{"title":"Did employers abandon collective bargaining? A comparative analysis of the weakening of collective bargaining in the OECD","authors":"Jelle Visser","doi":"10.1111/irj.12439","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/irj.12439","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The paper takes up two questions. Do we observe, universally in the advanced capitalist world, the weakening of collective bargaining? Have employers everywhere and always tried to achieve this outcome and abandoned structures and policies that sustain collective bargaining? For answering the first question, the paper proposes three indicators—bargaining coverage, centralisation and control, measuring the incidence of collective agreements across workers and workplaces, the degree to which these agreements are bound by rules set by agents at higher levels, and whether these rules are enforced. For answering the second question the paper proposes a model that considers the relative strength of organised labour versus capital, the coordinating capacities of employers and the inheritance of past investments in collective bargaining. The analysis covers 32 Member States of the OECD with annual data on unions, employers and collective bargaining from 1980 to 2019.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"55 5","pages":"350-377"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12439","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142152364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The fallible manager: The critique of management within pluralist industrial relations","authors":"Edmund Heery","doi":"10.1111/irj.12438","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12438","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article uses the work of Willy Brown, John Purcell, Linda Dickens, and Keith Sisson to identify the critique of management within pluralist industrial relations. The notion of the ‘fallible manager’ captures the essence of this critique. Within the pluralist tradition, fallible managers are identified as the source of industrial relations problems and are also deemed incapable of reversing the harms they cause in the absence of supportive state intervention. While managers are deemed fallible in the pluralist tradition, however, management typically is not regarded as illegitimate and in a reformed institutional context is capable of managing for the common good, to generate ‘shared value.’</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"55 5","pages":"329-349"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12438","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141378171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
S Mangiola, M Milton, N Ranathunga, Csn Li-Wai-Suen, A Odainic, E Yang, W Hutchison, A Garnham, J Iskander, B Pal, V Yadav, Jfj Rossello, V J Carey, M Morgan, S Bedoui, A Kallies, A T Papenfuss
{"title":"A multi-organ map of the human immune system across age, sex and ethnicity.","authors":"S Mangiola, M Milton, N Ranathunga, Csn Li-Wai-Suen, A Odainic, E Yang, W Hutchison, A Garnham, J Iskander, B Pal, V Yadav, Jfj Rossello, V J Carey, M Morgan, S Bedoui, A Kallies, A T Papenfuss","doi":"10.1101/2023.06.08.542671","DOIUrl":"10.1101/2023.06.08.542671","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding tissue biology's heterogeneity is crucial for advancing precision medicine. Despite the centrality of the immune system in tissue homeostasis, a detailed and comprehensive map of immune cell distribution and interactions across human tissues and demographics remains elusive. To fill this gap, we harmonised data from 12,981 single-cell RNA sequencing samples and curated 29 million cells from 45 anatomical sites to create a comprehensive compositional and transcriptional healthy map of the healthy immune system. We used this resource and a novel multilevel modelling approach to track immune ageing and test differences across sex and ethnicity. We uncovered conserved and tissue-specific immune-ageing programs, resolved sex-dependent differential ageing and identified ethnic diversity in clinically critical immune checkpoints. This study provides a quantitative baseline of the immune system, facilitating advances in precision medicine. By sharing our immune map, we hope to catalyse further breakthroughs in cancer, infectious disease, immunology and precision medicine.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11092463/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85331774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dancing at the crossroads: Lessons from Ireland on collective labour law reform","authors":"Alan Eustace","doi":"10.1111/irj.12430","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12430","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The past 20 years were convulsive for industrial relations in Ireland: from boom to bust and back again, with the Financial Crisis killing off national bargaining; the Supreme Court first undermining sectoral bargaining, then shifting back in favour of it; and of course, the Covid-19 pandemic generating an overhaul of working conditions across society. All along, widespread industrial unrest has been notable by its absence. Long-term decline in Irish trade union density continues, despite recent research showing significant popular support for trade unions, particularly among young workers. Now, the obligation to transpose the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages has brought Ireland to a crossroads in collective labour law and industrial relations reform. How Ireland has responded to these pressures, internal and external, holds lessons for other jurisdictions, of which this article highlights three: a commitment to pragmatic adaptation over principled coherence makes measuring the success of any reform project difficult; different methods of reform enjoy varying levels of legitimacy; and disjunction between different levels of bargaining generates pressure on the system, including risks to the legitimacy of the system itself and the actors within it—particularly beleaguered trade unions.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"55 4","pages":"303-325"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12430","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140384380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Differing industrial relations: The public and the private sector in Germany","authors":"Werner Schmidt, Andrea Müller","doi":"10.1111/irj.12429","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12429","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article argues that industrial relations (IR) in the German public sector are not just a replica of private sector IR. It suggests that neither the structures, nor the outcomes can be sufficiently explained by derivation from private sector IR processes. Primarily, the specifics and developments of the public sector explain public sector IR. It is of fundamental importance whether trade unions operate in a profit-driven market environment or a publicly financed environment that is under public control. Differences between the public and the private sector result not least in the distinct relevance and meanings of trade union power resources. This influences the ways in which industrial action in the private and the public sector works and is relevant for trade union strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"55 4","pages":"285-302"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12429","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140243426","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Professor Mark Harcourt, Professor Gregor Gall, Professor Margaret Wilson
