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Economic Integration and State Responses: Change in European Industrial Relations since Maastricht

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  • Guglielmo Meardi

Abstract

The article analyses industrial relations change in the six largest EU countries since 1992 in relation to increased internationalization pressures. Based on qualitative and quantitative analysis, it distinguishes between associational and state governance, and detects that despite a predominant, but not universal, trend of weakening trade unions and collective bargaining, no overall liberalization has occurred in the political regulation of employment (employment policies, welfare state, labour law, state support to collective bargaining, public sector). Rather than converging towards neoliberalism, industrial relations emerge as more politically contingent and dependent on multiple forms of power, which are affected by internationalization in different ways.

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  • Guglielmo Meardi, 2018. "Economic Integration and State Responses: Change in European Industrial Relations since Maastricht," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(3), pages 631-655, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:56:y:2018:i:3:p:631-655
    DOI: 10.1111/bjir.12307
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:ucp:bkecon:9789053566510 is not listed on IDEAS
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    10. Dong-One Kim & Yoon-Ho Kim & Paula Voos & Hiromasa Suzuki & Young Doo Kim, 2015. "Evaluating Industrial Relations Systems of OECD Countries from 1993 to 2005: A Two-Dimensional Approach," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 645-663, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Egidio Riva & Roberto Rizza, 2021. "Who receives occupational welfare? The importance of skills across Europe’s diverse industrial relations regimes," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 97-112, February.
    2. Marta Kahancová & Monika Martišková, 2023. "Strengthening legislation, weakening collective bargaining? Two faces of trade union strategies in Czechia and Slovakia," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 29(1), pages 63-81, March.
    3. Michel Goyer & Miguel Glatzer & Rocio Valdivielso del Real, 2022. "The management of the Eurozone in crisis times: Actors, institutions and the case of bailout packages," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 28(1), pages 7-25, March.
    4. Tony Dobbins & Stewart Johnstone & Marta Kahancová & J. Ryan Lamare & Adrian Wilkinson, 2023. "Comparative impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on work and employment—Why industrial relations institutions matter," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 115-125, April.
    5. Aranea, Mona & Gooberman, Leon & Hauptmeier, Marco, 2021. "What do European employers' organisations do?," Working Paper Forschungsförderung 226, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    6. Guglielmo Meardi & Melanie Simms & Duncan Adam, 2021. "Trade unions and precariat in Europe: Representative claims," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(1), pages 41-58, March.
    7. Élodie Béthoux & Arnaud Mias, 2021. "How does State-led decentralization affect workplace employment relations? The French case in a comparative perspective," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(1), pages 5-21, March.
    8. Giovanni Orlandini & Guglielmo Meardi, 2023. "Round Table. Implementing the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages in southern Europe: the odd case of Italy," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(2), pages 253-259, May.
    9. Chris Howell, 2021. "Rethinking the Role of the State in Employment Relations for a Neoliberal Era," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(3), pages 739-772, May.
    10. Wike Been & Paul de Beer, 2022. "Combatting exploitation of migrant temporary agency workers through sectoral self-regulation in the UK and the Netherlands," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 28(2), pages 175-191, June.
    11. Saskia Boumans, 2024. "Employer Discretion: The Role of Collective Agreements in the Liberalization of Industrial Relations," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(2), pages 227-250, March.
    12. Monika Martišková & Marta Kahancová & Jakub Kostolný, 2021. "Negotiating wage (in)equality: changing union strategies in high-wage and low-wage sectors in Czechia and Slovakia," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 75-96, February.
    13. José M Arranz & Enrique Fernández-Macías & Carlos García-Serrano, 2021. "Wage differentials and segmentation: The impact of institutions and changing economic conditions," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(2), pages 203-227, June.

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