WSI News
European Journal of Industrial Relations Vol. 24 (4)
The manufacturing sector: Still an anchor for pattern bargaining within and across countries?
Collective wage bargaining systems in manufacturing in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden are confronted with two key challenges: increased cross-country competition between Northern European companies operating within the same high-value/high-cost segment of the market; and the competitive pressures resulting from increased east-north integration. Thorsten Schulten (WSI), Torsten Müller (ETUI), Jon Eric Dølvik (Fafo) and Christian Ibsen (Michigan State University) show how the responses of collective actors to these two challenges shaped the development of wage bargaining systems.
ILERA European Congress, 05.-07.09.2019 Düsseldorf
Perspectives of Employment Relations in Europe
Changes in industrial relations in Europe: decline in collective bargaining coverage, employer and union densities, but also many efforts to restructure the welfare state as well as systems of labour market regulation. The 12th ILERA European Congress invites participants to research and discuss how societal actors seek to actively shape labour relations, institutions, processes and outcomes.
German Politics, November 2018
Employer Resistance to Works Councils
In Germany, incidents of employers’ hostility towards the establishment of works councils are widespread. Based on data provided by a survey among paid union representatives, Martin Behrens and Heiner Dribbusch (WSI) find that employers disrupt every sixth attempt to establish a works council. The most common strategy is to intimidate candidates. Results indicate that attempts by employers to obstruct employees’ participation rights are focused on medium-sized and owner-managed firms.
Anke Hassel, 29.10.2018
Why The Left Must Talk About Migration
The impact of high levels of immigration is likely to challenge the institutions of comprehensive regulation of labour markets on which the European Social Model rests. The left has to find a policy on migration which is strong on anti-racism but does not ignore reality.
Human Resource Management Journal, 19.09.2018: "Small change, big impact"
Employers' associations: Exit from multiemployer bargaining in Germany
Why do some employers' associations offer their members the option to join and access services while avoiding the obligations arising to regular members from industry‐level collective agreements with unions whereas others have refused to introduce this option? An empirical analysis by Martin Behrens (WSI) and Markus Helfer (University Innsbruck)
WSI Study 15, 09/2018
Social protection of mainstream and marginal employment in the UK
Labour law regulations and the national insurance systems for self-employed, secondary jobs and marginal part-time employment in the UK: Regulations are complex and confusing and impede take-up. Lack of transparency and weak enforcement hits vulnerable workers the most. The new study by Jacqueline O' Reilly and Christine Lewis is part of the WSI research project "Hybrid working arrangements in Europe”.
Recent book chapter
The German exception: welfare protectionism instead of retrenchment
Are there austerity-related policy changes in Germany? Anke Hassel and Werner Eichhorst investigate the existence and extent of retrenchment policies in the aftermath of the 2008-09 recession. Analyses show that while the major reforms during the early 2000s can be characterised as welfare state readjustment, more recent changes entail at least some characteristics of welfare protectionism.
ILO-Publication, 09.07.2018
Collective Agreements: Extending Labour Protection
A Research Project by the International Labour Organization (ILO) examined the extension of collective agreements in international comparison. Thorsten Schulten analyses the German case and explains why the legal reform of 2014 has so far largely failed to enable more extensions.
ETUI-ETUC Conference, 27.06.2018
DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITIONS: THE ROLE OF THE LABOUR MARKET
If analyses of demographic change are reduced to changes of demographic dependency ratios alone the solution is often an increase of the retirement age. Florian Blank shows in a presentation why labour market policies are more important to encounter ageing societies.
Recent publication: etui 2018
Multi-employer bargaining under pressure
Since 2008, collective bargaining systems have been under pressure to follow the logic of companies and market imperatives. The book investigates the ongoing shift from centrally coordinated multi-employer to decentralized collective bargaining in five EU Member States. Among the authors: Thorsten Schulten and Reinhard Bispinck.
WSI Study 12, 05/2018
Upgrading German public services
Against the European trend, employment and working conditions in the German public sector have improved after the financial crisis. Our WSI study by Thorsten Schulten and Daniel Seikel shows that besides the quick economic recovery trade union strategies played an important role.
