Trends and developments in east central European industrial relations

Abstract

This article overviews developments in industrial relations in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland since the fall of the communist regimes in 1989, and assesses the extent to which key developments in these countries reflect both change and continuity from the communist period. We explore the four main institutions through which industrial relations have been conducted: trades unions, workers' councils, employer organisations, and the tripartite arrangements involving representatives of unions and employers with the state.The objective of this article is to examine key developments in industrial relations within the transformation context of east central Europe (ECE). In order to investigate such processes, at a time when the changes are still under way and much is still confused concerning the reconfiguration of workplace and industrial relationships, this study focusses on the three societies of the region where economic reforms and property change have proceeded furthest to date: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.During the 1990s, the dismantling of the old mechanisms for incorporating social interests within the structure of the state has enabled employee and employer organisations to operate more independently than before 1989, but at the same time it has contributed to concerns about their fragmentation and a decline in their effectiveness in representing the social interests of their members. In this article we assess the significance to industrial relations of a variety of organisations that have emerged to represent the interests of both workers and employers during the 1990s. In terms of worker interest representation during the transformation process, 'successor' trade unions, 'independent' unions and workplace councils have each attempted to become important industrial relations actors, but have experienced a tense relationship both Ì Terry Cox is Reader in the Department of Government at the University of Strathclyde. Bob Mason is Lecturer in Human Resource Management in the School of Management at the University of Ulster at Jordanstown

State-labour relations in East Central Europe: explaining variations in union effectiveness

“…Within the first decade of transformation, membership levels dropped from around 90% to between 20 and 35% (Cox and Mason, 2000). These developments were accompanied by the declining coverage rates of collective agreements and the decentralization of collective bargaining.…”

“…However, most of the literature on the subject consists of either descriptive single-case studies (Kubínková, 1999;Gardawski, 2001;Héthy, 2001;Tóth, 2001) or of more general pieces that treat the region as the unit of analysis (Kubicek, 1999;Cox and Mason, 2000;Crowley, 2001). Only a handful of more comparative studies point to certain cross-national differences in terms of either the importance assigned to tripartite negotiations, or to organizational and political capacity of unions (Thirkell et al, 1998;Pollert, 1999;Orenstein and Hale, 2001), but even they do not engage into a rigorous comparative analysis that would enable them to either systematically define these differences or more clearly conceptualize their causes.…”

“…Indeed, many of them were either formed or supported by the state. In such a situation, these organizations had problems in clearly defining their roles, so that many of them continued to act like the former chambers of commerce rather than proper interest representation organizations (Cox and Mason, 2000;Orenstein and Hale, 2001;Iankova, 2002). Second, this situation obviously changed over time with the increasing share of the private sector, which led to the creation of various employers' organizations.…”

Labour strategies, cross-border solidarity and the mobility of health workers: Evidence from five New Member States

“…By 2000, assessments of the trade union movement in post-communist states suggested that its role was declining and peripheral (Cox and Mason, 2000), with little capacity for collective action (Gall, 2013). This pessimism was compounded by claims about the existence of widespread scepticism about organizational participation in political parties and trade unions (Martin and Cristescu-Martin, 2004).…”

Institutional effects on occupational health and safety management systems

“…In CEE economies, working conditions for women have deteriorated in recent years in most cases (Pollert, 2005). In CEE countries, there has been a failure of tripartism (Cox & Mason, 2000;Ost, 2000), and industrial relations remain highly fragmented. In Poland, while 24,000 trade unions are registered, the two main trade unions, OPZZ and Solidarity, are still strong rivals (Meardi, 2002).…”