A revival of trade unions was widely expected when Blair’s New Labour government took over from the Conservatives in Britain in 1997. This did not occur. Collective bargaining continued to retreat. The paper discusses the implications of the changing economic context for the government’s...

In July 2007, the Prodi government and representatives of the three main Italian trade union confederations signed a landmark agreement on welfare and economic development. In October, in order to ratify or reject the agreement, the Italian labor movement organized a referendum, i.e. the...

We develop a theoretical model of retail competition that include two sources of quality, one inherently linked to brand characteristics and the other linked to the retailer level of service. We then measure their contribution in explaining the observed price differentials for a sample of U.K....

To improve their competitiveness the companies aim to increase the funds available to finance the necessary investments. In order to reduce wage costs company-specific deviations from industry-level wage contracts are concluded. Company-level pacts between the management and the works council...

In einigen Branchen werden Tarifverhandlungen nicht nur durch Branchengewerkschaften, sondern auch durch Spartengewerkschaften geführt. Dabei kam es zu Arbeitskämpfen, die mit gravierenden negativen Drittwirkungen verbunden waren. Da dies in der amtlichen Streikstatistik nicht abgebildet wird,...

Eine Auswertung von Tarifkonflikten in Deutschland zeigt, dass Spartengewerkschaften eine hohe Konfliktbereitschaft aufweisen. Treten mehrere konfliktfreudige Gewerkschaften bei einem Arbeitgeber in Konkurrenz, kumulieren sich die Konflikthandlungen. Im Extremfall gerät ein Arbeitgeber von...

This paper addresses the design of the machinery of collective bargaining from the perspective of the needs of microeconomic and macroeconomic flexibility. In the former context, greater attention is given over to enterprise flexibility than external adjustment. In the latter context, close...

This article investigates the transformations of the French unionism and of the French system of industrial relations over the last years and their probable future. It shows: an evolution from a militant unionism to a professionalized trade unionist system; the decline of collective actions; the...

To improve their competitiveness the companies aim to increase the funds available to finance the necessary investments. In order to reduce wage costs company-specific deviations from industry-level wage contracts are concluded. Company-level pacts between the management and the works council...

Der vorliegende Report berichtet über die Tarifverhandlungen im 2. Halbjahr 2018. Im 1. Halbjahr hatte es bereits Tarifverhandlungen in wichtigen Branchen gegeben, beispielsweise in der Metall- und Elektro-Industrie, im Öffentlichen Dienst (Bund und Kommunen) und im Bauhauptgewerbe. Im 2....