In April 2000, a statutory National Minimum Wage was introduced in Ireland, at around 55% of the average industrial wage. This development is notable for a number of reasons: first, the statutory minimum wage seems to contradict the voluntarist tradition of Irish industrial relations where the...

This introductory article to the special issue proposes a more encompassing view of transnational collective action in Europe, which goes beyond the classical, country by-country oriented, comparative industrial relations approach. Instead, we propose an extension of focus to capture also other...

What explains the adoption of two different policies on equal pay by gender (EPG) and by nationality (EPN) in Switzerland? And why is the liberal, litigation-based, equal pay policy regime set up by the Gender Equality Act of 1996 much less effective than the neocorporatist ‘accompanying...

Until very recently, European employers and political leaders denied the need for any coordination in industrial relations at EU level. In 2011 however, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a new European economic governance regime that makes EU member states' labor policies subject...

The Republic of Ireland belongs – together with the UK and Sweden – to the group of initially only three EU member states that did not impose any restrictions on the free movement of workers from the eight new central and east European EU member states in 2004. Following this, a number of...

Industrial relations scholars have argued that east-west labour migration may benefit trade unions in Central and Eastern Europe. By focusing on the distributional aspect of wage policies adopted by two competing Romanian trade unions in the health care sector, this article challenges the...

Since the revitalisation of the European integration process by the Delors Commission, European institutions have been encouraging social dialogue and the emergence of a European system of industrial relations. The Barroso Commission's response to the Eurozone crisis is a source of concern for...

European labour movements are under severe pressure as a result of the global financial and Eurozone crises but to what extent have relations of transnational solidarity been established in this process? This essay will assess the response of European labour movements to the Eurozone crises and...

The study aims to provide new information on the impact of new governance tools on the different actors of the European system of industrial relations – European institutions, governments and European social partners. Furthermore, it endeavours to: promote awareness and understanding of the...