IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/treure/v17y2011i3p355-370.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Company-level collective agreements during the 2008-2010 crisis: four cases from Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Stefan Zagelmeyer

    (Professor of Human Resource Management, International University of Applied Sciences, Bad Honnef-Bonn, s.zagelmeyer@iubh.de)

Abstract

Between autumn 2008 and spring 2010, the German economy faced the most serious economic downturn since World War II. Demand, orders, output and profits declined in many sectors and for many companies at unprecedented rates. The German federal government, the state governments and the social partners have introduced and/or adapted a wide range of policy instruments to cope with the crisis. In addition to unilateral use by management of a wide range of policies to address the declining demand for products and labour, joint activities on the part of management, trade unions and/or works councils sought to address the situation through agreements on cost-cutting programmes. This article analyses four cases of company-level ‘concession’ bargaining during the peak time of the crisis (2009) in Germany and considers how the social partners might help enterprises to maintain employment in the face of a crisis situation.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Zagelmeyer, 2011. "Company-level collective agreements during the 2008-2010 crisis: four cases from Germany," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 17(3), pages 355-370, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:17:y:2011:i:3:p:355-370
    DOI: 10.1177/1024258911410798
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1024258911410798
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1024258911410798?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. Zagelmeyer, Stefan., 2010. "Company-level bargaining in times of crisis : the case of Germany," ILO Working Papers 994471933402676, International Labour Organization.
    2. Anke Hassel, 1999. "The Erosion of the German System of Industrial Relations," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 37(3), pages 483-505, September.
    3. repec:ilo:ilowps:447193 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Thomas Klikauer, 2002. "Stability in Germany’s Industrial Relations: A Critique on Hassel’s Erosion Thesis," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 40(2), pages 295-308, June.
    5. Anke Hassel, 2002. "The Erosion Continues: Reply," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 40(2), pages 309-317, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Valeria Pulignano & Paul Stewart, 2012. "The management of change. Local union responses to company-level restructuring in France and Ireland – a study between and within countries," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(4), pages 411-427, November.

    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. Dr Alex Bryson, 2011. "Change and Persistence in the German Model of Collective Bargaining and Worker Representation," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 382, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    2. Kathleen Thelen, 2009. "Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(3), pages 471-498, September.
    3. John T. Addison & Paulino Teixeira & Alex Bryson & André Pahnke, 2013. "Collective Agreement Status and Survivability: Change and Persistence in the German Model," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 27(3), pages 288-309, September.
    4. John T. Addison & Alex Bryson & Paulino Teixeira & André Pahnke & Lutz Bellmann, 2013. "The Extent of Collective Bargaining and Workplace Representation: Transitions between States and their Determinants. A Comparative Analysis of Germany and Great Britain," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 60(2), pages 182-209, May.
    5. John T Addison & Paulino Teixeira & André Pahnke & Lutz Bellmann, 2017. "The demise of a model? The state of collective bargaining and worker representation in Germany," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 38(2), pages 193-234, May.
    6. Addison, John T. & Bryson, Alex & Teixeira, Paulino & Pahnke, André & Bellmann, Lutz, 2010. "The State of Collective Bargaining and Worker Representation in Germany: The Erosion Continues," IZA Discussion Papers 5030, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. John T. Addison & Alex Bryson & Paulino Teixeira & André Pahnke & Lutz Bellmann, 2013. "The Extent of Collective Bargaining and Workplace Representation: Transitions between States and their Determinants. A Comparative Analysis of Germany and Great Britain," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 60(2), pages 182-209, May.
    8. John T. Addison & Paulino Teixeira & Katalin Evers & Lutz Bellmann, 2016. "Is the Erosion Thesis Overblown? Alignment from Without in Germany," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 415-443, July.
    9. Bellmann, Lutz & Gerner, Hans-Dieter & Hübler, Olaf, 2013. "Investment under Company-Level Pacts," IZA Discussion Papers 7195, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Addison, John T. & Teixeira, Paulino & Evers, Katalin & Bellmann, Lutz, 2012. "Is the Erosion Thesis Overblown? Evidence from the Orientation of Uncovered Employers," IZA Discussion Papers 6658, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Ingo Singe & Richard Croucher, 2005. "US Multi-Nationals and the German Industrial Relations System," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 16(1), pages 123-137.
    12. John T. Addison & Alex Bryson & André Pahnke & Paulino Teixeira, 2011. "Change and Persistence in the German Model of Collective Bargaining and Worker Representation," CEP Discussion Papers dp1099, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    13. Addison, John T. & Teixeira, Paulino & Bryson, Alex & Pahnke, André, 2011. "The Structure of Collective Bargaining and Worker Representation: Change and Persistence in the German Model," IZA Discussion Papers 5987, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. 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.
    15. Wiedner, Jonas & Giesecke, Johannes, 2022. "Immigrant Men’s Economic Adaptation in Changing Labor Markets: Why Gaps between Turkish and German Men Expanded, 1976–2015," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 56(1), pages 176-205.
    16. Oberfichtner Michael & Schnabel Claus, 2019. "The German Model of Industrial Relations: (Where) Does It Still Exist?," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 239(1), pages 5-37, January.
    17. Simon Jäger & Shakked Noy & Benjamin Schoefer, 2022. "The German Model of Industrial Relations: Balancing Flexibility and Collective Action," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 53-80, Fall.
    18. Heinze, Anja & Wolf, Elke, 2006. "Gender Earnings Gap in German Firms: The Impact of Firm Characteristics and Institutions," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    19. John S. Heywood & Uwe Jirjahn, 2014. "Variable Pay, Industrial Relations and Foreign Ownership: Evidence from Germany," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 521-552, September.
    20. Addison, John T. & Teixeira, Paulino & Evers, Katalin & Bellmann, Lutz, 2015. "Pacts for Employment and Competitiveness as a Role Model? Their Effects on Firm Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 9323, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    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:sae:treure:v:17:y:2011:i:3:p:355-370. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.