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Track 1: Restructuring work: new approaches to pay and working time
Changes towards more flexible and individualised systems of pay and working time are reshaping work and the employment relationship. Employer strategies are prominent in implementing these changes but the underlying factors driving the direction and pace of change are not yet clear. Are new pay and working time systems required by new forms of work organisation- including high performance work systems? Is the pressure to change work systems to be found in new production and consumption paradigms or should we seek explanation in the changing balance of power in employment relations and the wider political system? Is change motivated by a need to adapt to- or perhaps to take advantage of- a more diversified and gender-mixed workforce? What role is public policy playing in promoting change in the employment relationship? Is it possible to develop new forms of collective regulation that allow for more individualised arrangements? This theme invites contributions that explore these relationships. Issues to be considered include: the factors driving employer action and trade union responses / initiatives at a national, sectoral or organisational level; the changing relationships between work organisation, organisational / workplace practices and individualised and collective regulatory systems; the impact of equal pay or work-life balance initiatives on workplace practices and collective regulatory systems; trade-offs and complementarities between equity and efficiency in the development of new pay and working time systems; the distributional effects of new developments; the implications of change for national models of employment relations; and the equity and efficiency effects of public policy in the field of wages, pensions and working time.
Track 2: Voice at Work: New Challenges, New Forms
It is widely believed that we are at a point of transition in the system of worker representation. On the one hand, the world of work is changing and a new set of worker interests require expression, voice. On the other, established institutions of worker representation, trade unions and works councils are declining and there is a need for renewal. The purpose of this conference track is to address these two sides to the contemporary crisis of worker representation. With regard to the first issue, we want to examine the implications for voice at work of four challenges: changes in workforce composition, including feminisation, migration and the rise of atypical work; changes in work organisation, including the diffusion of high performance practices and the rise of the networked organisation; the internationalisation of economic activity and the challenge of cross-border worker representation; and the juridification of the employment relationship. With regard to the second issue, the track will address two broad questions. The first is the scope for trade unions to undergo an effective process of revitalisation, whether through merger, the expansion of union services, organisational change or the rediscovery of the social movement origins of trade unionism. The second is the significance and effectiveness of non-traditional voice mechanisms – new forms of statutory participation, employer-sponsored involvement and single-issue identity and advocacy organisations that target the world of work. The relationship of these non-traditional institutions to trade unions and works councils is an absolutely critical issue. In a new phase of multiple channels of worker voice will coalition or competition define the future?
Track 3: Regulating employment: towards multi-level governance
The regulation of industrial relations across Europe is increasingly assuming a multi-level character. This multi-level framework reflects a combination of developments, including: the elaboration of a European-level tier of regulation in addition to existing regulation in the EU’s member states, a development which has increasingly extended beyond the economy-wide level to sector and company levels; the additional appearance of global forms of regulation in some sectors and companies; the growing importance in many EU member states of regional and territorial levels as a source of regulation; ‘organised decentralisation’ within national collective bargaining systems, in which scope for negotiation at company and workplace levels within frameworks agreed by the actors at inter-sector and sector levels has progressively been enhanced; and the simultaneous re-emergence of national level concertation. These developments have been accompanied by changes in the nature of legal regulation (at both EU and national levels), changes in the kind of regulation invoked by collective agreements, the extension and deepening of social dialogue and the arrival of new regulatory mechanisms (co-ordination, target-setting, benchmarking and peer review). A pronounced shift from ‘harder’ to ‘softer’ forms of regulation has become evident. What are the implications of this shift? What are the rationales for, and effects on policy and practice of, regulatory innovations at the different levels? How do the different regulatory levels in a multi-level framework interact? What is the relationship between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ forms of regulation, and how effective are ‘reflexive’ governance mechanisms?
Track 4: Public Sector Restructuring: Between State and Market
Public sector employment relations have come under increased scrutiny
as governments aim to enhance competitiveness. Pressures towards economic
integration have encouraged governments to prioritize liberalization and
marketization. Demographic as well economic pressures have spurred social
welfare reform. The process of welfare state restructuring has not been
uniform, reflecting variations in state traditions. Identifying how common
themes of competitiveness and efficiency are articulated in particular
national and sectoral contexts remains a key concern. The track examines
the changing institutional and regulatory context for the public sector
and the consequences for employers, trade unions, the workforce and citizens
of these reforms. To what extent are fiscal pressures and concerns about
quality of service provision encouraging governments to erode the ‘model
employer’ and ‘employer of last resort’ traditions?
Have employment relations practices moved closer to those prevailing in
the private sector? Structural reforms are altering patterns of joint
regulation at enterprise, sectoral and national levels. How far are reforms
associated with the ‘new public management’ compatible with
attempts by governments to foster social pacts, even in countries with
little tradition of tripartism? Do these state sponsored reforms result
in new patterns of governance and accountability at enterprise level that
enhance user and employee voice or exclude them? To what extent have employers
fostered the growth of direct participation, new forms of work organisation
and systems of performance management and how have trade unions responded?
