Still a Coordinated Model? Market Liberalization and the Transformation of Employment Relations in the German Telecommunications Industry

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3600441
AutoresVirginia Doellgast (0000-0001-8503-694X, Max Planck Society, autor correspondente)
Ano2009
Volume63
Fascículo1
Páginas3-23
Data de publicação2009-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoIndustrial and Labor Relations Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0019-7939 • E-ISSN: 2162-271X
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/001979390906300101
OpenAlexW1802228005
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas11
Referências citadas14

This paper examines recent changes in collective bargaining and employer strategies in the German telecommunications industry following market liberalization in the late 1990s. Germany's distinctive co-determination and vocational training institutions encouraged large firms to adopt employment systems in technician and call center workplaces that relied on high levels of worker skill and discretion. However, organizational restructuring is undermining these gains, as firms use outsourcing and the creation of subsidiaries to escape or weaken company-level collective agreements. These trends have substantially weakened unions and contributed to the further disorganization of coordinated bargaining structures. Findings are based on interviews with union and works council representatives, managers, and employees at Deutsche Telekom and its major competitors conducted between 2003 and 2007, as well as secondary analysis of company documents and industry reports

Business · Collective bargaining · Competitor analysis · Deregulation · Economics · German · Industrial organization · Labour economics · Liberalization · Management · Market economy · Multinational corporation · Outsourcing · Restructuring · Subsidiary · European Socioeconomic and Political Studies · Finance · Industrial relations · Labor Movements and Unions · Marketing · Social Policy and Reform Studies