Effects of Institutional and Organizational Factors on the Changing Contours of Industrial Relations in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, the industrial relations systems in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe have been undergoing complex transformation processes. As the business environment has radically altered from a centrally planned system to an open competitive one, trade unions in the region have struggled to carve out a role in the new order. We draw upon organizational survey level evidence gathered from 1604 HR managers to examine trade union recognition, trade union coverage, as well as the perceived ongoing influence of the trade union movement in Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Our analysis points to the legitimacy challenges faced by the labour union movement in the dramatically altered political and economic situation that emerged in the region as a result of the attenuation of socialism and the advent of a new market order. It also lends further support to the growing body of evidence on the lack of preparedness of the union movement for the new dispensation that emerged following the collapse of communism in the region.