IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecoind/v28y2007i1p49-77.html

Are Works Councils and Joint Consultative Committees a Threat to Trade Unions? A Comparative Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Chris Brewster

    (Henley Management College)

  • Geoff Wood

    (Sheffield University Business School)

  • Richard Croucher

    (Middlesex University Business School)

  • Michael Brookes

    (Middlesex University Business School)

Abstract

This article assesses whether the operation of works councils or joint consultative committees (JCCs) is inimical to unionization in different business systems. An extensive transnational survey reveals that both works councils and JCCs are positively associated with a union presence; there is no evidence from this sample that either is used to any significant extent as a substitute for unions. The finding holds true irrespective of business system. Its implications for industrial relations actors are examined.

Suggested Citation

  • Chris Brewster & Geoff Wood & Richard Croucher & Michael Brookes, 2007. "Are Works Councils and Joint Consultative Committees a Threat to Trade Unions? A Comparative Analysis," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 28(1), pages 49-77, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:28:y:2007:i:1:p:49-77
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X07073027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X07073027
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0143831X07073027?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marsden, David, 1999. "A Theory of Employment Systems: Micro-Foundations of Societal Diversity," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198294221.
    2. Amable, Bruno, 2003. "The Diversity of Modern Capitalism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199261147.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peter Butler & Jonathan Lavelle & Patrick Gunnigle & Michelle O’Sullivan, 2018. "Skating on thin ICE? A critical evaluation of a decade of research on the British Information and Consultation Regulations (2004)," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 39(1), pages 173-190, February.
    2. Chris Brewster & Geoffrey Wood & Marc Goergen, 2015. "Institutions, unionization and voice: The relative impact of context and actors on firm level practice," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 36(2), pages 195-214, May.
    3. Richard Croucher & Geoff Wood & Chris Brewster & Michael Brookes, 2012. "Employee turnover, HRM and institutional contexts," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 33(4), pages 605-620, November.
    4. Chris Brewster & Michael Brookes & Geoffrey Wood, 2025. "Disaggregating the liberal market economies: Institutions and HRM," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 46(1), pages 199-221, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wood, Geoffrey & Dibben, Pauline & Stride, Chris & Webster, Edward, 2011. "HRM in Mozambique: Homogenization, path dependence or segmented business system?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 31-41, January.
    2. Marc Goergen & Chris Brewster & Geoffrey Wood & Adrian Wilkinson, 2012. "Varieties of Capitalism and Investments in Human Capital," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51, pages 501-527, April.
    3. Chris Brewster & Geoffrey Wood & Marc Goergen, 2015. "Institutions, unionization and voice: The relative impact of context and actors on firm level practice," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 36(2), pages 195-214, May.
    4. Richard Croucher & Geoff Wood & Chris Brewster & Michael Brookes, 2012. "Employee turnover, HRM and institutional contexts," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 33(4), pages 605-620, November.
    5. Budd, John W. & Lamare, J Ryan, 2025. "Organizational governance and trade-offs between pay and subjective employee well-being: a comparative analysis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126118, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Bruce E. Kaufman, 2012. "An Institutional Economic Analysis of Labor Unions," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51, pages 438-471, April.
    7. Walker, James & Wood, Geoff & Brewster, Chris & Beleska-Spasova, Elena, 2018. "Context, market economies and MNEs: The example of financial incentivization," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 21-33.
    8. Mehmet Demirbag & David G. Collings & Ekrem Tatoglu & Kamel Mellahi & Geoffrey Wood, 2014. "High-Performance Work Systems and Organizational Performance in Emerging Economies: Evidence from MNEs in Turkey," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 325-359, June.
    9. Bruce E. Kaufman, 2013. "The economic organization of employment: systems in human resource management and industrial relations," Chapters, in: Anna Grandori (ed.), Handbook of Economic Organization, chapter 16, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Girardone, Claudia & Kokas, Sotirios & Wood, Geoffrey, 2021. "Diversity and women in finance: Challenges and future perspectives," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Grande, Rafael & Muñoz de Bustillo, Rafael & Fernández Macías, Enrique & Antón, José Ignacio, 2020. "Innovation and job quality. A firm-level exploration," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 130-142.
    12. Reto Bürgisser & Donato Di Carlo, 2023. "Blessing or Curse? The Rise of Tourism‐Led Growth in Europe's Southern Periphery," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 236-258, January.
    13. Hein, Eckhard & van Treeck, Till, 2024. "Financialisation and demand and growth regimes: A review of post-Keynesian contributions," ifso working paper series 32, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Socioeconomics (ifso).
    14. Karbowski, Adam, 2019. "Analiza otoczenia instytucjonalnego systemu tworzenia wiedzy w krajach Europy Środkowej [Analysis of the institutional environment of the knowledge subsystem in Central Europe]," MPRA Paper 95570, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.
    15. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/50jd34uldo9jioklc7b0dpu4ej is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Philippe Askenazy & Clément Brébion & Pierre Courtioux & Christine Erhel & Malo Mofakhami, 2023. "HRM Strategies in Response to the First Covid Lockdown: a Typology of French Workplaces," Working Papers hal-03953817, HAL.
    17. Joachim Ahrens & Patrick Jünemann, 2011. "Adaptive Efficiency and Pragmatic Flexibility: Characteristics of Institutional Change in Capitalism, Chinese-style," Chapters, in: Werner Pascha & Cornelia Storz & Markus Taube (ed.), Institutional Variety in East Asia, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Amable, Bruno & Azizi, Karim, 2011. "Varieties of capitalism and varieties of macroeconomic policy. Are some economies more procyclical than others?," MPIfG Discussion Paper 11/6, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    19. Loris Guery & Anne Stevenot & Geoffrey T. Wood & Chris Brewster, 2017. "The Impact of Private Equity on Employment: The Consequences of Fund Country of Origin—New Evidence from France," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(4), pages 723-750, October.
    20. Tony Edwards & Paul Marginson & Anthony Ferner, 2013. "Multinational Companies in Cross-National Context: Integration, Differentiation, and the Interactions between MNCS and Nation States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(3), pages 547-587, May.
    21. Editors : & David Marsden & Hugh Stephenson, 2001. "Labour Law and Social Insurance in the New Economy: A Debate on the Supiot Report," CEP Discussion Papers dp0500, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:28:y:2007:i:1:p:49-77. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ekhist.uu.se/english.htm .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.