{"title":"The union default: Free-riding solutions","authors":"Professor Mark Harcourt, Professor Gregor Gall, Professor Margaret Wilson","doi":"10.1111/irj.12426","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12426","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A union default would empower unions to extend membership and representation to nonunion employers but still allow workers to opt-out and, thereby, free-ride. Though most workers would retain membership, free-riding could still undermine a default. First, propensity to maintain membership is likely to vary, leaving some sectors with too few members for viable, effective representation. Second, public goods research suggests free-riding increases over time when already extant. Third, expectations of widespread future free-riding could discourage workers from recruiting the minimum number of workers necessary to attain the default. We test two solutions—all employees being required to pay union fees or employers paying union fees—to these challenges, examining effects on intention to retain membership and support for a default. We find both have positive impacts upon reducing free-riding.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"55 4","pages":"267-284"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12426","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140425390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Against the tide: A case of industrial relations transformation in the Indian coal sector","authors":"Surendra Babu Talluri, Girish Balasubramanian, Santanu Sarkar","doi":"10.1111/irj.12425","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12425","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Although the scholarly debate on industrial relations (IR) transformation is inclined toward the conclusion that the IR transformation is bound to take place with changes in the surrounding business environment, we observe a few exceptions in each economy. The current study investigates one of such curious IR contexts, that is, the Indian coal sector. We rely on the ‘logic of the action’ framework and the IR transformation measures to assess the sector at an aggregate and micro level. The coal sector in India consists of a mix of both permanent and informal workforce. With respect to the permanent workforce, we analysed the collective bargaining agreements spanned over five decades (1975–2021). For the informal workforce, we analysed the recommendations of the HPC on wages and working conditions, the provisions of relevant legislation, internal circulars of coal companies and important judicial pronouncements. Our analyses revealed vast differences in wages and working conditions between the permanent and informal workforce. Despite a significant decline in the permanent workforce, they could negotiate better terms as the growing size of the informal workforce was yet to form a collective bargaining mechanism for better wages and working conditions. These results are indicative of a paradox which needs to be explored further. Our study advances the thesis of adaptive state capitalism in the coal sector through functional and numerical flexibility despite a politicised multi-union model in India.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"55 3","pages":"240-263"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140447682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Trade unions, refugees and immigrant labour: Has the attitude changed? The stance of Swedish blue-collar trade unions as evidenced by sentiment analysis","authors":"Aliaksei Kazlou, Lin Lerpold, Örjan Sjöberg","doi":"10.1111/irj.12424","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12424","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The attitude of trade unions towards migration and migrants, be it of asylum seekers or those in search of jobs and better incomes, differs substantially across European countries. No matter the original stance, a common current pattern is that of the willingness to accept migrants being eroded over time. To see whether this is the case also in a country that both proved welcoming to labour migrants and refugees during the opening decades of the new millennium, we set out to explore the attitudes of blue-collar trade unions in Sweden. Based on a diverse set of material issuing from the unions themselves, we use sentiment analysis to assess whether there are any changes to be discerned in the opinions of the representatives of 12 blue-collar trade unions and their national confederation. At its most general, the trend appears to turn more negative over time, yet the influence of defining events and legal changes is not so easily observed at the aggregate level. The union representing workers in the industry with the largest proportion of immigrant labour, the Hotel and Restaurant Workers' Union, is therefore selected for closer analysis. To the extent that changes can, or cannot, be observed, we relate those to major events and policy changes that have taken place over the 2010s.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"55 3","pages":"222-239"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12424","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140449637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ísis F. Lira, Laura de Carvalho Schiavon, Ricardo da Silva Freguglia
{"title":"Electronic monitoring of working time and labour market outcomes: Evidence from Brazil","authors":"Ísis F. Lira, Laura de Carvalho Schiavon, Ricardo da Silva Freguglia","doi":"10.1111/irj.12423","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12423","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study analyses the dynamics of registered firms after implementing a new law (2009) in the Brazilian labour market. The law proposed the electronic monitoring of working time to provide more efficiency and security by standardizing the equipment used for control and avoiding manipulation. As stricter monitoring may increase costs, this paper seeks to analyse whether there have been changes in the dynamics of firms adapting to the new regulation. There are two potential mechanisms as a reference: increasing wages and decreasing workers (or contracted hours), and increasing labour force and decreasing contracted hours per worker (and therefore the monthly wage). Using Brazilian employee–employer data and the difference-in-differences approach as an empirical strategy, our main findings suggest that firms that adapt to the new electronic workday control had a general reduction in the number of hours hired, an increase in wages for companies with 10–50 employees and a decrease in workplace accidents in firms with 50 or more employees.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"55 3","pages":"205-221"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139959191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effects of the socio-demographic factors on judgement building in arbitration","authors":"Maziar Jafary, Jules Carrière","doi":"10.1111/irj.12422","DOIUrl":"10.1111/irj.12422","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study examines how the socio-demographic characteristics of arbitrators and of plaintiffs affect arbitrators' judgement bases for arbitration decisions. Two research questions are tested quantitatively based on a data set of arbitration decisions in the Canadian university sector collected from the website of the Canadian Legal Information Institute. We created two models of independent variables related to the socio-demographic characteristics of arbitrators and plaintiffs. Multinomial logistic regression is used to examine the possible impacts of these variables on the justifications used by arbitrators to explain their decisions. The results indicate that both models significantly influence how arbitrators justify their arbitral decisions. The following variables significantly contribute to the models: <i>arbitrator's age, arbitrator's professional experience in management, plaintiff's gender</i>, and <i>support of the plaintiff by a collective entity (union or association)</i>. Young arbitrators are more likely to use “laws” and those who have professional experience in management tend to cite “evidence” to justify their arbitral decisions. Also, arbitrators are more likely to use “evidence” as their judgement basis for male plaintiffs who are supported by a collective entity. The details of these findings, limitations of the study, and future directions for research are further discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":46619,"journal":{"name":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL","volume":"55 3","pages":"185-204"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/irj.12422","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139615052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}