Abstract
This study analyses how national institutions, sectoral bargaining structures and union strategies affect working conditions and pay by comparing call centres in two liberalized service sectors: financial services and utilities. We find more segmentation and expansion of low wage work in Germany and more cooperation on high-involvement practices at workplace level in Denmark. However, outcomes are not uniform; we find differences between sectors in the use of subcontracting and union power at the workplace-level. Poor economic performance, segmentation-oriented employer strategies, declining bargaining coverage and weakened unions in Germany have undermined formal constraints on employers, whereas better outcomes in Denmark are due to a pronounced stability of the regulative and normative institutional framework. However, the Danish model is also being weakened from the margins.
Original language | English |
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Journal | European Journal of Industrial Relations |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 4 |
Pages (from-to) | 395-416 |
Number of pages | 22 |
ISSN | 0959-6801 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2009 |
Externally published | Yes |