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The Europeanization of Wage Policy and Its Consequences for Labor Politics: The Case of Ireland

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  • Vincenzo Maccarrone

Abstract

This article investigates the transnational labor politics associated with the Europeanization of wage policy, based on process tracing of Irish minimum wage regulation reforms over the past two decades. The policy struggle in Ireland started as an employer-led domestic challenge to market-embedding regulation and was then affected by two EU interventions on wage policy: one with a de-regulatory orientation (during EU-IMF conditionality) and one with a re-regulatory one (with the approval of the EU minimum wage directive). Findings show that differences in collective action undertaken by employers and trade unions to influence wage policy at the national level can be explained by the intersection of each actor’s preferences toward market-constraining or liberalizing labor regulation and their access to supranational (EU-level) institutions and support. This analysis contributes to debates on how transnational opportunity structures can alter labor’s and employers’ local power resources and strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincenzo Maccarrone, 2024. "The Europeanization of Wage Policy and Its Consequences for Labor Politics: The Case of Ireland," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(5), pages 716-741, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:77:y:2024:i:5:p:716-741
    DOI: 10.1177/00197939241268065
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    1. Joshua Cova, 2025. "State intervention in low-wage work: Politics, social actors, and increased governmental control in the setting of the minimum wage," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 31(3), pages 345-368, September.
    2. Sven Schreurs, 2025. "Usages of ‘soft’ EU labour law: the implementation of the Minimum Wage Directive," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 31(4), pages 485-501, November.
    3. Roland Erne & Marco Hauptmeier & Valeria Pulignano & Peter Turnbull, 2024. "Introduction to a Special Issue: Social Europe: The Changing Contours of Transnational Employment Relations in the European Union," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(5), pages 643-658, October.

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