Synopses & Reviews
The form and dynamic of wages and salaries are crucial to the shaping of industrial societies. Wage relations are regulated by states both to benefit their economies and to achieve a specific form of freedom, equity and justice. Though there are signs of a common dynamic, wage relations throughout Europe present a bewildering diversity and wage bargaining at European level remains virtually non-existent. Wages were recognised as an issue of concern by the Social Charter but the European Union has shunned direct interference. This book is intended to inform and intensify debate on wage relations in Europe. It focuses on three aspects: the state and the regulation of wages; wage forms, the reproduction of labour and living standards; and competition, the market and changes in work organisation. In papers and discussion by a range of leading experts from eastern and western Europe, rehearsed initially at a symposium supported by the European Commission, entrenched orthodoxies are challenged and new approaches proposed. Should social protection be integrated into the wage system? Are wages best determined according to the quality, quantity or value of the input or the output of labour? How do wage relations reinforce inequalities and social divisions, especially gender divisions, and exclude sections of society? Have flexibility in the labour market and unregulated competition adversely affected firms' productivity and the organization of work and pay? These and many related questions are addressed in this wide-ranging and provocative book - essential reading for all those concerned with wage policies, whether politicians, academics, employers, trade unions or those `just interested'.
Synopsis
he debate on 'The Dynamics of Wage Relations in the New Europe' is an T offspring of a research project on 'Disparities in Wage Relations and the Reproduction of Skills in Europe'. At a meeting of the advisory committee for this research held at the University of Westminster in London on 14th November 1994, it was decided (by Linda Clarke, ]orn]anssen, Henryk Lewandowski, Philippe Mehaut, Patrick Rozenblatt and Frank Wilkinson) to set up a larger international committee to develop a programme and seek funding from the European Commission for a symposium of experts on wage relations. This committee of ten scientific experts was formed and invited to a number of meetings throughout 1995 and 1996 by DG V of the European Commission in order to develop a programme and proposal for a symposium to take place in 1997. Eventually the proposal, formally submitted by University of Westminster/London, University ofMaastrichti Netherlands, Fachhochschule Dortmund/Germany and University of Osnabriick/ Germany was accepted by the European Commission in May 1996. Additional funding was then obtained from the Hans-Bockler-Stiftung and the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research allowing, in particular, participants from Central and East European countries to be invited. The subject of wage relations, as a central issue of European social policy, was intended to be tackled in an open debate between scientists and policy makers, the latter as individual experts rather than representatives
Table of Contents
Abbreviations. List of tables. List of figures. Preface. General Introduction. Wage relations and European wage policy; L. Clarke, et al. Part 1: The regulation of wages in the European states. Introduction. The transformation of wage labour and the state; J. Janssen. The national and EU-state in the regulation of wages and the composition of the wage package; G. Széll. Discussion. The historical process of wage information. Legal origins of wage labour: the evolution of the contract of employment from industrialisation to the welfare state; S. Deakin. Changing wage orders: France 1900-1995; J. Saglio. Discussion. The composition of the wage package. The anatomy of labour cost; J. Edling. Social security contributions, earmarked taxes and wage earner savings in the financing of social protection: a comparison of the British and French systems; B. Friot. A financial reform of the welfare system: reforms are overdue; C. Schnabel. Discussion. The transformation of wage relations in Central and Eastern Europe. Negotiated wage growth in Hungary; L. Héthy. The wage crunch in Central and Eastern Europe: past effects and future risks; D. Vaughan-Whitehead. Discussion. General debate. Conclusions. Part 2: Wage forms, the reproduction of labour and living standards. Introduction. Disparities in wage relations and social reproduction; L. Clarke. Social reproduction and the labour process. Occupational and wage hierarchies: an historic turning point; P. Rozenblatt. Wages systems and social systems; M. Bolle de Bal. Discussion. The reproduction of labour. Wages and living standards in the Central and East European countries; I. Ékes. Migrant labour and equal pay for equal work in Europe; E. Gross. Discussion. The reproduction of the social structure. Wages as a reflection of socially embedded production and reproduction processes; A. Picchio. The restructuring of the family wage system, wage relations and gender; I. Bruegel. Recent changes in wage forms and the reproduction of the social structure: the underlying issues; P. Concialdi. Discussion. General debate and conclusions. Part 3: Competition, the market and changes in work organisation. Introduction. Welfare effects of market deregulation and changing work organisation &endash; some unresolved issues; P. de Gijsel. Deregulation and labour market performance. The impact of labour market regulation on economic performance: a review; B. Enjolras. Systemic competition between high and low `social cost' labour: a case study of the UK construction industry; M. Harvey. Increasing competition and changing work organisation. Cooperation, the organisation of work and competitiveness; F. Wilkinson. Alternative work systems and the competitive process; S.J. Konzelmann, A.M. Birecree. Post-Fordism and managerial strategies in France; T. Coutrot. Pay structure and competitiveness; P. Jansen. Summary of the discussion; P. de Gijsel. Index. Contributors.