The article analyses the impact of vertical disintegration on German labour relations. Previous research argued that the proliferation of outsourcing, divestment and non-standard employment results in a ‘dualism’ between a core of secure workplaces and a growing fringe of precarious jobs. Evidence from two key sectors, metalworking and telecommunications, however, suggest that this clear-cut division is replaced by a fragmented landscape of labour relations. In terms of institutional change, the analysis reveals a specific form of incremental transformative change, namely a shift in the meaning of formally stable legal-political institutions. Even in the allegedly stable core areas, the institutions of labour relations are gradually transformed from market-constituting institutions to market-dependent variables. Vertical disintegration plays an important role in this process of institutional commodification. It not only moves the core–periphery boundary; it is also deployed to subjugate collective bargaining, workplace co-determination and the utilization of labour law to firm-level economic calculations.

The study analyses inequalities in how German employees experience coronarelated health and economic risks at the workplace. A social class framework is used to locate both types of risks within the vertically stratified and horizontally differentiated employment structure. A mixed-methods approach is applied based on a workforce survey (n = 9737) and qualitative interviews (n = 27), from the early stage of the pandemic (April to May 2020). Logistic regressions triangulated with interview analysis reveal striking occupational inequalities in employees' corona experience: The work-life burdens of Covid-19 hit social classes quite unequally. Three findings are particularly noteworthy. First, health and economic risk experiences are primarily located in different horizontal segments of the employment structure. Perceived health risks are highest for the classes based on the interpersonal work logic, whereas the independent classes and the technical classes experience higher economic risks. Second, risk experience among wage earners is vertically stratified. In each horizontal segment, members of the lower classes report significantly higher health and economic risks than the upper classes. Third, although health and economic risks have their centres in different horizontal segments, the risks overlap among production and service workers at the lower end of the employment structure; thus, amplifying pre-existing class inequalities.

■ This article offers a systematic comparison of strategic responses of Austrian and German unions to an emergent sector. It aims to increase understanding of both union movements, and also to contribute conceptually to the study of the varieties of unionism. The concept of 'core strategies' facilitates more systematic comparisons of unions' strategic responses to apparently similar challenges and helps explain why-despite many similarities in their industrial relations systems and the uniform development of the call centre sector in both countries-the strategic responses of Austrian and German unions differ remarkably in terms of content, priority and timing. KEYWORDS: Austria ■ call centres ■ Germany ■ industrial relations ■ trade union strategies

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