National Labour Relations in Internationalized Markets A Comparative Study of Institutions, Change, and Performance

by Traxler, Franz; Blaschke, Sabine; Kittel, Bernhard

• ISBN13: 9780198295549
• ISBN10: 0198295545
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-03-22
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book presents and examines evidence and theories about changing patterns of industrial relations and their links to convergence on the one hand, and economic competitiveness on the other. It includes a comprehensive set of comparable date on industrial relations in twenty OECD countries including Australia, the United States, Canada, Japan, and most leading European countries.

Author Biography

Franz Traxler is Professor of Industrial Sociology at the Institute of Sociology, University of Vienna where he has been since 1992. From 1993 to 1997 he was also the President of the Austrian Sociological Association and Consultant of the OECD, Paris, and the ILO, Geneva. Previous academic positions have included Senior Lecturer of the Federal Academy of Public Administration (1985-92) and Assistant Professor, University of Economics, Vienna (1976-85). Sabine Blaschke is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Sociology, University of Vienna. She has previously been a Research Assistant at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna (1992-5) and Junior Assistant Professor at the Institute of Sociology, University of Vienna (1995-7). Bernhard Kittel is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Sociology, University of Vienna. He has previously been both a Research Assistant (1994-6) and a Junior Assistant Professor (1995-6) within this same institute.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	x
List of Tables	xi
List of Abbreviations	xiii
PART I THE THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK OF ANALYSIS
Theoretical Perspectives on Internationalization, Performance, and Institutions	3	(7)
Concepts and Hypotheses	10	(13)
Measurement, Data, and Statistical Analysis	23	(12)
PART II THE ORGANIZATION OF INTERESTS: PATTERNS AND DYNAMICS
Concepts and Hypotheses	35	(4)
Representational Domains	39	(26)
The Unions	40	(8)
The Employer Associations	48	(8)
The Determinants of Domains	56	(9)
Associational Centralization	65	(9)
The Unions	66	(1)
The Employer Associations	67	(3)
The Determinants of Centralization	70	(4)
Associational Power	74	(31)
The Secondary Power Resource: Corporatist State Regulation	75	(4)
The Primary Power Resource: Membership Density	79	(26)
PART III WAGE REGULATION AND BARGAINING
Concepts and Hypotheses	105	(7)
The Levels of Bargaining	112	(32)
From Centralization to Decentralization?	113	(6)
Employee Workplace Representation and Local Bargaining	119	(16)
Explaining the Pattern: Market Pressures versus Embeddedness	135	(9)
Macroeconomic Wage Coordination	144	(30)
Bargaining Modes and their Conjunctures	149	(13)
Coordination, Internationalization, and Embedding Arrangements	162	(7)
The Mechanisms for Coordination Revisited: Markets, Networks, and Hierarchies	169	(5)
The Role of the State	174	(20)
Substantive Regulation: Intervention in Wage-fixing	176	(6)
The Procedural Role: A Framework for Governance Capacity	182	(5)
The State Politics of Wage Regulation	187	(7)
The Coverage of Collective Bargaining	194	(19)
The Development of Coverage and Internationalization	195	(4)
The Associational and Statutory Embeddedness of Coverage	199	(14)
PART IV LABOUR RELATIONS AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
Concepts and Hypotheses	213	(5)
The Organization of Interests	218	(14)
Representational Domains	218	(4)
Associational Centralization	222	(3)
Associational Power	225	(7)
Wage Regulation	232	(21)
Collective Bargaining Coverage	233	(1)
Bargaining Level	234	(5)
Bargaining Coordination	239	(8)
Bargaining Coordination and Macroeconomic Performance	247	(6)
Labour Relations and their Interaction with Economic Policy	253	(24)
Union Strength and Government Policy	253	(6)
Bargaining Centralization and Monetary Policy	259	(8)
Bargaining Coordination and Monetary Policy	267	(10)
Performance and Labour Relations: Hypotheses and Evidence Revisited	277	(10)
PART V INSTEAD OF CONVERGENCE: NEOLIBERALISM AND LEAN CORPORATISM AS ALTERNATIVES
The Prevalence of Path Dependency	287	(3)
Collective Action and Bargaining in Internationalized Markets	290	(3)
Coordination, Institutions, and Performance	293	(5)
The Metamorphoses of Labour Relations	298	(8)
Appendix: Variable Definitions	306	(9)
References	315	(14)
Index	329