Georg Menz
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199533886
- eISBN:
- 9780191714771
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199533886.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
European governments have rediscovered labor migration, but are eager to be perceived as controlling unsolicited forms of migration, especially through asylum and family reunion. The emerging ...
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European governments have rediscovered labor migration, but are eager to be perceived as controlling unsolicited forms of migration, especially through asylum and family reunion. The emerging paradigm of managed migration combines the construction of more permissive channels for desirable and actively recruited labor migrants with ever more restrictive approaches towards asylum seekers. Nonstate actors, especially employer organizations, trade unions, and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations, attempt to shape regulatory measures, but their success varies depending on organizational characteristics. Labor market interest associations' lobbying strategies regarding quantities and skill profile of labor migrants will be influenced by the respective system of political economy they are embedded in. Trade unions are generally supportive of well-managed labor recruitment strategies. But migration policymaking also proceeds at the European Union (EU) level. While national actors seek to upload their national model as a blueprint for future EU policy to avoid costly adaptation, top-down Europeanization is recasting national regulation in important ways, notwithstanding highly divergent national regulatory philosophies. Based on field work in and analysis of primary documents from six European countries (France, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, and Poland), this book makes an important contribution to the study of a rapidly Europeanized policy domain. Combining insights from the literature on comparative political economy, Europeanization, and migration studies, this book makes important contributions to all three, while demonstrating how migration policy can be fruitfully studied by employing tools from mainstream political science, rather than treating it as a distinct subfield.Less
European governments have rediscovered labor migration, but are eager to be perceived as controlling unsolicited forms of migration, especially through asylum and family reunion. The emerging paradigm of managed migration combines the construction of more permissive channels for desirable and actively recruited labor migrants with ever more restrictive approaches towards asylum seekers. Nonstate actors, especially employer organizations, trade unions, and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations, attempt to shape regulatory measures, but their success varies depending on organizational characteristics. Labor market interest associations' lobbying strategies regarding quantities and skill profile of labor migrants will be influenced by the respective system of political economy they are embedded in. Trade unions are generally supportive of well-managed labor recruitment strategies. But migration policymaking also proceeds at the European Union (EU) level. While national actors seek to upload their national model as a blueprint for future EU policy to avoid costly adaptation, top-down Europeanization is recasting national regulation in important ways, notwithstanding highly divergent national regulatory philosophies. Based on field work in and analysis of primary documents from six European countries (France, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, and Poland), this book makes an important contribution to the study of a rapidly Europeanized policy domain. Combining insights from the literature on comparative political economy, Europeanization, and migration studies, this book makes important contributions to all three, while demonstrating how migration policy can be fruitfully studied by employing tools from mainstream political science, rather than treating it as a distinct subfield.
Bernhard Ebbinghaus
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199286119
- eISBN:
- 9780191604089
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199286116.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Since the 1970s, early exit from work has become a major challenge in modern welfare states. Governments, employers, and unions alike once thought of early retirement as a peaceful solution to the ...
