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Minimum Wages and Collective Bargaining: What Types of Pay Bargaining Can Foster Positive Pay Equity Outcomes?

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  • Damian Grimshaw
  • Gerhard Bosch
  • Jill Rubery

Abstract

Using data from interviews and collective agreements in five European countries, this article analyses the relationship between collective bargaining and the minimum wage. In a context of changing minimum wage policy and competing government objectives, the findings illuminate how pay bargaining strategies of trade unions and employers shape the pay equity effects of minimum wage policy. Two general forms are identified: direct responses to a changing national minimum wage, and responses to the absence or weakness of a national minimum wage. The article explains how particular intersections of minimum wage policy and collective bargaining, together with country and sector contingencies, shape the form of pay bargaining and pay equity outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Damian Grimshaw & Gerhard Bosch & Jill Rubery, 2014. "Minimum Wages and Collective Bargaining: What Types of Pay Bargaining Can Foster Positive Pay Equity Outcomes?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 470-498, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:52:y:2014:i:3:p:470-498
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    Cited by:

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    2. Gerhard BOSCH, 2015. "Shrinking collective bargaining coverage, increasing income inequality: A comparison of five EU countries," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 154(1), pages 57-66, March.
    3. Andrea Garnero & Stephan Kampelmann & François Rycx, 2013. "Minimum Wage Systems and Earnings Inequalities:Does Institutional Diversity Matter?," DULBEA Working Papers 13-06, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Andrea Garnero & Stephan Kampelmann & François Rycx, 2015. "Sharp Teeth or Empty Mouths? European Institutional Diversity and the Sector-Level Minimum Wage Bite," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 760-788, December.
    5. Susan Milner & Hélène Demilly & Sophie Pochic, 2019. "Bargained Equality: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Workplace Gender Equality Agreements and Plans in France," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(2), pages 275-301, June.
    6. Pusch, Toralf, 2021. "12 Euro Mindestlohn: Deutliche Lohnsteigerungen vor allem bei nicht tarifgebundenen Beschäftigten," WSI Policy Briefs 62, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    7. Maria da Paz Campos Lima & Diogo Martins & Ana Cristina Costa & António Velez, 2021. "Internal devaluation and economic inequality in Portugal: challenges to industrial relations in times of crisis and recovery," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 47-73, February.
    8. Maarten Keune, 2021. "Inequality between capital and labour and among wage-earners: the role of collective bargaining and trade unions," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 29-46, February.
    9. Georg Adam, 2022. "Die Entwicklung der gesetzlichen Mindestlohnsetzung in der EU und ihre Bedeutung für die Gewerkschaften," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 48(3), pages 365-406.
    10. John Buchanan & Damian Oliver, 2016. "‘Fair Work’ and the Modernization of Australian Labour Standards: A Case of Institutional Plasticity Entrenching Deepening Wage Inequality," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(4), pages 790-814, December.
    11. Onur Özdemir, 2023. "The determinants of income distribution: the role of progress in human capital," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(5), pages 4193-4227, October.
    12. Núria Sánchez-Mira & Raquel Serrano Olivares & Pilar Carrasquer Oto, 2022. "What slips through the cracks: The distance between regulations and practices shaping the gender pay gap," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(2), pages 536-558, May.
    13. Haapanala, Henri & Marx, Ive & Parolin, Zachary, 2022. "Decent Wage Floors in Europe: Does the Minimum Wage Directive Get It Right?," IZA Discussion Papers 15660, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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