Austerity and public sector trade union power: Before and after the crisis

Schmidt, Werner; Müller, Andrea; Ramos-Vielba, Irene; Thörnquist, Annette; Thörnqvist, Christer

doi:10.1177/0959680118771120

Cited by 23 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In power resources theory, various forms can be distinguished (Gumbrell‐McCormick and Hyman, ). They also exist in the public sector but have to be modified (Schmidt et al, ): Institutional power is in our case mainly constituted by established legal rights to hearings and consultation at peak‐level as well as other external legislative support. They also include the frequent recourse on the Basic Law as well as the existence and use of legal means.…”

Section: Some Stylised Facts On Traditional Civil Servants' Employmenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Employment relations without collective bargaining and strikes: the unusual case of civil servants in Germany

Keller

2020

Industrial Relations Journal

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The article deals with the widely neglected employment relations in the public sector of Germany with a special focus on civil servants. It is subdivided into two main parts. A shorter part elaborates on public employees and collective bargaining, a longer one on civil servants and their diverging forms of employment relations without the right to collective bargaining and strike. In order to better understand major changes that have taken place since the mid2000s, we chose a long‐term perspective and examine traditional as well as present forms of interest representation. Limited degrees of decentralisation and their lasting diverging consequences are analysed in great detail.

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Section: Some Stylised Facts On Traditional Civil Servants' Employmenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Employment relations without collective bargaining and strikes: the unusual case of civil servants in Germany

Keller

2020

Industrial Relations Journal

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“…Although different in their objectives and position in these reforms, political parties tend to be nationally oriented during austerity and crisis times (e.g., Sommer, 2019). The penetrating neoliberal and austerity national scale reforms in labor markets and welfare systems have also significantly affected youth-related claims making by labor unions , given their deep consequences for youth, across all European countries (Bengtsson & Ryner, 2017; Hermann, 2014; Lehndorff et al, 2017; Schmidt et al, 2019; Selby, 2019; Vandaele, 2019).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Spatial Scope of Youth-Related Claims Making in Nine European Countries

Paschou

Kousis

Cinalli

et al. 2019

American Behavioral Scientist

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This comparative examination sheds light on the spatial scope of actors making youth-related claims in mainstream media. Drawing on the “political opportunity structure” approach, our main argument is that the spatial scope of political debates on youth-related issues are driven by institutional arrangements reflecting windows of opportunities for the representation of various youth interests. Methodologically, we draw on “claim-making” analysis of five newspapers for each of the nine countries of the EURYKA project, that is, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Our cross-national exploratory analysis aims to show, (a) how state configuration and youth regime contexts impact on the spatial scope of youth and nonyouth actors, and furthermore, on specific state, civil society, and interest group actors, as well as (b) whether this leads to a new clustering of countries across spatial divides in the age of youth precarity. Cross-national variation is especially considered by looking at how institutional arrangements vary in each country, based on their youth policy regimes, the specific state structure and the impact of recent economic crisis on youth welfare policies.

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“…Institutional power reflects the capacity of trade unions to use statutory rights, legislative support or membership in public bodies to advance their interests. It is path-dependent in that is 'derived from former struggles or conceded by the state' (Schmidt et al, 2019). In the aftermath of the crisis, the institutional power of Romanian trade unions has been practically eliminated by a new social dialogue law which removed the possibility of signing cross-sectoral collective agreements, a crucial mechanism for setting minimum wages (Adăscăliței and Guga, 2016;Muntean, 2011: 36-37).…”

Section: Power Resources and Trade Union Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is path-dependent in that is 'derived from former struggles or conceded by the state' (Schmidt et al 2018). In the aftermath of the crisis the institutional power of Romanian trade unions has been practically eliminated through the passing of a new social dialogue law which removed the possibility of signing a national level collective bargaining agreement which was a crucial mechanism for setting minimum wages (Muntean 2011, 36-37; Ad sc li ei and Guga 2016).…”

Section: Power Resources and Trade Union Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade union strategies in the age of austerity: The Romanian public sector in comparative perspective

Adascalitei

Muntean

2018

European Journal of Industrial Relations

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This article examines the impact of the economic crisis and its aftermath on collective bargaining by comparing reactions to austerity policies of trade unions in healthcare and education sectors in Romania. It develops an encompassing theoretical framework that links strategies used by trade unions with power resources, costs, and union democracy. We argue that trade unions in the healthcare sector have successfully deployed their resources to advance their interests and obtain significant wage increases and better working conditions. We show that in a context of a tight labour market, generated by the massive emigration of doctors, trade union confederations in the healthcare sector have been increasingly successful in negotiating better pay. We also show that in the aftermath of the crisis healthcare trade unions have redefined their strategies and adopted a more militant stance based on a combination of local strikes, strike threats, and forging temporary alliances with various stakeholders. By comparison, we find that trade unions in the education sector have adopted less effective strategies built around negotiations with governments combined with national level militancy.

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Austerity and public sector trade union power: Before and after the crisis

Cited by 23 publications

References 24 publications

Employment relations without collective bargaining and strikes: the unusual case of civil servants in Germany

Employment relations without collective bargaining and strikes: the unusual case of civil servants in Germany

The Spatial Scope of Youth-Related Claims Making in Nine European Countries

Trade union strategies in the age of austerity: The Romanian public sector in comparative perspective

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