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Since the 1970s, early exit from work has become a major challenge in modern welfare states. Governments, employers, and unions alike once thought of early retirement as a peaceful solution to the economic problems of mass unemployment and industrial restructuring. Today, governments and international organizations advocate the postponement of retirement and an increase in activity among older workers. Comparing eight European countries, the USA, and Japan, this book demonstrates significant cross-national differences in early retirement across countries and over time. The study evaluates the impact of major variations in welfare regimes, production systems, and labor relations. It stresses the importance of the ‘pull factor’ of extensive welfare state provisions, particularly in Continental Europe; the ‘push factor’ of labor shedding strategies by firms, particularly in Anglo-American market economies; and the role of employers and worker representatives in negotiating retirement policies, particularly in coordinated market economies. Over the last three decades, early retirement has become a popular social policy and employment practice in the workplace, adding to the fiscal crises and employment problems of today’s welfare states. Attempts to reverse early retirement policies have led to major reform debates. Unilateral government policies to cut back on social benefits have not had the expected employment results due to resistance from employers, workers, and their organizations. Successful reforms require the cooperation of both sides. This study provides comprehensive empirical analyses and a balanced approach to both the pull and the push factors needed to understand the development of early retirement regimes.Less
Since the 1970s, early exit from work has become a major challenge in modern welfare states. Governments, employers, and unions alike once thought of early retirement as a peaceful solution to the economic problems of mass unemployment and industrial restructuring. Today, governments and international organizations advocate the postponement of retirement and an increase in activity among older workers. Comparing eight European countries, the USA, and Japan, this book demonstrates significant cross-national differences in early retirement across countries and over time. The study evaluates the impact of major variations in welfare regimes, production systems, and labor relations. It stresses the importance of the ‘pull factor’ of extensive welfare state provisions, particularly in Continental Europe; the ‘push factor’ of labor shedding strategies by firms, particularly in Anglo-American market economies; and the role of employers and worker representatives in negotiating retirement policies, particularly in coordinated market economies. Over the last three decades, early retirement has become a popular social policy and employment practice in the workplace, adding to the fiscal crises and employment problems of today’s welfare states. Attempts to reverse early retirement policies have led to major reform debates. Unilateral government policies to cut back on social benefits have not had the expected employment results due to resistance from employers, workers, and their organizations. Successful reforms require the cooperation of both sides. This study provides comprehensive empirical analyses and a balanced approach to both the pull and the push factors needed to understand the development of early retirement regimes.
Bernhard Ebbinghaus
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199286119
- eISBN:
- 9780191604089
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199286116.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The chapter discusses how the state, employers, and organized labor promote and reform early retirement policies. What interests do workers, employers, and workplace representatives have in using ...
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The chapter discusses how the state, employers, and organized labor promote and reform early retirement policies. What interests do workers, employers, and workplace representatives have in using early exit? Beyond the workplace, interest coalitions may arise among governments, employer associations, and trade unions to externalize restructuration costs, reduce labor supply, and buy social peace.Less
The chapter discusses how the state, employers, and organized labor promote and reform early retirement policies. What interests do workers, employers, and workplace representatives have in using early exit? Beyond the workplace, interest coalitions may arise among governments, employer associations, and trade unions to externalize restructuration costs, reduce labor supply, and buy social peace.
Bernhard Ebbinghaus
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199286119
- eISBN:
- 9780191604089
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199286116.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter analyzes the economic ‘push’ factors that lead to early exit from work. Some firms co-sponsor early retirement via occupational pensions in order to facilitate restructuring. ...
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This chapter analyzes the economic ‘push’ factors that lead to early exit from work. Some firms co-sponsor early retirement via occupational pensions in order to facilitate restructuring. Deindustrialization, mass unemployment, and privatization have increased structural push, with early exit spreading widely across sectors. Two varieties of capitalism can be observed: early exit is used by firms to adapt to regulated labor markets in Continental coordinated market economies, it is more cyclical and infrequent in Anglophone flexible labor markets, while Japan and Sweden are exceptional cases that integrate older workers.Less
This chapter analyzes the economic ‘push’ factors that lead to early exit from work. Some firms co-sponsor early retirement via occupational pensions in order to facilitate restructuring. Deindustrialization, mass unemployment, and privatization have increased structural push, with early exit spreading widely across sectors. Two varieties of capitalism can be observed: early exit is used by firms to adapt to regulated labor markets in Continental coordinated market economies, it is more cyclical and infrequent in Anglophone flexible labor markets, while Japan and Sweden are exceptional cases that integrate older workers.
Stewart Wood
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198297567
- eISBN:
- 9780191600104
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198297564.003.0013
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
In this third of three chapters on the distinctive policy dynamics of particular areas of social provision, Wood looks at labour market regimes in Germany, Britain, and Sweden. The theoretical ...
