The Transformation of Employment Relations in Europe

Since the 1980s, the process of European economic integration, within a wider context of globalization, has accelerated employment change and placed a new premium on 'flexible' forms of work organization. The institutions of employment relations, specifically those concerning collective bargaining between employers and trade unions, have had to adapt accordingly. The Transformation of Employment Relations focuses not just on recent change, but charts the strategic choices that have influenced employment relations and examines these key developments in a comparative perspective.

Valeria Pulignano is Professor in Sociology of Labor and Industrial Relations at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. James Arrowsmith is Professor in the Department of Management and International Business at Massey University, New Zealand.

1. Introduction James Arrowsmith and Valeria Pulignano 2. Private Sector Employment Relations in Western Europe: Collective Bargaining Under Pressure? Keith Sisson 3. Worker Voice Under Pressure: Collective Workplace Representation and the Challenge of Multiplying Spaces and Actors Miguel Martínez Lucio and Maria González Menéndez 4. Employment Relations in the Public Services: Between Hierarchy and Contract Giuseppe Della Rocca 5. Emerging Systems of Employment Relations in Central Eastern European Countries Guglielmo Meardi 6. Wage Regulation in the Private Sector: Moving Further Away From a 'Solidaristic Wage Policy'?Maarten Keune and Kurt Vandaele 7. Working Time in Europe James Arrowsmith 8. Transformations in Work Organisation and Labour Regulation Ludger Pries 9. Governing Complexity, Diversity and Uncertainty in the Changing European Space Valeria Pulignano 10. Employability Jonathan Winterton and Nigel Haworth 11. The 'State Of Affairs' of Flexicurity in Industrial Relations: Assessing Country Performance Using Transition Indicators Ton Wilthagen, Ruud Muffels and Heejung Chung 12. Conclusion: The Transformation of Employment Relations within the European Union: a Common Process of Fragmentation