This paper examines critically the concept of the standard employment relationship (SER), differentiating between form and substance. It explores the social functions served by the SER and its evolution in western Europe. Six major causes underpinning changes in the employment relationship are...

Using data from interviews and collective agreements in five European countries, this article analyses the relationship between collective bargaining and the minimum wage. In a context of changing minimum wage policy and competing government objectives, the findings illuminate how pay bargaining...