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In this third of three chapters on the distinctive policy dynamics of particular areas of social provision, Wood looks at labour market regimes in Germany, Britain, and Sweden. The theoretical starting point of the chapter is an examination of path dependence, perhaps the most popular contemporary approach to explaining the persistence of institutions and policies over time. In principle, this offers an enticing explanation of the resilience of national policy trajectories, although the outcomes it explains have a tendency to be overdetermined, and not all mechanisms generating a bias towards the status quo are path‐dependent ones. The theoretical work of this chapter, therefore, lies in deriving alternative (though not mutually exclusive) micro‐level sources of policy continuity over time, and evaluating their relative contributions to the evolution of labour market policy in Germany, Britain, and Sweden. Divided into four substantive sections: Section 1 discusses the theory of path‐dependent institutional and policy trajectories in politics; Sect. 2 presents three distinct sources of policy continuity (employer‐centred, constitutional, and electoral) that are often bundled together as ‘lock‐in mechanisms’ in path‐dependent accounts; Sect. 3 sketches the changing context of labour market policy in Western Europe by looking at national responses to unemployment from 1980 onwards in each of the three country case studies, and providing accounts of labour market policies, employers’ preferences in relation to labour market policies, and constitutional factors and electoral constraints in relation to labour market reform; Sect. 4 is a conclusion and discusses the thesis offered by the chapter — that the trajectory of labour market policy can be accounted for by an employer‐centred theory of preferences.Less
In this third of three chapters on the distinctive policy dynamics of particular areas of social provision, Wood looks at labour market regimes in Germany, Britain, and Sweden. The theoretical starting point of the chapter is an examination of path dependence, perhaps the most popular contemporary approach to explaining the persistence of institutions and policies over time. In principle, this offers an enticing explanation of the resilience of national policy trajectories, although the outcomes it explains have a tendency to be overdetermined, and not all mechanisms generating a bias towards the status quo are path‐dependent ones. The theoretical work of this chapter, therefore, lies in deriving alternative (though not mutually exclusive) micro‐level sources of policy continuity over time, and evaluating their relative contributions to the evolution of labour market policy in Germany, Britain, and Sweden. Divided into four substantive sections: Section 1 discusses the theory of path‐dependent institutional and policy trajectories in politics; Sect. 2 presents three distinct sources of policy continuity (employer‐centred, constitutional, and electoral) that are often bundled together as ‘lock‐in mechanisms’ in path‐dependent accounts; Sect. 3 sketches the changing context of labour market policy in Western Europe by looking at national responses to unemployment from 1980 onwards in each of the three country case studies, and providing accounts of labour market policies, employers’ preferences in relation to labour market policies, and constitutional factors and electoral constraints in relation to labour market reform; Sect. 4 is a conclusion and discusses the thesis offered by the chapter — that the trajectory of labour market policy can be accounted for by an employer‐centred theory of preferences.
Franz Traxler, Sabine Blaschke, and Bernhard Kittel
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198295549
- eISBN:
- 9780191685132
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198295549.003.0019
- Subject:
- Business and Management, HRM / IR, Political Economy
Because employers have pre-associational powers and restrictions on the strategies of their associations, employers are likely to prefer individual relations to engaging in collective exchange with ...
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Because employers have pre-associational powers and restrictions on the strategies of their associations, employers are likely to prefer individual relations to engaging in collective exchange with labour. The desirability of collective exchange challenged thus their ability to associate and the need to do so must be differentiated. Employers played a key role in shaping the bargaining process as they have an individual and collective option. Also, market-led opportunism posed an unintentional threat from the shift to self-interested ‘short-terminism’ and a deliberate threat from employer disorganization. Unions and employer associations underwent reforms to economize resources and activities and to adapt to the interdependencies of issues and interests.Less
Because employers have pre-associational powers and restrictions on the strategies of their associations, employers are likely to prefer individual relations to engaging in collective exchange with labour. The desirability of collective exchange challenged thus their ability to associate and the need to do so must be differentiated. Employers played a key role in shaping the bargaining process as they have an individual and collective option. Also, market-led opportunism posed an unintentional threat from the shift to self-interested ‘short-terminism’ and a deliberate threat from employer disorganization. Unions and employer associations underwent reforms to economize resources and activities and to adapt to the interdependencies of issues and interests.
