IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/brjirl/v58y2020i1p142-167.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Partnering against Insecurity? A Comparison of Markets, Institutions and Worker Risk in Canadian and Swedish Retail

Author

Listed:
  • Sean O'Brady

Abstract

This article provides insights on how union power influences the outcomes of labour‐management partnerships, with a focus on insecurity. It examines matched pairs of food retailers in Canada and Sweden. Trends in wages, scheduling and union coverage from 1980 to 2016 are compared. Actors in both contexts adopted partnering strategies in response to intensified price competition. However, the Swedish partnerships produced stable work arrangements, while working conditions eroded considerably in Canada. Bargaining structures, union security and identity are examined to explain the variations. As market competition intensified, the Swedish union gained leverage by using partnerships to fight unfair competition and promote sectoral well‐being in the process. Meanwhile, the Canadian union lost leverage, instead using partnerships to align employment practices with those of low‐cost market entrants and enhancing store‐level performance at all costs. The argument is that markets can be a resource for unions, even in low‐skilled service sectors, but only under inclusive institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Sean O'Brady, 2020. "Partnering against Insecurity? A Comparison of Markets, Institutions and Worker Risk in Canadian and Swedish Retail," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(1), pages 142-167, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:58:y:2020:i:1:p:142-167
    DOI: 10.1111/bjir.12484
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12484
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/bjir.12484?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David E. Guest & Riccardo Peccei, 2001. "Partnership at Work: Mutuality and the Balance of Advantage," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 39(2), pages 207-236, June.
    2. Ian Thomas MacDonald, 2014. "Towards Neoliberal Trade Unionism: Decline, Renewal and Transformation in North American Labour Movements," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(4), pages 725-752, December.
    3. Ian Greer & Thorsten Schulten & Nils Böhlke, 2013. "How Does Market Making Affect Industrial Relations? Evidence from Eight German Hospitals," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 51(2), pages 215-239, June.
    4. Mélanie Laroche & Gregor Murray, 2012. "Coordinated employer bargaining and globalisation: a study of the men's clothing industry in Q uebec, 1974–2012," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(6), pages 472-493, November.
    5. Baccaro,Lucio & Howell,Chris, 2017. "Trajectories of Neoliberal Transformation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107603691, October.
    6. Baccaro,Lucio & Howell,Chris, 2017. "Trajectories of Neoliberal Transformation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107018723, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nick Krachler & Jennie Auffenberg & Luigi Wolf, 2021. "The Role of Organizational Factors in Mobilizing Professionals: Evidence from Nurse Unions in the United States and Germany," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 643-668, September.
    2. Franzini, Maurizio & Raitano, Michele, 2019. "Earnings inequality and workers’ skills in Italy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 215-224.
    3. Leone Leonida & Marianna Marra & Sergio Scicchitano & Antonio Giangreco & Marco Biagetti, 2020. "Estimating the Wage Premium to Supervision for Middle Managers in Different Contexts: Evidence from Germany and the UK," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(6), pages 1004-1026, December.
    4. Thomas Palley, 2023. "Theorizing Varieties of Capitalism: economics and the fallacy that 'there is no alternative (TINA)'," Chapters, in: Thomas Palley & Esteban Pérez Caldentey & Matías Vernengo (ed.), Varieties of Capitalism, chapter 1, pages 1-38, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Josef Ringqvist, 2022. "Union membership and the willingness to prioritize environmental protection above growth and jobs: A multi‐level analysis covering 22 European countries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(3), pages 662-682, September.
    6. Neimanns, Erik & Blossey, Nils, 2022. "From media-party linkages to ownership concentration causes of cross-national variation in media outlets' economic positioning," MPIfG Discussion Paper 22/8, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    7. Martin B. Carstensen & Christian Lyhne Ibsen & Vivien A. Schmidt, 2022. "Ideas and power in employment relations studies," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 3-21, January.
    8. Tomas Berglund & Kristina HÃ¥kansson & Tommy Isidorsson, 2022. "Occupational change on the dualised Swedish labour market," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(2), pages 918-942, May.
    9. Ian Bruff, 2021. "The politics of comparing capitalisms," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(6), pages 1273-1292, September.
    10. John W. Budd & J. Ryan Lamare, 2021. "The Importance of Political Systems for Trade Union Membership, Coverage and Influence: Theory and Comparative Evidence," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 757-787, September.
    11. Rutvica Andrijasevic & Devi Sacchetto & Ngai Pun, 2020. "One firm, two countries, one workplace model? The case of Foxconn’s internationalisation," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 31(2), pages 262-278, June.
    12. 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.
    13. Gemma Scalise, 2021. "The local governance of active inclusion: A field for social partner action," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(1), pages 59-75, March.
    14. Clément Brébion, 2020. "The impact of works council membership on wages in Germany: a case of strategic discrimination?," Working Papers halshs-02436686, HAL.
    15. Crouch, Colin, 2019. "Inequality in post-industrial societies," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 11-23.
    16. Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck, 2018. "Revisiting debt-led and export-led growth models: a sectoral balances approach," IMK Working Paper 195-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    17. Jamie Jordan & Vincenzo Maccarrone & Roland Erne, 2021. "Towards a Socialization of the EU's New Economic Governance Regime? EU Labour Policy Interventions in Germany, Ireland, Italy and Romania (2009–2019)," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(1), pages 191-213, March.
    18. Benassi, Chiara & Dorigatti, Lisa & Pannini, Elisa, 2018. "Explaining divergent bargaining outcomes for agency workers: the role of labour divides and labour market reforms," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 89371, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Cetrulo, Armanda & Cirillo, Valeria & Landini, Fabio, 2022. "Organized Labour and R&D: Evidence from Italy," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1195, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    20. Rana, Mohammad B. & Morgan, Glenn, 2019. "Twenty-five years of business systems research and lessons for international business studies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 513-532.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:58:y:2020:i:1:p:142-167. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.