The aim of interconnecting work organisation, innovation and employment provides a defining approach of the European Union to competitiveness. Although there is evidence of the social and economic benefits deriving from processes of organisational innovation and participation there seems to be a lack of dissemination of new forms of work organisation in Southern Europe. Internationally well-known scholars from France, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy try to explain what are the specific obstacles with regard to a broader dissemination of new forms of work organisation in these countries. By doing so they also try to respond to the following more specific questions: What is the role of public policies with regard to the dissemination of new forms of work organisation? How can industrial relations foster processes of organisational innovation? What is the relationship between restructuring processes and new forms of work organisation?
Positioning industrial relations in a discussion that is sensitive to broader political, historical, and ideological tensions, this insightful book offers reflections on the politics of de-regulation that have developed in southern European work and employment relations over the past 20 years.
A remarkable development in the sociology of work in recent years has been the explosion of brilliant cross-national and cross-cultural studies in Europe examining the conditions of labor against the background of different economic systems, and differences within each of the major free market, mixed welfare, and planned economic systems that dot the European landscape. In Vienna and Budapest in particular, a group of intellectual workers have gotten together for what can only be described as breakthrough studies in the conditions and purposes of work in post-industrial society. The question of new forms of work organization focuses on job satisfaction, participatory democracy in the work place, levels of productivity, and issues of health and safety in the occupational environment. That these elements are important have long been known. But what this collection of studies emphasizes is the specific mix that produced specific outcomes. It does not shy away from dangerous and tough questions: worker control and control of workers, political participation in contexts of authoritarian regimes, and personal rewards in contexts that once frowned upon private acquisition of capital. The volume is rich in empirical studies and draws the theoretical implications that can and already have had vast policy consequences for workers in the modern " context. Issues relating to job rotation, enrichment, enlargement and autonomy, and others related to new forms of organization starting with the shop floor and extending throughout the management of the enterprise as a whole are dealt with candidly. The social character of labor, long frowned upon as a mechanism for evading bread-and-butter issues, is now recognized, East and West, as a dimension of concern that is growing precisely as the size and character of the labor sector is diminishing. This is must reading for those interested in new forms of social and policy synthesis, and ways of meliorating competing claims of different sectors in modern societies.
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com. Contingent Workers’ Voice in Southern Europe investigates the manifold challenges posed by the continued expansion of the platform economy, the rise of non-standard forms of employment, and the diversification of work identities.
This collective volume aims at studying a variety of labour history themes in Southern Europe, and investigating the transformations of labour and labour relations that these areas underwent in the 19th and the 20th centuries. The subjects studied include industrial labour relations in Southern Europe; labour on the sea and in the shipyards of the Mediterranean; small enterprises and small land ownership in relation to labour; formal and informal labour; the tendency towards independent work and the role of culture; forms of labour management (from paternalistic policies to the provision of welfare capitalism); the importance of the institutional framework and the wider political context; and women’s labour and gender relations.
Report of a 1978 survey on work organization trends in Germany, Federal Republic - covers sociological aspects and the economic background regarding quality of working life, job design, working conditions and workers participation, and comments on related labour legislation and labour relations, identifies gaps in research, and includes overall tripartite evaluation reports on work organization in nine EC countries. Bibliography pp. A1 to a10. Conference held in dublin 1978 October 26 and 27.
The Role of the State and Industrial Relations Edited by Adalberto Perulli & Tiziano Treu The new era of industrial relations that has been stealthily changing the world of work in recent decades seems to have reached a stage where it can be systematically monitored and analyzed, in great part because the “creeping renationalization” that has been noted since the financial crisis of 2008 has reinvigorated state intervention in essential economic structures. The contributions in this unrivalled book provide important new perspectives on the many challenges inherent in the present and future of the relationship between industrial relations and the state. Analyzing industrial relations systems from international, supranational, European and national points of view—and with an interdisciplinary approach connecting labour law, commercial law, corporate governance and international law—this one-of-kind book examines such salient aspects of the subject as the following: cooperative versus conflictual industrial relations systems; phenomenon of constitutionalization of power by multinational enterprises; competitive, illiberal and protectionist patterns of state regulation; freedom of association and industrial relations; potential power of transnational collective bargaining; impact of worktime arrangements; role of European Works Councils; exemplary value of the German system of workers’ participation; and global framework agreements. Using a comparative approach (the European Union, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Japan, China, the United States, Brazil, South Africa, India), the book reconstructs the general framework of global industrial relations, considering challenges and future prospects and proposing a new agenda for the state. Contributors include widely renowned professors of labour, commercial and international law, as well as experts from the International Labour Organization and the International Society for Labour and Social Security Law. The debate about industrial relations and the state in our globalized world is of major concern for practitioners in governments, companies, employers’ associations and trade unions, as well as for company managers, entrepreneurs, consultants, judges, human rights lawyers and academics interested in labour, industrial relations and social rights in European and international contexts.
Contingent Workers' Voice in Southern Europe investigates the manifold challenges posed by the continued expansion of the platform economy, the rise of non-standard forms of employment, and the diversification of work identities. Leading authors explore the potentialities and barriers for collective protection and representation of contingent workers in the platform economy, based on the experiences, needs, and aspirations of workers in Italy and Spain. Chapters undertake in-depth analyses of a diverse and innovative variety of initiatives for the protection, organization, and representation of contingent workers. The book ultimately constructs a framework to interpret the evolution of contingent workers' experiences, allowing trade unions, social movements, and cooperatives to develop organizational and representative practices that better respond to their needs. This incisive book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of sociology, international relations, political science, and labour law. Its practical insights will also enable trade unionists, activists, and policymakers in the field of labour relations to make informed decisions and identify possible avenues for development.
Earlier editions of this text have become the standard reference for a worldwide readership of practitioners in governments, companies and unions, and students. This revised edition analyzes employment relations in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, Japan and Korea.