Georg Menz
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199533886
- eISBN:
- 9780191714771
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199533886.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
The politics of migration in the three established countries of immigration, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, are scrutinized in this chapter, with particular emphasis being placed on an ...
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The politics of migration in the three established countries of immigration, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, are scrutinized in this chapter, with particular emphasis being placed on an analysis of employers, trade unions, and humanitarian NGOs in attempting to shape national and indirectly European migration policies. In addition, the effects of top-down Europeanization and national initiatives at shaping bottom-up Europeanization are explored. French migration policy has only recently rediscovered active labor recruitment due to relatively belated employer interest. In Germany, employers are most interested in highly skilled migrants both in the manufacturing and service sector, while in the UK, business calls for entry channels both for highly skilled and low-wage low-skill migration, preferably into the service sector. In all countries, NGOs struggle to make their voices heard, though French groups have been successful with direct action.Less
The politics of migration in the three established countries of immigration, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, are scrutinized in this chapter, with particular emphasis being placed on an analysis of employers, trade unions, and humanitarian NGOs in attempting to shape national and indirectly European migration policies. In addition, the effects of top-down Europeanization and national initiatives at shaping bottom-up Europeanization are explored. French migration policy has only recently rediscovered active labor recruitment due to relatively belated employer interest. In Germany, employers are most interested in highly skilled migrants both in the manufacturing and service sector, while in the UK, business calls for entry channels both for highly skilled and low-wage low-skill migration, preferably into the service sector. In all countries, NGOs struggle to make their voices heard, though French groups have been successful with direct action.
Colin Crouch
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279747
- eISBN:
- 9780191599019
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279744.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
For more than a century of development, the industrial relations systems of Western European countries grew in very diverse and changing ways. The forms they adopted can be mapped against a set of ...
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For more than a century of development, the industrial relations systems of Western European countries grew in very diverse and changing ways. The forms they adopted can be mapped against a set of basic types, and this study moves between historical detail and theoretical typology in order to capture the complexity of that mapping. The book traces the development of trade unions, organized employers, the state's role, and patterns of industrial conflict in 15 countries. It concludes by linking contemporary industrial relations systems to a longue durŽe of relations between states and societies reaching back to the Reformation.Less
For more than a century of development, the industrial relations systems of Western European countries grew in very diverse and changing ways. The forms they adopted can be mapped against a set of basic types, and this study moves between historical detail and theoretical typology in order to capture the complexity of that mapping. The book traces the development of trade unions, organized employers, the state's role, and patterns of industrial conflict in 15 countries. It concludes by linking contemporary industrial relations systems to a longue durŽe of relations between states and societies reaching back to the Reformation.
Peter A. Swenson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195142976
- eISBN:
- 9780199872190
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195142977.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter turns to an explanation of welfare state development in Sweden, where ironically, the major strides had to wait until the 1940s and 1950s, although Sweden's progressive political forces ...
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This chapter turns to an explanation of welfare state development in Sweden, where ironically, the major strides had to wait until the 1940s and 1950s, although Sweden's progressive political forces seemed stronger than America's in the 1930s. First it looks at why. Because of their solidaristic system of labor market governance, capitalists in Sweden would benefit from progressive reforms in times of acute labor scarcity (associated with postwar macroeconomic conditions) rather than the reverse as in the U.S. Then it analyzes how the Social Democratic government's very modest unemployment insurance and pension reforms of the 1930s served solidarism's need for low levels of militancy and heightened labor mobility, and thus helped forge the kind of cross‐class alliance that was to secure a long reign of peaceful relations between labor and capital under a leftist government.Less
This chapter turns to an explanation of welfare state development in Sweden, where ironically, the major strides had to wait until the 1940s and 1950s, although Sweden's progressive political forces seemed stronger than America's in the 1930s. First it looks at why. Because of their solidaristic system of labor market governance, capitalists in Sweden would benefit from progressive reforms in times of acute labor scarcity (associated with postwar macroeconomic conditions) rather than the reverse as in the U.S. Then it analyzes how the Social Democratic government's very modest unemployment insurance and pension reforms of the 1930s served solidarism's need for low levels of militancy and heightened labor mobility, and thus helped forge the kind of cross‐class alliance that was to secure a long reign of peaceful relations between labor and capital under a leftist government.
