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Special Issue Guest Editors: Steffen Müller and Claus Schnabel: Industrial Relations: Worker Codetermination and Collective Wage Bargaining JBNST - Vol. 239/1 - 2019, pp. 0-0.
Editorial Steffen Müller and Claus Schnabel: Industrial Relations: Worker Codetermination and Collective Wage Bargaining JBNST - Vol. 239/1 - 2019, pp. 1-4.
Research Articles Michael Oberfichtner and Claus Schnabel: The German Model of Industrial Relations: (Where) Does It Still Exist? JBNST - Vol. 239/1 - 2019, pp. 5-38.
+ show abstract- hide abstractUsing data from the representative IAB Establishment Panel, this
paper charts changes in the two main pillars of the German IR model over the
last 20 years. It shows that collective bargaining coverage and worker representation via works councils have substantially fallen outside the public sector.
Less formalized and weaker institutions such as voluntary orientation of uncovered firms towards sectoral agreements and alternative forms of employee
representation at the work-place have partly attenuated the overall erosion in
coverage. Multivariate analyses indicate that the traditional German IR model
(with both collective agreements and works councils) is more likely found in
larger and older plants, and it is less likely in plants managed by the owner, in
single and foreign-owned plants, in individually-owned firms or partnerships,
and in exporting plants. In contrast, more than 60 % of German plants did not
exhibit bargaining coverage or orientation or any kind of worker representation
in 2015. Such an absence of the main institutional features of the German IR
model is mainly found in small and medium-sized plants, in particular in the
service sector and in eastern Germany, and its extent is increasing dramatically. Peter Ellguth and Susanne Kohaut: A Note on the Decline of Collective Bargaining Coverage: The Role of Structural Change JBNST - Vol. 239/1 - 2019, pp. 39-66.
+ show abstract- hide abstractIn the last 20 years there is a sharp decline in collective bargaining
coverage in Germany. Research on the determinants of collective bargaining
shows: subscribing to a sectoral bargaining system depends on several structural factors, like firm size, branch affiliation, owner-ship, firm age and work
force composition. Parameter that – at least partly - were subject to considerable
changes in the last two decades. With data of the IAB establishment panel we
want to determine which part of the decline in collective bargaining coverage is
due to structural change. We use a decomposition technique (Fairlie 2005) to
break down the differences in coverage between 1998 and 2016. Further-more we
take a look at distinct subgroups of establishments (along firm size). Our findings show that there is some influence of structural factors on the decline of
collective bargaining coverage in the long run. And there are considerable
differences between small and large firms with the decisions of the latter
being more dependent on structural change. Julian B. Adam: Voluntary Quits: Do Works Councils Matter? An Analysis of the Reform of the German Works Constitution Act 2001 JBNST - Vol. 239/1 - 2019, pp. 67-110.
+ show abstract- hide abstractMost of the literature on the effects of German works councils does
not deal with the issue of potential endogeneity of works council existence.
Exploiting exogenous variation in works council authority stemming from a
2001 reform of the German Works Constitution Act, I apply a regression
difference-in-difference using establishment panel data. I find that increasing
works council size and the introduction of one full-time councilor causally
reduces the number of voluntary quits by about 30 %. This decline is driven
entirely by collective voice effects and there is no evidence for monopoly
effects in place. Similar to the findings of previous research, the effect is
significant only in establishments which are subject to a collective agreement. The results suggest that the effectiveness of works councils either
heavily relies on the support of unions, or that works councils mainly serve
as a guardian of collective agreements. John T. Addison and Paulino Teixeira: Workplace Employee Representation and Industrial Relations Performance: New Evidence from the 2013 European Company Survey JBNST - Vol. 239/1 - 2019, pp. 111-154.
+ show abstract- hide abstractUsing cross-country data from the European Company Survey, we
investigate the relationship between workplace employee representation and
management perceptions of the climate of industrial relations, sickness/absenteeism, employee motivation, and staff retention. For a considerably reduced
subset of the data, a fifth indicator – strike activity – is also considered alongside the other behavioral outcomes. From one perspective, the expression of
collective voice through works council-type entities may be construed as largely
beneficial, especially when compared with their counterpart union agencies
either operating alone or in a dominant position. However, if heightened distributional struggles explain these differential outcomes in workplace employee
representation, it should not go unremarked that the influence of formal collective bargaining is seemingly positive. |