Towards multi-level regulation - Erosion or renewal of German and Danish industrial relations

Paper af Anna Ilsøe, Jørgen Steen Madsen & Jesper Due

Comparative IR research rightly places Denmark and Germany, despite their differences, in the group of countries that through organised decentralisation processes resisted the pressure from the first wave of globalisation on the collective agreement systems. But the point of the present paper is that over the last decade, in which the pressure from globalisation has intensified, the two IR models have moved in different directions. The German system seems to have had greater difficulty in adapting to the new conditions and therefore exhibits clear signs of erosion, while in spite of incipient problems the Danish system has continued to be able to resist the pressure. Furthermore there are in the Danish system - to a higher degree than in the German system - signs of renewal through the evolution of horizontal coordination processes via local networks. The formerly centralised decentralisation, which continued to be marked by the sector organisations' hierarchical control, are developing into a multi-level regulation in which coordination also takes place through bottom-up processes, but in such a way that the unions' overall control does not disappear.

Through empirical investigations of the developments in membership rates, agreement coverage and of the regulation in two key fields, pay and working hours, we show that there first and foremost is a broader platform for the dissemination of renewal in Denmark, because the representation of the workforce at enterprise level is stronger and more clear-cut than in the dual system of Germany. Union densities are much higher, the system of representation is one-stringed, and there is already a substantial presence of institutionalised networks at enterprise level. Furthermore, relations between employees and management would seem to be more trust-based and consensus-seeking in Denmark.

Paper for the IIRA 14th World Congress, September 11-14, 2006, Lima, Peru.