Peter A. Swenson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195142976
- eISBN:
- 9780199872190
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195142977.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter develops an alternative theory about welfare state development, which posits that reformers try to root their legislation in cross‐class alliances intersecting the internally diverse ...
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This chapter develops an alternative theory about welfare state development, which posits that reformers try to root their legislation in cross‐class alliances intersecting the internally diverse interests of capital and labor. Reformers appeal to interests in progressive reform deriving from capitalists’ desire for regulation of markets. The theory about the politics of the welfare state draws on labor economics, arguing that macroeconomic shocks to systems of labor market governance (various forms of collective bargaining and managerial relations) create an opportunity for politicians to enlist capitalist support for regulatory assistance through social insurance and labor reform.Less
This chapter develops an alternative theory about welfare state development, which posits that reformers try to root their legislation in cross‐class alliances intersecting the internally diverse interests of capital and labor. Reformers appeal to interests in progressive reform deriving from capitalists’ desire for regulation of markets. The theory about the politics of the welfare state draws on labor economics, arguing that macroeconomic shocks to systems of labor market governance (various forms of collective bargaining and managerial relations) create an opportunity for politicians to enlist capitalist support for regulatory assistance through social insurance and labor reform.
Peter A. Swenson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195142976
- eISBN:
- 9780199872190
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195142977.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter begins the historical analysis of welfare state development by tracing the origins of American segmentalism, a pattern of labor market control marked by decentralized industrial ...
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This chapter begins the historical analysis of welfare state development by tracing the origins of American segmentalism, a pattern of labor market control marked by decentralized industrial relations, relatively high and downwardly rigid wages paid by many large employers (efficiency wages), and extensive use of company benefits (welfare capitalism). Leading employers in America embarked on their segmentalist strategy early in the 20th century by breaking with existing and emerging centralized regulation of labor markets (multiemployer collective bargaining), desiring in part to assert absolute management rights against the militant claims of labor unions. For reasons analyzed in Ch. 2, success of the employers gave rise to heightened interests in regulatory social reform in response to the deflationary macroeconomic shock of the Great Depression.Less
This chapter begins the historical analysis of welfare state development by tracing the origins of American segmentalism, a pattern of labor market control marked by decentralized industrial relations, relatively high and downwardly rigid wages paid by many large employers (efficiency wages), and extensive use of company benefits (welfare capitalism). Leading employers in America embarked on their segmentalist strategy early in the 20th century by breaking with existing and emerging centralized regulation of labor markets (multiemployer collective bargaining), desiring in part to assert absolute management rights against the militant claims of labor unions. For reasons analyzed in Ch. 2, success of the employers gave rise to heightened interests in regulatory social reform in response to the deflationary macroeconomic shock of the Great Depression.
Peter A. Swenson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195142976
- eISBN:
- 9780199872190
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195142977.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter turns to the dramatically different turn of events in early 20th century. Sweden, where highly centralized collective bargaining took hold, largely at the behest of employers, ...
