Koukiadaki, Aristea, Távora, Isabel, Lucio,Miguel Martínez, (2016), “Structural Labour Market Reforms And The Collective Bargaining Landscape In Europe”, Social Europe, 26 April
The sovereign debt crisis continues to have profound consequences on industrial relations systems across the European Union. Most notably, collective bargaining has become much weaker and more fragmented in many countries as a result of both domestic and supranational responses to the crisis. But how exactly are policy and legislative changes influencing the extent and nature of collective bargaining at different levels? We set out to shed light on the new dynamics developing in collective bargaining across Europe by investigating it in those countries most affected by the crisis: Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. We deliberately focused on the impact on manufacturing as it has the longest tradition of collective bargaining in these countries. Our view was that if these‘structural labour market reforms’ were destabilising a sector with the most robust industrial relations institutions, then the risk of disrupting the overall system of industrial relations in each country was substantial. Our research collected data at national, sectoral, regional and company level, inviting around 200 government officials, employer federations, trade unions and companies to share their experiences.
Relevant posts
- Halleröd, Björn, Ekbrand, Hans, Bengtsson, Mattias , (2015), “In-work poverty and labour market trajectories: Poverty risks among the working population in 22 European countries”, Journal of European Social Policy, Issue 5, Volume 25, pp.473-488, December
- Kleinknecht, Alfred, (2015), “How ‘Structural Reforms’ Of Labour Markets Harm Innovation”, Social Europe, 20 July