Martin Behrens
Biographic Data
| ID | 980804 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Martin Behrens |
| GIVEN NAMES | Martin |
| FAMILY NAME | Behrens |
| SIGNATURE | BEHRENS M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hans Böckler Foundation |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8010-7323 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 16 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Feeling the heat? Union identity under labour market reforms
Union identity is widely seen as important to how trade unions function, yet it remains unclear how strongly it is embraced by members. We address this gap with a focus on German unions. In his seminal work on the ‘eternal triangle’ of union identity, Hyman situates German unions between the ‘market’ and ‘society’ dimensions. We examine whether members embraced their union's identity at a time when German unions faced intense political and econom…
Servant of three masters? Comparing competing demands of representation, integration and solidarity – Dutch vis-à-vis German works councils
Comparing the Netherlands and Germany, and building on different theoretical perspectives on cooperation, we analyse whether works councils are able to accommodate and reconcile the competing demands of representation (relationship to the workforce), integration (relationship to management) and solidarity (relations to the union), or whether varying geometries of interest lead works councils to prefer one of those three demands. The analysis of a…
Delivering the goods? German industrial relations institutions during the Covid ‐19 crisis
The COVID‐19 pandemic has caused labor market disruptions at an unprecedented scale and is akin to a stress test for industrial relations institutions. Drawing on a large‐scale ( n = 6111) study of German employees, we empirically investigate whether and how the two institutions comprising Germany's dual system of employee representation—works councils and collective bargaining—have delivered on their protective potential and mitigated the impact…
Employer Resistance to Works Councils
Employer resistance to works councils is not a phenomenon that has been closely associated with German labour relations. While classic studies characterise the ‘German model’ in terms of social partnership, more recent accounts seem to observe a ‘dualisation’ if not liberalisation of German labour relations. In somewhat of a contradiction to the ‘social partnership’ perspective, we find that incidents of employers’ hostility towards the establish…
Systems for Conflict Resolution in Comparative Perspective
A cornerstone of industrial relations theory is the idea that the potential for conflict is inherent in the employment relationship. Across countries, forms of workplace conflict and methods of conflict resolution take a range of different forms. Yet aside from attempts to understand cross-national variation in strikes, little research has examined systemic differences in the manifestation and management of workplace conflict. The authors seek to…
Structure and competing logics
Analysing a unique data set of the organizational characteristics of 358 German employers’ associations, the article investigates how employers manage to represent the contradictory interests of competitors within a single organization. Previous research has strived to solve this puzzle by way of distinguishing between two competing logics which operate within those associations: one logic focusing on the relationship between the member company a…
Umkämpfte Einheit
Between Strategy and Unpredictability
Restructuring through mergers has been a key strategy of union revitalization. In Germany, union merger activity has been extensive but seemingly unpredictable in its outcomes, with failed mergers outnumbering successful attempts by a ratio of 2:1. The authors use case studies of two attempted union mergers in Germany-one failed and one successful-to exemplify how these complex processes unfold. Drawing on Walton and McKersie's (1991) work on neg…
Breaking up is hard to do’
Arbeitgeberverbände – auf dem Weg in den Dualismus?
Are employers’ associations still one of the main sources of stability for the German system of employment relations? Discussing both the processes of external and internal erosion, the article seeks to answers this question. “External erosion” hereby refers to issues of declining membership of employers’ associations. As the analysis reveals, membership decline manifests itself in the form of a gradual adjustment to changing company structures r…
Still Married after All These Years? Union Organizing and the Role of Works Councils in German Industrial Relations
German trade unions are seeking new ways to counteract a steady downward trend in membership that has dragged on for fifteen years. Works councils' activities aimed at recruiting new members may play an important role in such efforts. The author's analysis of data from the fourth WSI survey of works and staff councils (2004-2005) shows that almost half of all works councils supported unions' recruitment endeavors, using a wide range of methods. W…
Experimentalism as a Tool of Economic Innovation in Germany
Our purpose in this article is to analyze changes in the German wagebargaining system, a system that has attracted enormous attentionfrom scholars of comparative political economy and comparativeindustrial relations. We argue that the wage bargaining portion ofthe German model is neither frozen in place, headed for deregulation,nor merely "muddling through." Rather, we see the institutionalcapacities of the key actors-especially the unions and em…
Still Married after All These Years? Union Organizing and the Role of Works Councils in German Industrial Relations
German trade unions are seeking new ways to counteract a steady downward trend in membership that has dragged on for fifteen years. Works councils' activities aimed at recruiting new members may play an important role in such efforts. The author's analysis of data from the fourth WSI survey of works and staff councils (2004-2005) shows that almost half of all works councils supported unions' recruitment endeavors, using a wide range of methods. W…
Employer Resistance to Works Councils
Employer resistance to works councils is not a phenomenon that has been closely associated with German labour relations. While classic studies characterise the ‘German model’ in terms of social partnership, more recent accounts seem to observe a ‘dualisation’ if not liberalisation of German labour relations. In somewhat of a contradiction to the ‘social partnership’ perspective, we find that incidents of employers’ hostility towards the establish…
