Changing Industrial Relations: Societal Responses to Market Expansion at Multiple Levels
Multidisciplinary Research Workshop, 16 May, 11.00-13.00, Villa La Fonte, Conference Room
Abstract:
Over recent decades, labour markets and their regulatory institutions in Europe have undergone profound changes.
This multidisciplinary workshop addresses the broad question of the relationship between the economy and society by looking at collective regulation of labour markets.
As we observe an intensification of political struggles accompanying the commodification and de-commodification of labour at various societal levels – supranational, transnational, national, and sectoral – the question of how society and trade unions respond to markets in terms of politics, legislation, and more or less formalized types of action becomes even more relevant.
The workshop invites scholars from the fields of law, political science, sociology, economics and history to discuss dynamic processes in industrial relations, which requires an analysis of the interrelations between different levels of regulation.
For instance, while it has been suggested that EU-level legislation poses a challenge to labour law and industrial relations at the national level, European integration has also been viewed as a potential source of de-commodification.
At the transnational level, unions and multinational companies can be identified as agents struggling for influence on the shaping of labour relations between different regulatory regimes and between the company and the broader sector.
In this context, transnational framework agreements not only solve local conflicts, but also have the potential to contribute to the development of international industrial relations at the company and sectoral levels.