Pathways in decentralised bargaining in Europe

One of the main trend and challenge in collective bargaining across Europe is decentralization, involving a shift from multi-employer to single-employer bargaining. This interdisciplinary book shows national varieties in collective bargaining regimes and in types of institutional change. The aims and social effects of decentralization are effected by the strategies and power resources of trade unions and employers in the context of (renewed) collective bargaining regimes, and in some countries also by jurisdictions and powers of (non-)unionized employee representation at the company and workplace levels. 

Through literature research and 30 in-depth case studies in the manufacturing, retail sectors and other sectors, this book analyses and discusses the backgrounds, practices, and effects of decentralization and decentralised bargaining at the company level in eight European countries: France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden.