The domestic determinants of national response strategies to EU-induced liberalization : examining the regulation of wages for posted workers in Austria and Germany

Abstract

This article analyzes and compares the German and Austrian national response strategies to the liberalization of service provision in the European Union. This liberalization, brought about by efforts to create a Single Market, has enabled the transnational provision of services without initially clarifying the wage and labor conditions applicable to workers posted to other member states. The national legislative re-regulatory measures or response strategies are crucially colored by the internal configuration and relative power of labor market interest associations, i.e. unions and employers’ associations. The article highlights organizational deficiencies of the unions in a neocorporatist system commonly considered “medium” strength and contrasts and compares these with the union organization in “strongly” neocorporatist Austria.