Crisis, deregulation and the rise of the gig economy: Greek industrial relations and social partnership under stress?

The consequences of the global financial crisis and the implementation of austerity measures in Greece have been extensively documented. Less well-documented are the effects of the measures on collective bargaining, labour relations, and the overall state of the labour market following the termination of the financial assistance programmes. This is investigated in the current chapter from both theoretical and empirical angles, together with the relevant labour disruptions brought on by the emergence of the digital gig economy during the crisis and the role of social partners. The authors argue that policy and regulatory responses leaned more heavily on the reconfiguration of Greek labour relations along with the weakening of traditions and institutions of tripartite social dialogue and collective bargaining mechanisms that could have potentially facilitated innovative and sustainable policy solutions to the challenges posed by the crisis and the rise of the gig economy. Developments that are due, as we argue, to a combination of both the long-term effects of the recent regulatory interventions as well as of historical legacies. Thus, at a period of multiple disruptions in industrial and labour relations brought on by the economic crisis and the concurrent growth of the gig economy, the chapter evaluates the significance of policy legacies and the degree to which they affected social partner responses and adjustments, and in what manner.