WSI Study 11, 03/2018
HYBRID WORK - SOCIAL PROTECTION OF ATYPICAL EMPLOYMENT IN DENMARK
A new study on Danish social protection for atypical employment summarizes the main regulations and trends. Mikkel Mailand and Tine P. Larsen (University of Copenhagen) find that benefits are increasingly depend on employment status and on collective bargaining coverage. A further trend, which is mainly seen from the beginning of the present decade, is towards stricter entitlement rules and other barriers to benefits. The study is part of the WSI research project on "Hybrid working arrangements in Europe”.
WSI Collective Bargaining Report Germany 2017
The 2017 collective bargaining round was dominated by negotiations over pay, with an overall average rise in agreed pay of 2.4%. Set against a rising inflation rate of 1.8%, this implied a modest average increase in real pay of 0.6% compared with the previous year, substantially less than in 2016. Given the favourable economic situation, pay claims submitted for 2018 indicate that trade unions will be pressing for a return to more expansive approach. The 2018 bargaining round has also seen the return of the issue of working time organisation to the negotiating agenda.
Recent book publication
It’s Basic Income. The global debate
Is a Universal Basic Income the answer to an increasingly precarious job landscape? Could it bring greater financial freedom for women, tackle the issue of unpaid but essential work, cut poverty and promote greater choice? Or is it a dead-end utopian ideal that distracts from more practical and cost-effective solutions? Among the authors: Anke Hassel (WSI), defending the position that unconditional basic income is a dead end.
WSI Report Nr. 39e, 02/2018
Comprehensive Analysis on Minimum Wages
The call for a minimum wage sufficient to secure a decent existence has been at
the centre of public debate both in Germany and across Europe. The WSI
Minimum Wage Report aims to contribute to this debate by offering a comprehensive analysis of current minimum wage developments in Europe and beyond.
European Social Observatory (OSE)
Occupational Welfare in Europe
In a recently published book on occupational welfare in Europe, Florian Blank (WSI) discusses recent developments in the field of pensions and unemployment-related schemes in Germany. In his article he disentangles the complex state of occupational welfare in the German system of welfare provision and industrial relations.
Daniel Seikel, Dorothee Spannagel (WSI): Activation and in-work poverty
Employment - the best route out of poverty?
In-work poverty is on the rise in many European countries. At the same time, labour market policies focus predominantly on activation measures. Using EU-SILC and OECD data, the authors show that active labour market polices with a stronger focus on demanding than on enabling strategies lead to higher in-work poverty rates.
WSI Policy Brief Nr. 19, 01/2018
Millions of workers are denied minimum wage
In 2016, 2,7 Million workers in Germany received less than the minimum wage of 8,50€ per hour. This comes up to 9,8% of people who are entitled to receive it after the minimum wage law that came into force in 2015. The highest rates of avoidance by employers are found in private households (42,6%), hotel and catering industry (38,0%) and retail (19,5%).
Article at Deutsche Welle (English)
WSI Policy Brief 19 (German)
Social Europe, 01/2018
Addressing Social Equality in Europe
The recent wave of mistrust towards political systems in the Western world points out social inequality as the defining issue of our time. A new dossier of Social Europe in cooperation with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) investigates various aspects of inequality with a European perspective.
WSI Research
Key research topics
WSI research covers issues of employment and institutional change in a globalising world, the quality of work as well as questions of redistribution and social security, industrial relations and collective bargaining policy. The work of the WSI is organised in five research areas:
Labour market and working conditions
Wage policy, collective bargaining and industrial relations
Social policy and redistribution
Gender research
Europe and European policies
Surveys and data collections
WSI studies empirically draw on a number of unique surveys, data collections and documentations. Tables, analyses and graphs in professional quality layout are available for free download via online web portals. more...
Research expertise
Information on WSI members of staff and WSI guests and their fields of expertise
WSI-Mitteilungen
"WSI-Mitteilungen" is a scientific journal providing up-to-date information on the results of research on current issues of relevance to trade unions.
Networks, cooperations, fellowships
WSI actively participates in national and international research networks. Next to temporary projects, the institute maintains well-established long-term research relations with academic partners and trade-union organizations. more...
