An introduction to industrial relations and employment relationships which transcends specific national contexts. Throughout, issues of industrial relations are seen within a broad framework of the relationship between governments, markets and organizations. Among the issues explored are: the range of theoretical approaches to analyzing industrial and employment relations; the place of interest groups and organized interests, including both employers' organizations and trade unions, in the industrial relations system; the changing role of governments in industrial relations and the differing position of governments in individual nations; and the process of bargaining, the differences between collective regulation and other forms of management in workplace relations and the growth of the flexibility. Contributors indicate where national systems of industrial and employment relations differ, and where they share common ground. Three key elements, time organization, wages and skills are shown at work in the automobile industry, banking and the retail sector as illustrations of changes over time.
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Growing Cross-National Diversity or Growing Diversity tout court? An Introduction to Comparative Industrial and Employment Relations - Joris Van Ruysseveldt Regulating the Employment Relationship - Rien Huiskamp An Analytical Framework PART TWO: INTEREST ORGANIZATIONS AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS IN A CHANGING EUROPE Trade Unions from a Comparative Perspective - Jelle Visser Employers and Employers' Associations - Frans van Waarden Government Intervention in Industrial Relations - Frans van Waarden PART THREE: INSTITUTIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE Collective Bargaining in Transition - Rien Huiskamp Industrial Democracy, Employee Participation and Operational Autonomy - Rien Huiskamp PART FOUR: WAGES, WORKING TIME AND QUALIFICATIONS Wages from a European Perspective - David Marsden Working Time and Time Resource Management - Willem de Lange Labour Relations, Organization and Qualifications - Arndt Sorge PART FIVE: NEW TECHNOLOGIES, ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS New Production Technologies and Changing Work Systems - Arndt Sorge The Crisis of Fordism - Ben Dankbaar Restructuring in the Automobile Industry Service Work in European Countries - Albert Mok and Kea Tijdens Organization, Technology and Industrial Relations in Banking and Retailing
`Overall the book is useful, not simply for reminding us of the continued salience of industrial relations, the employment relationship and the labour process, but also for showing that the future may see not convergence (even towards a "Euro-model" yet alone across a wider canvass) - diversity may even be increasing' - Asia Pacific Business Review `Conceptually this book is very nicely organized.... In Part 2 there are chapters on trade unions (Jelle Visser), employers' associations (Frans van Waarden; one of the best essays I have ever read on this topic) and the state (also by van Waarden)' - Comparative Industrial Relations Newsletter `It is impossible in this review to discuss all the rich ideas contained in this comprehensive reader. Not only from its contents, but also from a didactic point of view, the book is excellent (for example the many explanatory panels) and is a useful tool for all researchers and teachers of industrial relations as well as for labour economists' - Economic and Industrial Democracy
