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Full-Text Articles in Labor Relations

Vertical Disintegration And The Disorganisation Of German Industrial Relations, Virginia Doellgast, Ian Greer Sep 2015

Vertical Disintegration And The Disorganisation Of German Industrial Relations, Virginia Doellgast, Ian Greer

Ian Greer

Drawing on case studies from the telecommunications and auto industries, we argue that the vertical disintegration of major German employers is contributing to the disorganisation of Germany’s dual system of in-plant and sectoral negotiations. Subcontractors, subsidiaries, and temporary agencies often have no collective bargaining institutions, weaker firm-level agreements, or are covered by different sectoral agreements. As core employers move jobs to these firms, they introduce new organisational boundaries across the production chain and disrupt traditional bargaining structures. Worker representatives are developing new campaign approaches and using residual power at large firms to establish representation in new firms and sectors, but …


Organized Industrial Relations In The Information Economy: The German Automotive Sector As A Test Case, Ian Greer Sep 2015

Organized Industrial Relations In The Information Economy: The German Automotive Sector As A Test Case, Ian Greer

Ian Greer

This paper explores the effect of the information economy on industrial relations through the lens of the restructuring of German automotive sector. Historically, this sector has generated important insights about national “models” and the political economy of work. I argue that vertical disintegration has created new market-mediated boundaries that have undermined existing patterns of organized industrial relations.


Conclusion: Uncertain Outcomes Of Conflict And Negotiation, Lowell Turner Oct 2012

Conclusion: Uncertain Outcomes Of Conflict And Negotiation, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

[Excerpt] To elaborate on each of these points, the findings presented in this book can be summarized as follows. First of all, the German model, that is, a social partnership approach to the negotiation of terms and conditions for the organization of an advanced market economy has worked in the past. We believe, on the basis of extensive collective research on different aspects of the political economy of the Federal Republic, both before and after unification, that the preservation of a reformed social partnership in Germany is highly desirable as an alternative to less regulated forms of capitalism in the …


Revitalizing Labor In Today's World Markets, Lowell Turner Oct 2012

Revitalizing Labor In Today's World Markets, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

[Excerpt] Competitiveness for firms is possible via the high road or low road, or some combination of the two. For a nation, however, if competitiveness means the ability of a country's firms to sell on world markets while contributing to rising average incomes and living standards at home, then only the high road will do, especially for advanced industrial societies such as Germany and the United States. The tragedy of today's touted "American model" is that it is based too much on the low road, and as a result includes growing income polarization and a deep "representation gap." American workers, …


Codetermination In Comparative Perspective, Kathleen Thelen, Lowell Turner Oct 2012

Codetermination In Comparative Perspective, Kathleen Thelen, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

The trend of western industrialised societies is towards decentralization of collective bargaining and the active participation of the workforce in productivity and efficiency improvements. How well does the German model of co-determination perform in competition with liberal market economies? Compared with other countries, how adaptable is it?