Systems for Conflict Resolution in Comparative Perspective
A cornerstone of industrial relations theory is the idea that the potential for conflict is inherent in the employment relationship. Across countries, forms of workplace conflict and methods of conflict resolution take a range of different forms. Yet aside from attempts to understand cross-national variation in strikes, little research has examined systemic differences in the manifestation and management of workplace conflict. The authors seek to…
Between Strategy and Unpredictability
Restructuring through mergers has been a key strategy of union revitalization. In Germany, union merger activity has been extensive but seemingly unpredictable in its outcomes, with failed mergers outnumbering successful attempts by a ratio of 2:1. The authors use case studies of two attempted union mergers in Germany-one failed and one successful-to exemplify how these complex processes unfold. Drawing on Walton and McKersie's (1991) work on neg…
Breaking up is hard to do’
Experimentalism as a Tool of Economic Innovation in Germany
Our purpose in this article is to analyze changes in the German wagebargaining system, a system that has attracted enormous attentionfrom scholars of comparative political economy and comparativeindustrial relations. We argue that the wage bargaining portion ofthe German model is neither frozen in place, headed for deregulation,nor merely "muddling through." Rather, we see the institutionalcapacities of the key actors-especially the unions and em…
Still Married after All These Years? Union Organizing and the Role of Works Councils in German Industrial Relations
German trade unions are seeking new ways to counteract a steady downward trend in membership that has dragged on for fifteen years. Works councils' activities aimed at recruiting new members may play an important role in such efforts. The author's analysis of data from the fourth WSI survey of works and staff councils (2004-2005) shows that almost half of all works councils supported unions' recruitment endeavors, using a wide range of methods. W…
Arbeitgeberverbände – auf dem Weg in den Dualismus?
Are employers’ associations still one of the main sources of stability for the German system of employment relations? Discussing both the processes of external and internal erosion, the article seeks to answers this question. “External erosion” hereby refers to issues of declining membership of employers’ associations. As the analysis reveals, membership decline manifests itself in the form of a gradual adjustment to changing company structures r…
Breaking up is hard to do’
Umkämpfte Einheit
Between Strategy and Unpredictability
Restructuring through mergers has been a key strategy of union revitalization. In Germany, union merger activity has been extensive but seemingly unpredictable in its outcomes, with failed mergers outnumbering successful attempts by a ratio of 2:1. The authors use case studies of two attempted union mergers in Germany-one failed and one successful-to exemplify how these complex processes unfold. Drawing on Walton and McKersie's (1991) work on neg…
Structure and competing logics
Analysing a unique data set of the organizational characteristics of 358 German employers’ associations, the article investigates how employers manage to represent the contradictory interests of competitors within a single organization. Previous research has strived to solve this puzzle by way of distinguishing between two competing logics which operate within those associations: one logic focusing on the relationship between the member company a…
Employer Resistance to Works Councils
Employer resistance to works councils is not a phenomenon that has been closely associated with German labour relations. While classic studies characterise the ‘German model’ in terms of social partnership, more recent accounts seem to observe a ‘dualisation’ if not liberalisation of German labour relations. In somewhat of a contradiction to the ‘social partnership’ perspective, we find that incidents of employers’ hostility towards the establish…
Systems for Conflict Resolution in Comparative Perspective
A cornerstone of industrial relations theory is the idea that the potential for conflict is inherent in the employment relationship. Across countries, forms of workplace conflict and methods of conflict resolution take a range of different forms. Yet aside from attempts to understand cross-national variation in strikes, little research has examined systemic differences in the manifestation and management of workplace conflict. The authors seek to…
Delivering the goods? German industrial relations institutions during the Covid ‐19 crisis
The COVID‐19 pandemic has caused labor market disruptions at an unprecedented scale and is akin to a stress test for industrial relations institutions. Drawing on a large‐scale ( n = 6111) study of German employees, we empirically investigate whether and how the two institutions comprising Germany's dual system of employee representation—works councils and collective bargaining—have delivered on their protective potential and mitigated the impact…
Servant of three masters? Comparing competing demands of representation, integration and solidarity – Dutch vis-à-vis German works councils
Comparing the Netherlands and Germany, and building on different theoretical perspectives on cooperation, we analyse whether works councils are able to accommodate and reconcile the competing demands of representation (relationship to the workforce), integration (relationship to management) and solidarity (relations to the union), or whether varying geometries of interest lead works councils to prefer one of those three demands. The analysis of a…
Feeling the heat? Union identity under labour market reforms
Union identity is widely seen as important to how trade unions function, yet it remains unclear how strongly it is embraced by members. We address this gap with a focus on German unions. In his seminal work on the ‘eternal triangle’ of union identity, Hyman situates German unions between the ‘market’ and ‘society’ dimensions. We examine whether members embraced their union's identity at a time when German unions faced intense political and econom…
Labor Movements and Unions (12 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · German (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies (5 works) · Economic system (4 works)