Employer Discretion

The Role of Collective Agreements in the Liberalization of Industrial Relations

Bibliographic Data

ID3208823
AuthorsSaskia Bouman (0000-0002-3107-5473, University of Amsterdam, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume77
Issue2
Pages227-250
Publication date2024-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIndustrial and Labor Relations Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0019-7939 • E-ISSN: 2162-271X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00197939231220049
OpenAlexW4390702135
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited39

The gradual shift in power relations between organized employers and employees since the 1970s has increasingly affected the functioning of national industrial relations systems. According to a broad literature, the most important of these consequences is an increase in employer discretion. This article tests this claim by performing a longitudinal content analysis on three Dutch collective contracts. It develops an analytical framework based on four dimensions of employer discretion. Results show that although employer discretion did increase on all four dimensions between the mid-1970s and the 2020s, significant temporal and sectoral variation has occurred. In addition, the article argues that a loss of democratic influence by employees intensified the increase of the one-sided decision-making powers of employers, and that the collective contract is being transformed from a joint labor-capital effort to solve workplace problems to a management instrument

Business · Capital (architecture · Collective bargaining · Discretion · Economic system · Economics · Industrial democracy · Labor relations · Labour economics · Liberalization · Management · Market economy · Political science · Power (physics · Employment and Welfare Studies · Industrial relations · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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Open DOIOpen Access