDT in its attempt to consolidate its institutional power through various strategies, including collective redress and the use of legal expertise in collective bargaining and representation work.

scholarly journals Special Issue: Application of Extracellular Matrix in Regenerative Medicine

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 3262
Author(s):  
Neill J. Turner
Keyword(s):  
Extracellular Matrix ◽  
Regenerative Medicine ◽  
Wound Repair ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Dynamic Structure ◽  
Scaffold Material ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Organ Regeneration ◽  
Scaffold Materials ◽  
The Many

The present Special Issue comprises a collection of articles addressing the many ways in which extracellular matrix (ECM), or its components parts, can be used in regenerative medicine applications. ECM is a dynamic structure, composed of a three-dimensional architecture of fibrous proteins, proteoglycans, and glycosaminoglycans, synthesized by the resident cells. Consequently, ECM can be considered as nature’s ideal biologic scaffold material. The articles in this Special Issue cover a range of topics from the use of ECM components to manufacture scaffold materials, understanding how changes in ECM composition can lead to the development of disease, and how decellularization techniques can be used to develop tissue-derived ECM scaffolds for whole organ regeneration and wound repair. This editorial briefly summarizes the most interesting aspects of these articles.

Governance and Business-Society Relations in Areas of Limited Statehood: An Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 000765032098508
Author(s):  
Sameer Azizi ◽  
Tanja Börzel ◽  
Hans Krause Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequality ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Global South ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Introductory Article ◽  
Collective Goods ◽  
International Ngos ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Critical Reflections

In this introductory article we explore the relationship between statehood and governance, examining in more detail how non-state actors like MNCs, international NGOs, and indigenous authorities, often under conditions of extreme economic scarcity, ethnic diversity, social inequality and violence, take part in the making of rules and the provision of collective goods. Conceptually, we focus on the literature on Areas of Limited Statehood and discuss its usefulness in exploring how business-society relations are governed in the global South, and beyond. Building on insights from this literature, among others, the four articles included in this special issue provide rich illustrations and critical reflections on the multiple, complex and often ambiguous roles of state and non-state actors operating in contemporary Syria, Nigeria, India and Palestine, with implications for conventional understandings of CSR, stakeholders, and related conceptualizations.

Exploring ‘digital placemaking’

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-578
Author(s):  
Germaine Halegoua ◽  
Erika Polson
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Sense Of Place ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Broad Framework ◽  
The Many ◽  
And Control ◽  
Connected Spaces

This brief essay introduces the special issue on the topic of ‘digital placemaking’ – a concept describing the use of digital media to create a sense of place for oneself and/or others. As a broad framework that encompasses a variety of practices used to create emotional attachments to place through digital media use, digital placemaking can be examined across a variety of domains. The concept acknowledges that, at its core, a drive to create and control a sense of place is understood as primary to how social actors identify with each other and express their identities and how communities organize to build more meaningful and connected spaces. This idea runs through the articles in the issue, exploring the many ways people use digital media, under varied conditions, to negotiate differential mobilities and become placemakers – practices that may expose or amplify preexisting inequities, exclusions, or erasures in the ways that certain populations experience digital media in place and placemaking.

Romance and Latin approaches to word structure features

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Gibert-Sotelo ◽  
Isabel Pujol Payet
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Valuable Contribution ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Word Structure ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Special Collection ◽  
Introductory Paper ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract The interest in morphology and its interaction with the other grammatical components has increased in the last twenty years, with new approaches coming into stage so as to get more accurate analyses of the processes involved in morphological construal. This special issue is a valuable contribution to this field of study. It gathers a selection of five papers from the Morphology and Syntax workshop (University of Girona, July 2017) which, on the basis of Romance and Latin phenomena, discuss word structure and its decomposition into hierarchies of features. Even though the papers share a compositional view of lexical items, they adopt different formal theoretical approaches to the lexicon-syntax interface, thus showing the benefit of bearing in mind the possibilities that each framework provides. This introductory paper serves as a guide for the readers of this special collection and offers an overview of the topics dealt in each contribution.

Envisioning Entrepreneurship’s Future: Introducing Me-Search and Research Agendas

2021 ◽  
pp. 104225872110268
Author(s):  
Dean A. Shepherd ◽  
Johan Wiklund ◽  
Dimo Dimov
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Practical Problem ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Entrepreneurship Research ◽  
Research Opportunities ◽  
The Future ◽  
Research Agendas ◽  
The Many

The future of the field of entrepreneurship is bright primarily because of the many research opportunities to make a difference. However, as scholars how can we find these opportunities and choose the ones most likely to contribute to the literature? This essay introduces me-search and a special issue of research-agenda papers from leading scholars as tools for blazing new trails in entrepreneurship research. Me-search and the agenda papers point to the importance of solving a practical problem; problematizing, contextualizing, and abstracting entrepreneurship research; and using empirical theorizing to explore entrepreneurial phenomena.

scholarly journals International framework agreements: new paths to workers' participation in multinationals' governance?

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Schömann ◽  
André Sobzack ◽  
Eckhard Voss ◽  
Peter Wilke
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Social Regulation ◽  
International Level ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
The Impact

This article describes the results of a major study on the impact of codes of conduct and international framework agreements (IFAs) on social regulation at company level. The limits of labour legislation at the national, as well as the international, level provide a strong motivation for both multinationals and trade unions to negotiate and sign IFAs. IFAs offer a way to regulate the social consequences of globalisation and to secure adherence to labour and social standards. They thus form part of the growing political debate on the international working and production standards of private actors. Examination of the negotiation process, the motivations of the parties, and the content of the agreements and implementation measures provides valuable insights into the impact of IFAs on multinationals' behaviour in respect of social dialogue and core labour standards. Finally, the article highlights the influence of such agreements on public policy-making and the limits of private self-regulation at European and international level, addressing the growing and controversial debate on the need for supranational structures to regulate labour standards and industrial relations.

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