Posted Work and Transnational Workspaces in Germany

Abstract

Chapter 2 shows how transnational regulation and de-territorialization impact employment relations in the German construction and the meat slaughtering industries. The aim of this chapter is to examine how this opened up exit options for capital and constrained the rights of unions, works councils, and mobile workers, thereby creating a space that allows for the importation of informal work practices. It relates the literature on labor market dualization to the changes in the nature and organization of the Westphalian state system. Findings of the chapter show that declining territorial boundedness allows firms to circumvent key German industrial relations institutions.