Epp Kallaste

Beyond Flexibility: Reallocation of Responsibilities in the Case of Telework

Based on eight in-depth case studies, this paper argues that telework transfers bigger (and legally unbinding) responsibility to employees whereas both employees and employers accept it. This is likely due to the fact that adoption of telework alters some aspects of psychological contract between employees and employers.

Negotiated responses to the crisis in the Baltic countries

This article reviews the negotiated responses to the crisis at different levels of social dialogue in the Baltic countries. The Baltic countries form a relatively coherent group of small open economies that can be classified as belonging to the neoliberal type of central and eastern European capitalism. Their responses to the crisis were consistent with such classification: flexible labour markets absorbed the main impacts of the crisis through rapid increases in unemployment, as well as nominal and real drops in wages. A negotiated response was either not sought at all by governments or was of minor importance at all levels of interaction between the social partners. If anything, national-level social dialogue deteriorated, remaining at a low level even after the crisis had peaked. Based on qualitative examples from Estonia and Lithuania we show that, at company level, responses to the crisis varied.

Employee 'voice' and working environment in post-communist New Member States: An empirical analysis of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

This article examines employee ‘voice’ in workplace health and safety in three Baltic New Member States by means of a cross-national survey. The data point to unresolved problems of voice in the context of rather poor working environments. These present opportunities for collective renewal by trade unions, but paradoxically are more likely to be addressed by employers in the context of significant labour shortages created by a post-European Union accession labour ‘exit’.

The Paradox of Post-Communist Trade Unionism: ‘You Can't Want What You Can't Imagine’

This article explores employee attitudes towards trade union membership in the post-communist Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It reports on a comparative empirical social survey of attitudes towards representation. We suggest that in addition to those employees who are union members and those who fall within an identifiable ‘representation gap’, there is a sizeable group of ‘undecided’ employees who could be persuaded to join trade unions, if they could see the relevance of collective representation. We argue that this relatively large group could be specific to the Central and East European countries, and employees who fall within the commonly understood representation gap in other countries can be found within this undecided group in Baltic countries. Trade unions therefore face a considerable challenge in proving their relevance to such employees, a problem that has wider resonances in a European context but may be more difficult to resolve in the Central and East European countries.

Two representatives but no representation: cases from Estonia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discover how non‐unionised representatives (NERs) are created and what their role is in comparison to unionised representation. The authors aim to analyse why the institution of non‐unionised employee representation is created if its functions overlap with those of the unions, including the functions of collective bargaining and information‐consultation.Design/methodology/approach – The case study involves interviews with representatives and executive directors, as well as a survey of the employees of two companies.Findings – The results show that when there is a weak union, the employers initiate an NER in order to involve the whole workforce in the collective agreement. The NER is elected by employees even though it was initiated by the employer. The roles of the two representatives do not differ much, the main function for both being collective bargaining with some provision for information and consultation.Originality/value – The unique situation in Estonia, w...

Who uses employee financial participation in an adverse environment? The case of Estonia

This article focuses on profit-sharing and employee share ownership practices, with the aim of analysing the effect of company size and industry on financial participation, as well as the substitution or complementary effect of other direct and indirect participation methods adopted in Estonian private companies. The article uses survey data from more than 900 Estonian companies obtained via telephone interviews in 2011. The results indicate that share ownership is more common in micro enterprises, but contrary to expectations the incidence of employee financial participation is no higher in knowledge intensive sectors. The results also show that financial participation has different complementarities depending on the scheme. It seems that profit-sharing is part of the ‘package’ of employee participation, but this does not apply to employee share ownership. The article challenges the common understanding that certain innovative service sectors and bigger companies are more inclined to adopt employee financial participation; and raises doubts about the presumed development towards a higher degree of financial participation in Eastern European countries.

Industrial relations and social dialogue in the Baltic states : crisis, conflict and compromise

This chapter analyses the intersection of global recession with the viability of social dialogue between labour and capital in post-communist states. It examines the crisis in a region where its effects have been most pronounced, the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, formerly Soviet republics and now full members of both NATO and the European Union (EU). The ‘shock’ of global economic and financial recession has had severe impacts on Baltic economies and, therefore, has also demanded radical changes on the part of governments. Through an analysis of responses to the crisis, this chapter attempts to assess the inherent strengths or weaknesses of social dialogue in the region. We suggest that trade unions have failed to influence the course of governmental crisis response measures. This is the result of the inherent weaknesses of post-communist trade unions, which have permitted governments to introduce fiscal policies largely unopposed. These measures have provided the primary means of adjustment to spiralling budget deficits in Latvia and Lithuania. In Estonia, which had previously succeeded in maintaining one of the lowest budget deficits in the EU, the crisis response measures were motivated as much by the determination to avoid the same predicament as its Baltic neighbours, as by the attempt to mitigate the almost as severe economic impacts of the crisis.

Employee “voice” and working environment in the New Member States : Translating policy into practice in the Baltic States

It has become conventional academic wisdom that among the key social benefits of European Union enlargement for the New Member States (NMS), in addition to enhanced information and consultation rights and non-discrimination measures, has been an improvement of occupational health and safety law and practice through the legislative transposition of EU Directives (Kohl and Platzer, 2004). While some have questioned the success of the institutional transfer of a European ‘social model’ in the process of enlargement (Vaughan-Whitehead, 2005; Meardi, 2007), the adoption of new legislative frameworks in the area of working environment is characterised as evidence of the spread of a European ‘social dimension’ to the NMS.

Two Representatives but No Representation - An Analysis of Two Cases from Estonia

he authors analyse why the institution of non-unionised employ-ees’ representatives (NER) is created if its functions overlap with those of the unions, including collective bargaining and information-consultation. We aim to find how NERs are created and what their role in comparison to unionised representatives is. The case study involves interviews with representatives and the managing director, as well as a survey of the employees in two companies. The results show that with a weak union, employers initiated the institution of NER in order to involve the whole workforce in the collective agreement. NER was elected by employees even though the institution was initiated by employer. The roles of the two representatives do not differ much, the main function for both being collective bargaining with minor provision for information and consultation.