Bernd Brandl

Sectors or countries? Typologies and levels of analysis in comparative industrial relations

This article presents a critique of the ‘methodological nationalism’ of traditional comparative industrial relations. It investigates nine different sectors across the 27 EU member states on the basis of seven empirical indicators. It is found that industrial relations vary across sectors as deeply as they do across countries, and that a cluster analysis of sectoral industrial relations produces very different results from one at national aggregate level. The concept of ‘national model’ of industrial relations, implying coherence and homogeneity within countries, and geographical typologies of industrial relations ‘types’, are therefore put in question. The article concludes by pointing at the theoretical and methodological implications of a focus on the sector as an important level of analysis.

Pattern Bargaining: An Investigation into its Agency, Context and Evidence

Pattern bargaining stands out as both an under-researched and controversial subject. This article is an analytical and empirical contribution to this debate. Theoretically, it provides a conceptual framework, which enables analysis to systematically differentiate between distinct forms of pattern bargaining in terms of scope, agency, development and function, which arise from differing contexts in terms of interest configuration, power relations and economic conditions. This framework is used to develop testable hypotheses on pattern bargaining as a mechanism of inter-industry bargaining co-ordination. The empirical part of the article examines these hypotheses for collective bargaining from 1969 to 2004 in Austria, which is commonly seen as a paradigm case of pattern bargaining. The article concludes by highlighting the broader implications its findings have from a cross-nationally comparative perspective.

Can Cross-Border Bargaining Coordination Work? Analytical Reflections and Evidence from the Metal Industry in Germany and Austria

To contain downward pressures on labour standards, Europes unions have attempted to coordinate their bargaining strategies. Little is known about whether such coordination can actually work. Analytical accounts have deduced its feasibility from national experiences with decentralized forms of coordination, while empirically only anecdotal evidence on its effectiveness is available. This article contributes to the analytical debate by pointing out the different logics of national and transnational bargaining coordination. Empirically, it tests the prospects for cross-border coordination by analyzing how Austrian collective agreements in the metal industry related to their German counterparts from 1969 to 2003. We conclude by discussing the implications for EU-level bargaining coordination.

Labour relations, economic governance and the crisis: turning the tide again?

This article discusses the implications of the current economic crisis for the interaction of economic policy and labour relations. Its structure distinguishes between four phases of economic policy: Keynesianism; the conversion to orthodox economics; economic policy under accelerating market integration; and current crisis management. For each of the phases the impact of economic policy on the involvement of organized interests in public policy, inter- and intra-class relations, the labour-relations institutions, their feedbacks and performance is discussed. The article concludes that the extent to which coordinated bargaining and its actors enjoy state sponsorship may make the difference between stability and disintegration, and whatever changes will occur, they will increase cross national heterogeneity.

Successful Wage Concertation: The Economic Effects of Wage Pacts and Their Alternatives

Recent debates on pacts have focused on the prerequisites for their emergence, whereas questions of their efficacy have receded into the background. In particular, systematic analyses of the effectiveness of pacts in terms of their capacity to enhance economic performance are missing. The aim of this article is therefore to assess the economic impact of pacts. As the majority of pacts concern wages, the assessment will concentrate on a comparison of the performance of pacts with alternative governance mechanisms for wage policies, that is, alternative pay‐setting modes. The findings show that when wage pacts are endowed with the ability to govern lower‐level pay determination, they are better at enhancing economic performance than other forms of coordination.

Collective Bargaining, Macroeconomic Performance, and the Sectoral Composition of Trade Unions

Strong exposed-sector unions and weak public-sector unions are seen as having beneficial effects on macroeconomic performance. Although these effects must work through the bargaining structure, the interaction with union composition is unclarified. This paper argues that the interaction effect qualitatively differs with the bargaining type. The findings show that the performance of pattern bargaining significantly increases with growing exposed-sector union strength whereas uncoordinated bargaining and centrally coordinated bargaining do not interact with union composition.

Preconditions for pacts on incomes policy: Bringing structures back in

Corporatist theory assumes a close association between centralized structures of interest intermediation and policy concertation, but recent social pacts have occurred in countries without these structures. Recent literature has focused instead on the processes involved in negotiating pacts. We bring structures back into the debate, arguing that tripartite pacts on incomes policy are systematically associated with multi-employer bargaining which is not coordinated by exposed-sector pattern-setting. This thesis is tested on time-series data for 14 West European countries from 1980 to 2003. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for the future of pacts.

An automated econometric decision support system: forecasts for foreign exchange trades

Making decisions challenges foreign exchange (FX) market brokers due to the volatility of the foreign exchange market, as well as the unmanageable flood of possibly relevant information. Thus, decision making in this complex and dynamically changing environment is a difficult task requiring automated decision support systems. In this contribution, we describe an econometric decision support approach, which enables the extraction of essential information indispensable to set up accurate forecasting models. Our approach is based on a genetic algorithm (GA) and applies the resulting models to forecast daily EUR/USD-exchange rates. In doing so, the genetic algorithm optimizes single-equation regression forecast models. The approach discussed is new in literature and, moreover, allows flexibility in automated model selection within a reasonably short time.

US Foreign Direct Investment, Macro Markets and Labour Relations: The Case of Enlarged Europe

The rise of macro markets such as the European Single market recalibrates the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and national locations. Previous research has ignored the impact of macro markets theoretically and empirically. The article therefore challenges conventional wisdom on the impact of national properties on FDI.

The Economic Impact of Collective Bargaining Coverage

This book examines the ways in which collective bargaining addresses a variety of workplace concerns in the context of today’s global economy. Globalization can contribute to growth and development, but as the recent financial crisis demonstrated, it also puts employment, earnings and labour standards at risk. This book examines the role that collective bargaining plays in ensuring that workers are able to obtain a fair share of the benefits arising from participation in the global economy and in providing a measure of security against the risk to employment and wages. It focuses on a commonly neglected side of the story and demonstrates the positive contribution that collective bargaining can make to both economic and social goals. The various contributions examine how this fundamental principle and right at work is realized in different countries and how its practice can be reinforced across borders. They highlight the numerous resulting challenges and the critically important role that governments play in rebalancing bargaining power in a global economy. The chapters are written in an accessible style and deal with practical subjects, including employment security, workplace change and productivity, and working time.