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Economic Integration and State Responses: Change in European Industrial Relations since Maastricht

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  • Guglielmo Meardi

Abstract

The article analyses industrial relations change in the six largest EU countries since 1992 in relation to increased internationalization pressures. Based on qualitative and quantitative analysis, it distinguishes between associational and state governance, and detects that despite a predominant, but not universal, trend of weakening trade unions and collective bargaining, no overall liberalization has occurred in the political regulation of employment (employment policies, welfare state, labour law, state support to collective bargaining, public sector). Rather than converging towards neoliberalism, industrial relations emerge as more politically contingent and dependent on multiple forms of power, which are affected by internationalization in different ways.

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  • Guglielmo Meardi, 2018. "Economic Integration and State Responses: Change in European Industrial Relations since Maastricht," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(3), pages 631-655, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:56:y:2018:i:3:p:631-655
    DOI: 10.1111/bjir.12307
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    Cited by:

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    2. Michel Goyer & Miguel Glatzer & Rocio Valdivielso del Real, 2022. "The management of the Eurozone in crisis times: Actors, institutions and the case of bailout packages," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 28(1), pages 7-25, March.
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    6. Chris Howell, 2021. "Rethinking the Role of the State in Employment Relations for a Neoliberal Era," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(3), pages 739-772, May.
    7. Monika Martišková & Marta Kahancová & Jakub Kostolný, 2021. "Negotiating wage (in)equality: changing union strategies in high-wage and low-wage sectors in Czechia and Slovakia," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 75-96, February.
    8. John Geary & Andrea Signoretti, 2022. "The role of socio-economic embeddedness in promoting cooperation in the workplace: Evidence from family-owned Italian firms," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(4), pages 1867-1890, November.
    9. Vincenzo Maccarrone, 2024. "The Europeanization of Wage Policy and Its Consequences for Labor Politics: The Case of Ireland," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(5), pages 716-741, October.
    10. Tony Dobbins & Stewart Johnstone & Marta Kahancová & J. Ryan Lamare & Adrian Wilkinson, 2023. "Comparative impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on work and employment—Why industrial relations institutions matter," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 115-125, April.
    11. Mikkel Mailand, 2024. "Still part of the game—corporatism and political exchanges in two small states," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 368-388, July.
    12. Guglielmo Meardi & Melanie Simms & Duncan Adam, 2021. "Trade unions and precariat in Europe: Representative claims," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(1), pages 41-58, March.
    13. Giovanni Orlandini & Guglielmo Meardi, 2023. "Round Table. Implementing the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages in southern Europe: the odd case of Italy," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(2), pages 253-259, May.
    14. Saskia Boumans, 2024. "Employer Discretion: The Role of Collective Agreements in the Liberalization of Industrial Relations," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(2), pages 227-250, March.
    15. Egidio Riva & Roberto Rizza, 2021. "Who receives occupational welfare? The importance of skills across Europe’s diverse industrial relations regimes," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 97-112, February.
    16. Aranea, Mona & Gooberman, Leon & Hauptmeier, Marco, 2021. "What do European employers' organisations do?," Working Paper Forschungsförderung 226, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    17. Wike Been & Paul de Beer, 2022. "Combatting exploitation of migrant temporary agency workers through sectoral self-regulation in the UK and the Netherlands," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 28(2), pages 175-191, June.
    18. José M Arranz & Enrique Fernández-Macías & Carlos García-Serrano, 2021. "Wage differentials and segmentation: The impact of institutions and changing economic conditions," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(2), pages 203-227, June.

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