Market-Embedding and Inclusion: Implications for Labour and Employment Relations

Abstract

The chapter deals with the outsourcing of public services in two Danish public administrations—a municipality and a hospital—and its consequences for working conditions and employment relations institutions, as well as responses of the trade unions thereto. For each case, the analysis sheds light on three analytical dimensions: the main drivers of outsourcing; the consequences for terms and conditions of employment and collective bargaining; and the strategies that trade unions implemented in the workplace. A pragmatic approach underpinned outsourcing of public services in Denmark: putting aside ideological stances, outsourcing constituted a profitable market-type tool that public administrations exploited to improve the quality of services and to boost value for expenditure. Outsourcing processes triggered a smooth and dynamic transition of personnel across organisational boundaries in both directions, but the strong collective bargaining institutions and coordination mechanisms in the Danish labour market ensured overall continuity and stability in working conditions. Such a positive outcome for employment was feasible also thanks to a long-standing tradition of consultation and negotiation between social partners and to the union encompassing and integrative strategy oriented to integrate into union protection the whole workforce employed in outsourced services in both the public and private sectors.