Risking relegation or staying in the first league? industrial relations and enterprise restructuring in Germany under the impact of globalisation and financialisation

Jürgen Kädtler Jürgen Kädtler

doi:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.2.1.0062

Abstract

The ‘dual system’ of industrial relations has formed a crucial component of the ‘German Model’ of post war capitalism. However it has come under severe pressure since the ending of the ‘Golden Age’ of Fordism and both nations and companies have been forced to engage with the new demands of globalisation. The focus of this article is on one important aspect of this development: the impact of organisational globalisation in large companies on industrial relations and on employees’ bargaining power, drawing on research in the German chemical, pharmaceutical and automotive industries. It is argued that whether employees’ primary power will erode, persist, or even increase depends critically on companies’ product strategies. The article draws attention to ways in which employees’ bargaining positions may be eroded either because the traditional strategies of unions and works councils make it difficult to draw on primary power at a local level or because primary power is shifting to new groups of employees who were traditionally not well organised. However it also points to some ways in which bargaining has been successful under these new circumstances.

Highlights

Germany’s unique industrial relations system has indisputably played a crucial part in sustaining the model of post war capitalism that many scholars have characterised as the ‘German Model’ (Schlupp, 1979; Schroeder, 2000; Schroeder & Esser, 1999), ‘Rhineland Capitalism’ (Albert, 1991) or a variant of ‘Mesocorporatism’ (Amable, Barré & Boyer, 1997)
Break or weld? trade union responses to global value chain restructuring in general; it contributed to bringing about major structural change in the economy whilst avoiding major social conflict; and it provided a high level of social integration and stability at company level, sectoral level and across society as a whole
The representation of employees and trade unions on supervisory boards supplied an additional mechanism for achieving social integration by looking for collaborative solutions in cases where there were clashing interests, but always with the alternative back-up option of more conflictual bargaining if this did not bring results (Streeck & Kluge, 1999; Müller-Jentsch, 2003)

Summary

Introduction

Germany’s unique industrial relations system has indisputably played a crucial part in sustaining the model of post war capitalism that many scholars have characterised as the ‘German Model’ (Schlupp, 1979; Schroeder, 2000; Schroeder & Esser, 1999), ‘Rhineland Capitalism’ (Albert, 1991) or a variant of ‘Mesocorporatism’ (Amable, Barré & Boyer, 1997). In striking contrast with this case, the German tyre manufacturer Continental demonstrates that even strong trade union bargaining positions can fade where local employee representatives cannot rely on a power base of locally-embedded resources and skills on which the company is dependent (Kädtler, 2006:266-281).

Results

Conclusion