The New Structure of Labor Relations: Tripartism and Decentralization - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801441846 ISBN 13: 9780801441844

Publisher: ILR Press, 2004

Synopsis

Tripartism-the national-level interaction among representatives of labor, management, and government-occurs infrequently in the United States. Based on the U.S. experience, then, such interactions might seem irrelevant to economic performance and policymaking. The essays in this volume reveal the falsity of that assumption. Contributors from eight industrialized countries (Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, and the United States) examine the changing nature of labor-management relations, with a particular focus on the role of tripartism and the decentralization of collective bargaining. Although nonexistent in the United States and on the decline in Japan and Australia, tripartism flourishes in Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands, expanding beyond traditional corporatist partners to include women's organizations, senior citizens, and other representatives of "civic society." The vibrancy of the coordinating mechanisms that help shape employment conditions and labor policy contradicts the traditional belief that an overpowering unilateral decentralizing shift is underway in labor-management interactions. The contributors show that these mechanisms are in fact increasing in the face of intensified pressures, promoting greater flexibility in work organization and working time.

About this title

Review:

"The authors have produced a masterful survey of 'organized decentralisation' in employment relations on four continents. They challenge the conventional wisdom that national level negotiations are on the decline everywhere, and show that tripartite dialogue now embraces a wider, and subtler, agenda of work-related issues than in the past. Their thesis imparts new vigour to the 'varieties of capitalism' debate by showing the continued vitality of multi-employer-union negotiations, and how these can facilitate adjustment at the economy and enterprise levels."

--David Marsden, Professor of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics

"This interesting book covers an important topic, namely the extent to which a renaissance of tripartite policymaking and centralized bargaining is occurring in various parts of the world. Unlike the books presently available on the emergence of social pacts in various countries, it goes beyond coverage of European countries. In particular, the discussion of Korea shows a broadening trend toward tripartite bargaining."

--Lucio Baccaro, International Labour Organization

About the Author:

Harry C. Katz is Jack Sheinkman Professor and Director of the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution at the ILR School, Cornell University. He is coauthor of The Transformation of American Industrial Relations and Converging Divergences and coeditor of Rekindling the Movement, all from Cornell, among many other books. Wonduck Lee is President of the Korea Labor Institute. Joohee Lee is a Research Fellow at the Korea Labor Institute.

About this edition

• Publisher: ILR Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0801441846
• ISBN 13: 9780801441844
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 276
• Editor: Katz Harry C.