Kornelakis, Andreas
(2011)
Mediating EU liberalisation and negotiating flexibility: a coalitional approach to wage bargaining change.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
How do we explain divergent trajectories of change in wage bargaining
institutions? The advancement of European economic integration, leading to
markets liberalisation and increased competition, was expected to bring the
breakdown of centralised bargaining arrangements. This expectation was even
stronger given the internationalisation of new management practices, pushing
European firms to enhance their competitiveness via increasing flexibility.
Despite strong theoretical expectations towards a generalised breakdown of wage
bargaining, one finds divergent trajectories of change across European countries
and sectors. The task of this thesis is to explain the puzzle of varied responses in
otherwise similar sectors. Banking and telecommunications sectors in Italy and
Greece display a diversity of paths of institutional change: breakdown of
bargaining, reform of bargaining, successful centralisation, and failed
centralisation.
The direction of the paths of institutional change may be explained in large part
by two factors ignored by earlier literature: ‘employer associability’ and ‘labourstate coalitions’. On the one hand, it is argued that employers associations which
possess the legal competence and take into account the collective interests of both
large and smaller firms, may reform the wage bargaining institution, getting the
‘best of both worlds’ for their members. Additionally, a ‘labour-state coalition’
may moderate the destabilising pressures to wage bargaining, as long as trade
unions are able to speak with a ‘single voice’. The government will not only be
motivated by electoral concerns, but also support centralised bargaining to gain
‘room for manoeuvre’ for tactical policy trade-offs advancing its agenda. Overall,
the thesis refines earlier propositions, suggesting a more nuanced causal
mechanism to explain institutional change. The argument speaks to wider debates
in comparative political economy and comparative employment systems; it
fleshes out empirically the role of the state in Mediterranean capitalism and
highlights factors that moderate pressures to convergence to the Liberal Market
model.
Actions (login required)
 |
Record administration - authorised staff only |
Download statistics
Download statistics