Vertical New Knowledge Transfer and the Revival of Multi-Employer Collective Bargaining

This paper addresses the puzzle of how and why multi-employer bargaining has revived as a policy idea given the apparent dominance of neoliberalism. Multi-employer bargaining has emerged as a solution to problems caused by failed neoliberal policies. These solutions have been generated and disseminated through a process of vertical ‘new knowledge’ transfer between international, regional and national governance levels, which local actors have mobilised to influence policy debates and outcomes. We develop these arguments using case studies of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's changing position on collective bargaining, the European Union Minimum Wage Directive 2022 that encouraged multi-employer bargaining, and bargaining reforms implemented in 2022–24 in Australia. We contribute insights to power resource theory regarding how new knowledge as a distinct form of ideational power is operationalised vertically across different governance levels to resolve localised labour problems.