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This chapter turns to the dramatically different turn of events in early 20th century. Sweden, where highly centralized collective bargaining took hold, largely at the behest of employers, accomplished with their effective use of sweeping multifirm and multiindustry lockouts. Securing absolute management rights despite union input in collective bargaining, employers achieved a solidaristic system of labor market regulation in which wages were held below market equilibrium for most firms and wages were standardized or compressed within many industries. The employer confederation was not successful, however, in achieving a desired compression of wages across industries, a goal that was to require labor union help and political intervention, discussed in the following chapter.Less
This chapter turns to the dramatically different turn of events in early 20th century. Sweden, where highly centralized collective bargaining took hold, largely at the behest of employers, accomplished with their effective use of sweeping multifirm and multiindustry lockouts. Securing absolute management rights despite union input in collective bargaining, employers achieved a solidaristic system of labor market regulation in which wages were held below market equilibrium for most firms and wages were standardized or compressed within many industries. The employer confederation was not successful, however, in achieving a desired compression of wages across industries, a goal that was to require labor union help and political intervention, discussed in the following chapter.
Peter A. Swenson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195142976
- eISBN:
- 9780199872190
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195142977.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter picks up where the last left off, in the 1930s, when the Swedish Social Democratic Party took power, and instead of undermining solidarism, actually helped employers achieve their long ...
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This chapter picks up where the last left off, in the 1930s, when the Swedish Social Democratic Party took power, and instead of undermining solidarism, actually helped employers achieve their long sought‐after solidaristic goal of compressing wage levels across industries. During the Great Depression, Social Democratic intervention against militant unions in the building and construction trades brought their wages down to levels long sought by employers, and inaugurated a decade‐long period of labor‐management harmony and consensual politics despite Social Democratic domination. This harmony was based on a cross‐class alliance of interest between major export‐oriented sectors of Swedish industry and the social democratic labor movement, reflected in the details of achievements of other political and industrial relations of the decade: the Social Democratic government's crisis program against unemployment and the famous 1938 Basic (Saltsjöbaden) Agreement between the labor and employer confederations.Less
This chapter picks up where the last left off, in the 1930s, when the Swedish Social Democratic Party took power, and instead of undermining solidarism, actually helped employers achieve their long sought‐after solidaristic goal of compressing wage levels across industries. During the Great Depression, Social Democratic intervention against militant unions in the building and construction trades brought their wages down to levels long sought by employers, and inaugurated a decade‐long period of labor‐management harmony and consensual politics despite Social Democratic domination. This harmony was based on a cross‐class alliance of interest between major export‐oriented sectors of Swedish industry and the social democratic labor movement, reflected in the details of achievements of other political and industrial relations of the decade: the Social Democratic government's crisis program against unemployment and the famous 1938 Basic (Saltsjöbaden) Agreement between the labor and employer confederations.
Peter A. Swenson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195142976
- eISBN:
- 9780199872190
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195142977.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter wraps up the analysis of solidarism's development through the 1950s with historical evidence showing how employers strongly favored continued wage compression, a fact that thoroughly ...
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This chapter wraps up the analysis of solidarism's development through the 1950s with historical evidence showing how employers strongly favored continued wage compression, a fact that thoroughly undermines the mythology that employers reluctantly traded centralized negotiation of an egalitarian structure of wages across firms and industries in exchange for the labor confederation's suppression of wage militancy. Wage solidarism and restraint, consensually pursued in multiindustry collective bargaining, generated endemic labor scarcity, which in turn gave rise to a profusion of welfare capitalist benefits offered by firms to attract and retain labor. The employers’ confederation proved unsuccessful in unilaterally suppressing this resurgent segmentalism, and these difficulties help explain employer support for welfare state politics during the 1940s and 1950s.Less
This chapter wraps up the analysis of solidarism's development through the 1950s with historical evidence showing how employers strongly favored continued wage compression, a fact that thoroughly undermines the mythology that employers reluctantly traded centralized negotiation of an egalitarian structure of wages across firms and industries in exchange for the labor confederation's suppression of wage militancy. Wage solidarism and restraint, consensually pursued in multiindustry collective bargaining, generated endemic labor scarcity, which in turn gave rise to a profusion of welfare capitalist benefits offered by firms to attract and retain labor. The employers’ confederation proved unsuccessful in unilaterally suppressing this resurgent segmentalism, and these difficulties help explain employer support for welfare state politics during the 1940s and 1950s.
