Employment Relations in Outsourced Public Services: Working Between Market and State

Abstract

This introductory chapter aims to contextualise the phenomenon of outsourcing of public services in Europe within a broader agenda tracing the links among austerity policies, a swelling marketisation trajectory in the public service sector and the neoliberal political agenda. Hence, after a brief introduction, the chapter presents the main research questions and challenges animating the book, namely the examination of the consequences of outsourcing of public services for working conditions, employment relations institutions, trade unions and the role of the state, placing these developments in a wider framework that incorporates the legacy of the national models of public administration and employment relations regimes in the public sector. Then, a methodological section introduces the approach and the research design. Finally, the chapter reviews the main debates informing the book, drawing from the comparative public administration and comparative employment relations literature: the marketisation and neoliberal trajectory of public service transformation; the ping-ponging debate on convergence vs enduring differences in public sector national regimes; and the role of the state in public services.