Interest Groups and the Development of Tripartism in East Central Europe

Abstract

This article explores the development of tripartism in east central Europe during the 1980s and 1990s. Focusing on the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, we examine how the reshaping of national industrial relations in each country since 1989 has been contingent on the patterns of contest between state, employers and labour in each society, patterns which in part have been shaped by the legacy of structures and relationships from the `communist' period. These factors have influenced attempts at creating stable and coherent tripartite systems.

Transformation of Employment Relations Systems in Central and Eastern Europe

“…There exists a vast amount of literature describing the establishment of tripartite systems in CEE and their raison d'être in the turbulent context of the transition to market-based economies (Cox and Mason 2000;Martin 1997;Pollert 2000;Standing 1997). Hethy defines tripartism as a variety of 'neo-corporatism', a mechanism of 'high-level negotiations between the state and the representatives of employers and labour ' (1994: 312).…”

“…The state as a tripartite actor The tensions originating from the position of the state within the tripartite structures are probably the most powerful. When tripartite structures were first introduced in CEE, the expectation was that the state will play only a limited role and that most of the negotiations would take place between the representatives of labour and management (Slomp et al 1996;Cox & Mason 2000). However, given the state's critical role in the process of privatisation and in the coordination of the macro-stabilisation reforms, the state remained central to the tripartite structures.…”

Social Pacts: A Helping Device in Euro Adoption?

“…In Hungary, for example, the socialist-liberal government reconstructed the whole employment system in favour of employees after the general elections of 2002, which in turn revitalised tripartism in the country. Nevertheless, political proximity comes with a high price: labour institutions fell under a strong political influence, and consequently the change in political power could have had a serious effect on employment relations, too -this has been the case particularly in Poland (see Cox and Mason 2000).…”

Trade unions and the amendment of the labour code in Romania

“…In the Czech Republic, Klaus' government has systematically tried to marginalise tripartite structures: The General Agreement, a declaration on the minimum wage, wage indexation, social policy and employment, established in January 1991 was, in many occasions, not respected by the government (see Pollert, 1997Pollert, , 1999Pollert, , 2000. In Bulgaria, the National Council for Tripartite Collaboration was criticised on many occasions by the trade unions, being considered as an 'instrument' in the hands of the government (see Cox & Mason, 2000;Petkov & Gradev, 1991). 28 As for example in November 2002, when four national union confederations (Cartel Alfa, BNS, CSDR, Meridian) and two employers' associations (General Union of Employers from the Romanian Industry and the National Council of Employers from Romania) announced their intention to walk out of the tripartite institution because of the 'complete marginalisation of social partners and of the social dialogue concept'.…”

“…This approach regards the existence and development of pluralist interests as key pre-conditions for a consolidated democracy. More specifically, much attention has been paid to several aspects linked to the trade unions' place within the regional political framework (Agh & Ilonszki, 1996;Cox & Mason, 2000;Fairbrother & Clarke, 1994;Petkov & Thirkell, 1991;Pollert, 1997Pollert, , 1999Pollert, , 2000. Among these, it can briefly be mentioned the changing roles of trade unions, the problem of re-making ancient structures perverted by their more or less collaboration with the Communist parties and the emergence of new structures in search for legitimisation, the difficulties of trade unionism in articulating and representing interests, the relations with the governmental authorities and with the employers' organisations in the tripartite framework, as well as the nature of the tripartism in re-uniting social partners and state.…”