Peter A. Swenson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195142976
- eISBN:
- 9780199872190
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195142977.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter returns to the analysis of twentieth century U.S. to explain the dual nature of its system of labor market governance in which cartelism, a centralized system of multiemployer collective ...
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This chapter returns to the analysis of twentieth century U.S. to explain the dual nature of its system of labor market governance in which cartelism, a centralized system of multiemployer collective bargaining, thrived alongside segmentalism in important sectors like bituminous coal mining, clothing, and building and construction. In these sectors, employers and unions joined in cross‐class alliance to prop up wages to stem destabilizing low‐standard competition. The regulatory alliance, distinct from Sweden's solidarism, which imposed ceilings instead of floors on wages, helped give rise to economic and political phenomena of an equally distinct nature, e.g., early ties between the Republican Party and the powerful miners’ union; corruption in building and construction (which was absent in Sweden); and ultimately, employer interests in the New Deal's labor and social legislation of the 1930s.Less
This chapter returns to the analysis of twentieth century U.S. to explain the dual nature of its system of labor market governance in which cartelism, a centralized system of multiemployer collective bargaining, thrived alongside segmentalism in important sectors like bituminous coal mining, clothing, and building and construction. In these sectors, employers and unions joined in cross‐class alliance to prop up wages to stem destabilizing low‐standard competition. The regulatory alliance, distinct from Sweden's solidarism, which imposed ceilings instead of floors on wages, helped give rise to economic and political phenomena of an equally distinct nature, e.g., early ties between the Republican Party and the powerful miners’ union; corruption in building and construction (which was absent in Sweden); and ultimately, employer interests in the New Deal's labor and social legislation of the 1930s.
Peter A. Swenson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195142976
- eISBN:
- 9780199872190
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195142977.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Wraps up the analysis of labor market developments in the U.S. through the 1940s showing how and why employers abdicated their segmentalist autonomy and submitted temporarily to state‐imposed ...
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Wraps up the analysis of labor market developments in the U.S. through the 1940s showing how and why employers abdicated their segmentalist autonomy and submitted temporarily to state‐imposed solidarism, including intersectoral wage compression similar to what Sweden's normal peace time system brought about. During the prewar and interwar periods, the same employers actively sought another kind of intersectoral control, especially over wages in the building and construction trades, because high wages in this sector disrupted major manufacturers’ otherwise workable system of labor market governance just as they did in Sweden. Unlike in Sweden, however, major American manufacturers were unable to find allies for a cross‐class alliance against the building trade unions, and thus political relations between capital and labor remained far more hostile than in Sweden despite the Swedish labor movement's explicitly anticapitalist ideology.Less
Wraps up the analysis of labor market developments in the U.S. through the 1940s showing how and why employers abdicated their segmentalist autonomy and submitted temporarily to state‐imposed solidarism, including intersectoral wage compression similar to what Sweden's normal peace time system brought about. During the prewar and interwar periods, the same employers actively sought another kind of intersectoral control, especially over wages in the building and construction trades, because high wages in this sector disrupted major manufacturers’ otherwise workable system of labor market governance just as they did in Sweden. Unlike in Sweden, however, major American manufacturers were unable to find allies for a cross‐class alliance against the building trade unions, and thus political relations between capital and labor remained far more hostile than in Sweden despite the Swedish labor movement's explicitly anticapitalist ideology.
Robin Archer
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198295389
- eISBN:
- 9780191598722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198295383.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Identifies unions, capitalist employers, and the government as the three actors with the most influence over the feasibility of any strategy for achieving economic democracy. The chapter considers ...
