The Efficacy of Hybrid Collective Bargaining Systems: An Analysis of the Impact of Collective Bargaining on Company Performance in Europe

Braakmann, Nils and Brandl, Bernd (2016): The Efficacy of Hybrid Collective Bargaining Systems: An Analysis of the Impact of Collective Bargaining on Company Performance in Europe.

Abstract

Individual and company bargaining has increasingly supplanted sector and country collective bargaining leading to increasingly perforated and multi-layered national collective bargaining systems. In this paper, we develop a comprehensive categorization of bargaining and argue that both the bargaining level and the degree of integrative interaction between bargaining units matters for efficacy. This idea is tested using representative company level data for the European Union. We find that the efficacy of coordinated sector and multi-level systems is higher than for all other forms of bargaining. Policy implications are discussed as these results challenge current attempts to reform collective bargaining in Europe.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: collective bargaining; efficacy; hybrid bargaining systems; company performance
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J31 - Wage Level and Structure ; Wage Differentials; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J32 - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits ; Retirement Plans ; Private Pensions; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J5 - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining > J52 - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation ; Collective Bargaining

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