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Full-Text Articles in Labor Relations
Identity Work: Sustaining Transnational Collective Action At General Motors Europe, Ian Greer
Identity Work: Sustaining Transnational Collective Action At General Motors Europe, Ian Greer
Ian Greer
What are the conditions under which transnational collective action is initiated and sustained? This paper presents a case study of General Motors Europe, where labor leaders have mobilized the workforce and bargained with management at the transnational level repeatedly over more than a decade as a response to management whipsawing and threats of plant closures. In contrast to structuralist interest-based theories of union behavior, we identify a process of “identity work‟ that was necessary to sustain transnational worker cooperation.
How Does Market Making Affect Industrial Relations? Evidence From Eight German Hospitals, Ian Greer, Thorsten Schulten, Nils Böhlke
How Does Market Making Affect Industrial Relations? Evidence From Eight German Hospitals, Ian Greer, Thorsten Schulten, Nils Böhlke
Ian Greer
The introduction of market mechanisms matters for industrial relations. In the German hospital sector, national liberalization policies have put immense pressure on local management and worker representatives and led to the growth of a low-wage sector. In case studies of eight hospitals, we find some locales where market making has led to union revitalization and mobilization, but this effect varies. Using an eight-way comparison, we infer a configuration of three aspects of the local political economy – labour markets, politics, and codetermination rules – that together provide a well fitting explanation for both variation and change.