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Identifies unions, capitalist employers, and the government as the three actors with the most influence over the feasibility of any strategy for achieving economic democracy. The chapter considers the different ways in which these actors can organize both themselves and relationships between themselves. The degree of organizational centralization, the degree of class cooperation between unions and employers, and the degree to which the government and the two class actors are involved in each other's affairs, can be used to specify a wide variety of industrial relations systems. The chapter focuses special attention on one of these systems: corporatism.Less
Identifies unions, capitalist employers, and the government as the three actors with the most influence over the feasibility of any strategy for achieving economic democracy. The chapter considers the different ways in which these actors can organize both themselves and relationships between themselves. The degree of organizational centralization, the degree of class cooperation between unions and employers, and the degree to which the government and the two class actors are involved in each other's affairs, can be used to specify a wide variety of industrial relations systems. The chapter focuses special attention on one of these systems: corporatism.
Robin Archer
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198295389
- eISBN:
- 9780191598722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198295383.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Argues that while corporatism poses some serious dangers for labour, it also offers the prospect of making some headway towards economic democracy. Corporatism has three key advantages over other ...
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Argues that while corporatism poses some serious dangers for labour, it also offers the prospect of making some headway towards economic democracy. Corporatism has three key advantages over other industrial relations systems. First, by requiring workers to overcome collective action problems, it maximizes their strength and enables them to have a sustained power advantage over the employers. Second, it enables workers to pursue income policies, social contracts, and other forms of society‐wide bargaining, in which they exchange goods, such as wage rises, over which they have a lot of influence for goods, such as greater control, over which their direct influence is weaker. And third, it enables the goods that are obtained to be distributed to all workers.Less
Argues that while corporatism poses some serious dangers for labour, it also offers the prospect of making some headway towards economic democracy. Corporatism has three key advantages over other industrial relations systems. First, by requiring workers to overcome collective action problems, it maximizes their strength and enables them to have a sustained power advantage over the employers. Second, it enables workers to pursue income policies, social contracts, and other forms of society‐wide bargaining, in which they exchange goods, such as wage rises, over which they have a lot of influence for goods, such as greater control, over which their direct influence is weaker. And third, it enables the goods that are obtained to be distributed to all workers.
Aaron Bernstein
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199592609
- eISBN:
- 9780191594618
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592609.003.0013
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Pensions and Pension Management
Recent negotiations between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Detroit automakers focused attention on an innovative response to the long‐term US decline in retiree health insurance. The union agreed ...
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Recent negotiations between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Detroit automakers focused attention on an innovative response to the long‐term US decline in retiree health insurance. The union agreed to set up a trust called a voluntary employees' beneficiary association (VEBA) to assume responsibility for the UAW retiree medical care at the companies. An analysis of the General Motors Corporation VEBA suggests that it is a second‐best option to employer‐paid retiree coverage. However, absent comprehensive national health‐care reform, it may be a viable alternative for those unable to fend off the elimination of retiree health care provided by employers.Less
Recent negotiations between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Detroit automakers focused attention on an innovative response to the long‐term US decline in retiree health insurance. The union agreed to set up a trust called a voluntary employees' beneficiary association (VEBA) to assume responsibility for the UAW retiree medical care at the companies. An analysis of the General Motors Corporation VEBA suggests that it is a second‐best option to employer‐paid retiree coverage. However, absent comprehensive national health‐care reform, it may be a viable alternative for those unable to fend off the elimination of retiree health care provided by employers.
Colin Crouch
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279747
- eISBN:
- 9780191599019
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279744.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Changes in relations between states, organized employers, and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around ...
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Changes in relations between states, organized employers, and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around 1870, 1900, and 1914. At each moment there is a review, partly quantitative, of the position of trade union and employer organization, the role of the state, industrial conflict, and the development of relations among the partners. These data are used to map national cases against the theoretical scheme developed in Part I.Less
Changes in relations between states, organized employers, and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around 1870, 1900, and 1914. At each moment there is a review, partly quantitative, of the position of trade union and employer organization, the role of the state, industrial conflict, and the development of relations among the partners. These data are used to map national cases against the theoretical scheme developed in Part I.
