Marc van der Meer

Gender and ethnic minority exclusion from skilled occupations in construction: a Western European comparison

Women and ethnic minorities remain seriously underrepresented in skilled construction occupations despite European Union policy to overcome labour market segregation and despite their increasing participation in the economy‐wide labour market. The paper seeks to account for differences in female and ethnic minority/migrant participation in both the deregulated, craft‐based construction industries of Italy and Spain and, to an extent, Britain and in the regulated industrial and training‐based industries of Denmark and the Netherlands. The authors found that the only entry route for women is to obtain formal qualifications, with the Dutch and Danish education and training systems being especially pivotal to inclusion. Those from ethnic minorities and recent migrants, whilst proportionately overrepresented in Italy and Spain, face more vertical segregation in being largely confined to the bottom of the job ladder. Key obstacles confronted by both groups are the opportunity to undertake work‐based training, output‐based wage systems, informal methods of recruitment and lack of proactive implementation of equal opportunities policies. The conclusion drawn is that European and national authorities and social partners need to address equality of access and of employment conditions to ensure that regulation overcomes exclusion.

Broadening without Intensification: The Added Value of the European Social and Sectoral Dialogue

The framework of the European social dialogue (ESD) has enabled interest organizations at the European level to conclude agreements on a wide range of social policy issues. This applies both at the inter-sectoral level and within the various sectors, and has led in the last few decades to the creation of a large number of joint texts. This article addresses the issue of the added value of these results for the parties concluding them. It is argued that the ESD does not constitute a system of industrial relations at the European level, but serves as an alternative lobbying channel for the social partners involved.

Adaptive and Reflexive Governance : The Limits of Organized Decentralization

How robust is coordinated decentralization in socio-economic governance, especially in wage bargaining, when national economies are torn between internationalization on the one hand and decentralization or increased internal diversity on the other? How should the national state influence the behaviour of trade unions and employers’ organizations? What constitutes an effective public policy towards industrial relations? Are there any general design principles for such policies? These are the questions that we seek to answer in this article, mainly using the Dutch consultation economy as our example.

Enabling and disabling: disability in the British and Dutch construction sectors

Though the British and Dutch approaches to disability in the construction sector exhibit common features, Britain tends towards a capabilities model compared with the Netherlands which is closer to a social model. The construction sector is considerably more regulated in the Netherlands but is in both countries highly disabling and exclusive. Sector‐specific disabling and enabling factors and policy measures were investigated in the two countries with a view to identifying which policies might facilitate labour market participation. The investigation was based on interviews using similar questionnaires with key stakeholders, firms and disabled employees and a focus group. Policy in each country addresses the nature of exclusion in different ways. The conclusion drawn is that a sector‐specific approach is needed if disability policy in Britain is to be more in tune with the social model—as apparent from the comparison with the Netherlands.

Convergent and Divergent Country Trends in Coordinated Wage Setting and Collective Bargaining in the Public Hospitals Sector

Drawing on the findings of research in the public hospitals sector in five European countries1—France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK—this article assesses the character of change in wage setting and collective bargaining. It demonstrates the diversity of national arrangements by comparing key characteristics: (i) the bodies of collective representation (unions, professional associations and employer bodies); (ii) the degree of integration with the wider public sector framework; (iii) coordination (or competition) with the private hospitals sector; and (iv) the practice of a la carte provisions within individual hospitals. Despite national varieties of wage setting and collective bargaining, each country sector faces similar tensions—most notably the opposition between public (labour market) rules and health (product market) rules, and pressures to segment or integrate employment conditions by labour force group. By examining the nature of change in institutions for wage setting and collective bargaining in each country, the article contributes to our understanding of the extent of coordination and change of public sector wage setting and describes three scenarios: fragmentation (Germany); continuity (France and the Netherlands); and reconstruction (the UK and Norway).

The focus of the new trade union. Opinions of members and non-members regarding social differences and trade union priorities in the Netherlands

Trade union legitimacy at national level is increasingly coming under pressure due to the new social challenges arising from the shifting of decision making from national to both international and decentralised levels. In this article we discuss representative opinion research on the social differences perceived by Dutch citizens and the priorities on which trade unions should focus. This allows us to relate the emerging criticisms of the unbalanced composition of Dutch trade union membership to issues of ‘positive’ coordination and policy-making legitimacy in light of internal trade union democracy and the representation of younger labour market cohorts.

Analysing Employment Practices in Western European Multinationals: Coordination, Industrial Relations and Employment Flexibility in Poland

Despite the fact that multinational companies (MNCs) in Central Eastern Europe significantly contribute to employment growth in the region, qualitative knowledge about diffusion of employment practices in this region, and about coordination of MNCs with local labour market actors and institutions is still limited. This paper aims to fill this gap by underlining the coordination between MNCs, local actors, and international actors in shaping employment practices, their diffusion from headquarters to the workplace level, and their adaptation to local conditions in Poland. The goal is to explain MNC-driven adjustment to local conditions in employment practices of production workers and industrial relations through which this goal can be achieved. To explain this, we apply several coordination games between management and trade unions in the empirical part of the paper.We argue that the MNCs corporate intention to utilise local conditions, the interactive coordination of the factory management with the local trade union, and an underdeveloped international coordination of trade unions within the MNC are the main factors explaining the specific local employment practices and industrial relations instead of their diffusion from MNC headquarters or other subsidiaries.