A European perspective on industrial relations

systems:

industrial democracy matters!

Christian Welz _ Eurofound

CLEW/MPOWER/PSA seminar, Wellington, 19 March 2019

Outline

A.Varieties of national IR regimes

B.Main trends of industrial relations

C.Industrial democracy matters!

sources: EC, Eurofound, Eurostat, ILO, Welz

A. Varieties of IR - 5 IR clusters

Centre-East

South

Centre-West

North

West

5 IR clustersNorth Centre–West South West Centre–East

IR regime Nordic

corporatism

social

partnership

polarised

pluralism

liberal

pluralism

transition

economies

role of SPs in public policy

institutionalisedirregular/

politicisedrare/event-driven

irregular/politicised

role of State limited‘shadow’ of hierarchy

frequent intervention non-interventionorganiser of

transition

power balance labour-oriented balanced alternating employer-oriented state

bargaining style integrativedistributive/

conflict-orientedacquiescent

employee representation

union based/high coverage

dual channel/high coverage

variable/ mixedunion based/

small coverage

predominant level of CB sector sector/company company

Trade UnionsIntersectoral

level

Government

EmployersIntersectoral

level

Sectoral level Sectoral level

Company level

Levels of CB - wages

Company level

Belgium

Austria

Denmark 1

Finland

France 1

Germany

Greece

Ireland 1

Italy

Luxembourg 1

Netherlands

Portugal 1

Spain 1

Sweden1

Denmark 2

France 2

Ireland 2

Luxembourg 2

Portugal 2

Spain 2

Sweden 2

UK

Trade Unions

Intersectorallevel

Government

Employers

Intersectoral level

Sectoral level Sectoral level

Company level

Levels of CB - wages

Company level

Slovenia 1

Bulgaria 1

Cyprus 1

Slovakia 1

Slovenia 2

Bulgaria 2

Croatia

Cyprus 2

Czech Rep.

Estonia

Hungary

Latvia

Lithuania

Malta

Poland

Romania

Slovakia 2

Trade Unions

Intersectorallevel

Government

Employers

Intersectoral level

Sectoral level Sectoral level

Company level

Main levels of social dialogue

Company level

Argentina

Brazil1

India1

Uruguay

Australia

Brazil2

Canada

China

India2

New Zealand

Japan

South Korea

US

Trade Union density rates in 2016 (%)

Trade Union density rates (2008 or later %)

US South Korea Mexico Chile Australia India Japan BrazilNew

ZealandCanada Uruguay China Argentina South Africa

2008 10 12 14 15 15 16 17 17 17 29 30 34 38 40

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Collective bargaining coverage rate

and dominant level of bargaining (EC /OECD/Visser)

MY TurkeySouth

KoreaUS Mexico NZ Japan Chile AR China CA OECD Brazil India CH AU UY NO Iceland

2013 2 5 12 12 13 16 17 21 27 30 30 32 42 46 50 59 67 67 90

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

B. Main trends of industrial relations

• de-centralisation via

– reversal of favourability principle

– more opt-out / opening clauses

– less extension mechanisms

– less continuation upon expiry

• weakening of trade unions (not employers)

– less members

– new forms of work

• governmental unilateralism

C. Industrial democracy matters!

15

16

• Eurofound defines industrial democracy

• as encompassing all the participation rights of employers and

employees in the governance of employment relationships

– either directly or indirectly, via trade unions, work

councils, shop stewards or other forms of employee

representation at any level

• industrial democracy is understood to be an end in itself and a

means to achieve other valuable ends.

17

dimension sub-dimension indicator source

Industrial

democracy

Associational governance Trade union density ICTWSS, ILO

Employer organisation density ICTWSS

Existence of a standard (institutionalised) bipartite council of central or major

unions and employer organisations for the purposes of wage setting, economic

forecasting and/or conflict settlement

ICTWSS

Collective bargaining coverage ICTWSS, ILO

Routine involvement of unions and employers in government decisions on social and

economic policy

ICTWSS

Representation and

participation rights at

company level

Board-level employee representation rights ETUC

Rights of works councils ICTWSS

Status of works council ICTWSS

Social dialogue at

company level

Employee representation in the workplace (coverage) Eurofound, ECS

Information provided to the employee representation body by management

(incidence)

Eurofound, ECS

Degree of information provided to the employee representation body (number of

topics)

Eurofound, ECS

Influence of the employee representation in decision-making in the workplace Eurofound, ECS

Share of companies holding regular consultations (either through collective or

individual means) in which employees can express their views about the organisation

Eurofound,

EWCS

18

no. characteristic countries

1 Social partnershipAustria, Belgium, Luxembourg and the

Netherlands

2 Organised corporatism Germany, Denmark, Finland and Sweden

3State-centred associational

governance

France, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain (and

Greece for 2008–2012)

4 Company-centred governance Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia

5Voluntarist associational

governance

Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Ireland,

Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Romania (and

Greece for 2013–2017)

6 Market-oriented governance Estonia, Poland and the UK

19

• centralised / high coordination & coverage of

CB

• involvement of SP in policymaking

• best performers in industrial democracy

• state plays strong role in CB (extension

mechanisms) & wage setting (statutory MW)

• relative weakness of TUs vs. strength of

employers

20

21

• highest scores in CB state intervention

• low trade union densities

• low performance in social dialogue at

company level

• despite mandatory WCs at company

level

22

23

• strictly market oriented

• minor role played by the state in CB

• lowest score in industrial democracy

• low score in ID is the result of

–weakness of social partners

– low levels of CB and rare concertation

–uncoordinated & de-centralised CB

24

25

26

27

28

29

ATBE

BG

CY

CZ

DE

DK

EE

EL

ES

FI

FR

HR

HU

IE

IT

LT

LU

LV

MT

NL

PL

PT

RO

SE

SI

SK

UK

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

25 35 45 55 65 75 85

Industrial democracy (x-axis) and industrial competitiveness (y-axis), 2013-17

30

ATBE

BG

CY

CZ

DE

DK

EEEL

ES FI

FR

HRHUIE

IT

LT

LU

LV

MT

NL

PL

PT

RO

SE

SISK UK

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80

31

32

33

tēnā koutou! Go raibh maith agat!

Further information

• christian.welz@eurofound.europa.eu

• European industrial relations dictionary

• European industrial relations index

• Measuring varieties of industrial relations