Regulating Skill Formation in Europe: German, Norwegian and Spanish Policies                 on Transferable Skills

Lucio, Miguel Martínez; Skule, Sveinung; Kruse, Wilfried; Trappmann, Vera

doi:10.1177/0959680107081744

Cited by 20 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…2007: 328). This fifth finding has been confirmed by the studies of Ok and Tergeist (2003: 36) and Martinez Lucio et al . (2007: 328), both of which argue that the more collective bargaining is centralized and consensus based, the more CVT is regulated by sectoral collective agreements.…”

Section: The Institutional and Political Conditions Of Cvt Throughsupporting

confidence: 77%

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Skills and Industrial Relations in Coordinated Market Economies — Continuing Vocational Training in Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland

Trampusch

Eichenberger

2011

Brit J Industrial Rel

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This article offers the first systematic study of the institutional and political conditions under which collective agreements finance and organize continuing vocational training (CVT). Combining Mill's methods of agreement and difference with pattern matching, it identifies proactive small and medium enterprises, proactive public policies, proactive trade unions, and links between CVT and wage bargaining as probable conditions for CVT by collective labour agreement. The most important finding is that the research on the development of political-economic institutions in coordinated market economies has to analyse more carefully how state activities and the behaviour of small and medium-sized firms affect the coordination of economic activities in skills formation.'accessible to agreements between social partners' (Heidemann 1996: 8). Although the necessity of reaching social partner agreements on CVT is widely acknowledged -even by the social partners themselves (Winterton 2007) -the frequency of collective labour agreements (CLAs) on CVT varies strongly between West European countries (CEDEFOP 2009;EIRO 1998), but with company-level bargaining less common than sectoral or intersectoral agreements (Heyes 2007: 251). According to a recent study of CEDEFOP (2010: 12), 12 per cent of training enterprises in the EU are covered by national or sectoral CLAs on CVT.Against this background, the objective of this article is to address the issue of the involvement of the social partners in CVT. Accordingly, we focus on the coordinated provision of CVT and not on firm-based CVT or state-run CVT schemes. In particular, we are interested in the institutional and political conditions under which sectoral collective agreements play a role in the provision and financing of CVT. The article refers to two strands of literature prominent in comparative political economy: the varieties of capitalism approach (VoC) and comparative industrial relations (CIR) research.Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria are to be viewed as coordinated market economies (CMEs) (Hall and Soskice 2001: 20;Katzenstein 1985), with a social partnership tradition not only in collective bargaining and public policy making but particularly in IVT (Busemeyer and Trampusch 2011). To that extent, these four countries are typical cases of a broader set of cases with a tradition of corporatist policy-making for which we would expect social partnership arrangements in CVT. However, our analysis will show different degrees of sectoral bargaining activities in CVT. Whereas in the Netherlands and Denmark, CLAs on CVT are widespread throughout the economy, thereby institutionalizing a high amount of sectoral CVT funds; in Austria, collective agreements virtually remain outside the CVT system. The Swiss case appears to sit between the two stools, as here we find a few sectoral funds but also large parts of the sectoral collective bargaining system without clear CVT regulation.This article attempts to explore the causes of these different degrees of sectoral b...

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Section: The Institutional and Political Conditions Of Cvt Throughsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…The fifth finding is that the more centralized, cooperative and consensus‐based industrial relations are, the more employers and trade unions opt for solidarity solutions in wage bargaining (Ebbinghaus 2008; Martinez Lucio et al . 2007: 328).…”

Section: The Institutional and Political Conditions Of Cvt Throughmentioning

confidence: 99%

Skills and Industrial Relations in Coordinated Market Economies — Continuing Vocational Training in Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland

Trampusch

Eichenberger

2011

Brit J Industrial Rel

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“…Second, skills and learning have been accorded increased significance in debates on the modernization and renewal of employment relations (Stuart, 2007). Simply put, supply-side agendas are seen to provide new spaces for the development of trade union innovation and partnership-based initiatives between unions and employers (Martinez Lucio et al, 2007;Streeck, 1994;Stroud, 2011). Set against wider debates around economic competitiveness and the need for life-long learning, unions in countries as diverse as Norway, Spain and the UK have actively campaigned for, or played a central role in, the development of new strategic initiatives or frameworks for skills and learning (Martinez Lucio et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who stands to gain from union-led learning in Britain? Evidence from surveys of learners, union officers and employers

Stuart

Cutter

Cook

et al. 2012

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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This article considers the potential gains which the union-led learning agenda may provide for its various stakeholders in Britain. To do this, it draws on extensive surveys of individual learners, trade union workers and employers to evaluate the extent of possible gains. The article argues that the union-led learning agenda may open a new and novel channel for unions to develop voice around learning at the workplace within a liberal market environment. The findings show that purported gains have been realized by all parties, but suggest that any notion of mutuality is dependent on the workplace structures of voice and codification that unions are looking to build around learning, such as learning agreements.

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“…There is a history of occupations in Spain, so they are not seen as anomalous or unusual. Workers may in certain cases during industrial conflict recall and reference the role of occupations, road-blocks, stand-offs and street engagements with the police -though these have been less common in the 1990s and 2000s as there is a new form of union action aimed at restructuring, which has instead focused on the skill development of workers through training and redundancy management (Martínez Lucio et al, 2007).…”

Section: Conceptualising Worker Occupationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From action to communication?

Lucio

2011

Employee Relations

Self Cite

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Purpose -The relative absence of worker occupations in recent years in a context of major restructuring and unemployment has raised issues in Spain as to the changing nature of specific forms of direct action. This paper seeks to argue that it is important, in the case of Spain, to discuss how worker occupations have been changing and developing over time if the changing pattern, character and impact of worker unrest and direct action is to be understood. Design/methodology/approach -The research materials for this paper are based on a series of meetings and interviews with union officers and activists that draw on various projects on union development in Spain during the years and the study of a range of secondary texts. Findings -The paper suggests that, as well as discussing questions of motives, whether economic or political, accounting for the socio-economic context and the changing nature of the workforce in terms of its degree of concentration, the changing nature of labour market stability, and the relationship of workers to "stable" workplaces and work is required. Additionally, there is a need to account for how workers reference and recall (or not) previous modes of mobilising and actions. Practical implications -Discussing worker occupations should involve issues of political purpose, economic context, the changing nature of work and workers, and the role of memory and historical framing if an appreciation of their varying nature and presence within the landscape of labour relations is to be made. Hence, a multi-dimensional understanding of the context of worker action is required. Social implications -The implications of the paper are that conflict of work needs to be understood in broader terms, and that worker related activities can be highly innovative. Originality/value -The paper examines union and worker responses to the current recession in Spain and focuses on the role and context of unofficial approaches, especially worker occupations, to the changing workplace.

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Regulating Skill Formation in Europe: German, Norwegian and Spanish Policies on Transferable Skills

Cited by 20 publications

References 12 publications

Skills and Industrial Relations in Coordinated Market Economies — Continuing Vocational Training in Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland

Skills and Industrial Relations in Coordinated Market Economies — Continuing Vocational Training in Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland

Who stands to gain from union-led learning in Britain? Evidence from surveys of learners, union officers and employers

From action to communication?

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