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After enlargement: preconditions and prospects for bargaining coordination

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Marginson

    (Professor of Industrial Relations and Director, Industrial Relations Research Unit, University of Warwick, UK)

  • Franz Traxler

    (Full Professor of Industrial Sociology at the University of Vienna)

Abstract

EU enlargement, by extending the boundaries of Europe's single market, calls for a reconsideration of the preconditions and prospects for transnational coordination of collective bargaining. Collective bargaining still remains nationally-based, but after enlargement two features are prominent. First, there is the extent of the gap in labour costs between the old and new Member States. This is providing powerful incentives both for the movement of capital eastwards (relocation of production sites) and for movement of self-employed workers westwards (displacing local labour). Secondly, there is now a group of countries with single-employer bargaining systems: multi-employer bargaining is no longer the EU norm. The resulting pressures are reinforcing developments in sectoral agreements, such as ‘hardship clauses’, which themselves undermine the vertical coordination on which successful cross-border coordination must rest. This paper analyses the implications of these developments and concludes that sector-based cross-border bargaining coordination remains trade unions' best available response to pan-European market integration; that differentiated approaches are required as between sectors; that unions need to develop effective means of coordination across companies within sectors; and that, under single-employer bargaining regimes, boosting union organisation and hence the coverage of collective bargaining is paramount.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Marginson & Franz Traxler, 2005. "After enlargement: preconditions and prospects for bargaining coordination," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 11(3), pages 423-438, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:11:y:2005:i:3:p:423-438
    DOI: 10.1177/102425890501100316
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bengt Furåker, 2020. "European trade union cooperation, union density and employee attitudes to unions," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 26(3), pages 345-358, August.
    2. Vera Glassner, 2013. "Central and eastern European industrial relations in the crisis: national divergence and path-dependent change," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 19(2), pages 155-169, May.
    3. Vera Glassner & Maarten Keune & Paul Marginson, 2011. "Collective bargaining in a time of crisis: developments in the private sector in Europe," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 17(3), pages 303-322, August.
    4. Valentina Paolucci & William K. Roche, 2024. "The unlikely success of coordinated bargaining in a liberal market economy: The case of Ireland," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 141-161, March.

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