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1. Mapping Key Dimensions
of Industrial Relations
Dr. Christian Welz
University of Arkansas, Dublin, 08 June 2016

2. 2
Varieties of IR
Research questions
Key dimensions
Views of stakeholders
IR cluster perspective
Indicators
2
3
4
6
5
1

3. 3
Varieties of IR1
2
3
4
6
5

4. Definition of industrial relations
industrial relations (IR)
– “the focal point of the field (…) is the employee-employer
relationship.” (US Social Science Research Council 1928)
– “(…) the consecrated euphemism for the permanent conflict, now
acute, now subdued, between capital and labour.”(Miliband,1969,
80, cited by Blyton/Turnbull, 2004, 9)
– “The central concern of IR is the collective regulation
(governance) of work and employment.” (Sisson 2010)

5. Industrial relations regimes
• Liberal market vs. coordinated market economies
– Peter Hall and David A. Soskice, 2001,
Varieties of Capitalism: the institutional foundations
of comparative advantage,
Oxford University Press.

6. Liberal Msarket Economies
• UK
– corporate governance: shareholder dominated; performance
represented by current earnings and share prices
– employee relations: short term, market relations between employee
and employer; top management has unilateral control of the firm
– industrial relations: employer organisations and unions relatively
weak; decentralised wage setting; insecure employment (“hire and
fire”; fluid labour markets)
– vocational training / education: vocational education offered on
market; labour force has high general skills
– inter-firm relations: market relations, competition; use of formal
contracting and subcontracting relationships.

7. Coordinated Market Economies
• GERMANY
– corporate governance: long-term bank-dominated insider systems;
cross-directorships; cross-shareholding;
– employee relations: long term, formalised participation of
employees; consensus decision-making with management
– industrial relations: trade unions and employers organised; industry
wide collective bargaining and pay determination; employment
relatively secure
– vocational training: elaborate industry-based training schemes;
labour force has high industry-specific and firm-specific skills
– inter-firm relations: development of collaborative networks;
cooperation among firms in diffusing technologies

8. Industrial relations regimes
• 5 geographical clusters
– Jelle Visser, 2008, in: EC, Industrial Relations in Europe Report, Brussels,
DG EMP.

9. 9
Centre-East
South
Centre-West
North
West

10. 10
North Centre–West South West Centre–East
IR regime Nordic
corporatism
social partnership
polarised
pluralism
liberal
pluralism
transition economies
role of SPs in
public policy
institutionalised
irregular/
politicised
rare/event-driven
irregular/
politicised
role of State limited ‘shadow’ of hierarchy
frequent
intervention
non-intervention
organiser of
transition
power balance labour-oriented balanced alternating employer-oriented state
bargaining style integrative
distributive/
conflict-oriented
acquiescent
employee
representation
union based/
high coverage
dual channel/
high coverage
variable/ mixed
union based/
small coverage
predominant
level of CB
sector
sector/company company

11. Trade Unions
Intersectoral
level
Government
Employers
Intersectoral level
Sectoral level Sectoral level
Company level
Levels of CB
Company level
Belgium
Finland
Austria
Denmark1
France1
Germany
Greece
Ireland1
Italy
Luxembourg1
Netherlands
Portugal1
Spain1
Sweden1
Denmark2
France2
Ireland2
Luxembourg2
Portugal2
Spain2
Sweden2
UK

12. Trade Unions
Intersectoral
level
Government
Employers
Intersectoral level
Sectoral level Sectoral level
Company level
Levels of CB
Company level
Slovenia 1
Bulagaria1
Cyprus 1
Slovakia 1
Slovenia 2
Bulgaria2
Croatia
Cyprus 2
Czech Rep.
Estonia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Poland
Romania
Slovakia 2

13. Trade Union density rate
(ESDE 2015)

14. Employer density rate
(ESDE 2015)

15. Collective bargaining coverage and
dominant level of CB (ESDE 2015)

16. Days not worked due to industrial
action – 2009-2013 (ESDE 2015)

17. Monthly minimum wage _ 2011 v 2016
EIRO 2013/14
BG RO LV EE LT HU CZ PL SK HR PT EL ES SI MT EU CY DE IE FR BE NL UK LU
2011 128 158 285 290 232 338 310 345 327 385 485 585 641 748 685 661 855 146114251415144610901757
2016 214 276 287 430 350 353 360 430 405 407 530 580 655 763 792 805 870 1460146414661501152417291922
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
EUR 2011 2016

18. Average hourly labour costs (2012)
EIRO 2014
BG RO LV LT PL HU SK EE CZ PT GR SI CY EU UK ES IT IE DE AT FI NL SE FR LU BE DK
2012 3 4.4 5.3 5.8 7.4 7.5 8.3 8.4 11 12 15 15 18 20 20 21 28 29 30 31 31 32 33 34 35 37 38
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
EUR

19. Real labour productivty (2012)
EIRO 2014
EE SI LV LT PL CZ MT CY EU IT BE AT FI DE SE FR NL IE
2012 1.7 2.4 8.2 10.3 10.4 13.2 14.5 21.5 27 32.2 37.2 39.5 39.5 42.6 44.9 45.4 45.6 50.4
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
EUR per h worked

20. 20
Research questions
1
2
3
4
6
5

21. 21
1. Which elements can be identified as the
key dimensions and sub-dimensions of
a comparative framework for industrial
relations?
2. Which indicators and which data
sources can be used for measuring these
dimensions?

22. 22
Key dimensions
2
3
4
6
5
1

23. 23

24. INDUSTRIAL
DEMOCRACY
JOB &
EMPLOYMENT
QUALITY
INDUSTRIAL
COMPETITVENESSSOCIAL JUSTICE

26. 26
Views of stakeholders
1
2
3
4
6
5

27. 27

28. 28

29. 29

30. 30
IR cluster perspective
1
2
3
4
6
5

31. 31
Centre-East
South
Centre-West
North
West

32. 32

33. 33
Indicators
1
2
3
4
6
5

35. 35
- Relevance: Can the indicator be brought into strong association with one or
several issues of one of the four key dimensions? Will the indicator be able to
detect and display a variation that is important enough to warrant further
investigation? Due to its importance, this criterion was double-weighted.
- Validity & embeddedness: Does the indicator indeed measure what it claims to
measure? Is it not confounded by other factors? I.e. does the measure adequately
represent all facets of a concept? How well is it embedded in the overall concept?
- Availability and accessibility of data: Is time-series data available? In which
intervals? Is data accessible in the first place? The higher the interval, the more
useful the data!
- Comparability: Is aggregated comparable across all EU member states plus
Norway? I.e. are all countries in the EU covered by the indicator?

36. 36

37. 37
any proposals for other indicators ???
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