Based on eight in‐depth case studies, this paper argues that telework transfers bigger (and legally unbinding) responsibility to employees whereas both employees and employers accept it. This is likely due to the fact that adoption of telework alters some aspects of psychological contract between employees and employers.

This article reviews the negotiated responses to the crisis at different levels of social dialogue in the Baltic countries. The Baltic countries form a relatively coherent group of small open economies that can be classified as belonging to the neoliberal type of central and eastern European capitalism. Their responses to the crisis were consistent with such classification: flexible labour markets absorbed the main impacts of the crisis through rapid increases in unemployment, as well as nominal and real drops in wages. A negotiated response was either not sought at all by governments or was of minor importance at all levels of interaction between the social partners. If anything, national-level social dialogue deteriorated, remaining at a low level even after the crisis had peaked. Based on qualitative examples from Estonia and Lithuania we show that, at company level, responses to the crisis varied. Ré suméCet article passe en revue les réponses négociées à la crise à différents niveaux du dialogue social dans les pays baltes. Ces derniers forment un groupe relativement cohérent de petites économies ouvertes qui peuvent être classées comme appartenant au type néo-libéral du capitalisme de l'Europe centrale et orientale. Leurs réponses à la crise étaient bien dans la ligne de cette classification: les marchés du travail flexibles ont absorbé les principaux impacts de la crise via des augmentations rapides du chô mage, ainsi que des baisses nominales et réelles des salaires. Et les gouvernements n'ont recherché aucune réponse négociée, ou alors celle-ci était d'une importance mineure à tous les niveaux d'interaction entre les partenaires sociaux. Toujours est-il que le dialogue social au niveau national s'est détérioré, se maintenant à un niveau bas, même après que la crise eut atteint son plus haut niveau. Se fondant sur des exemples qualitatifs en Estonie et en Lituanie, les auteurs de cet article soulignent qu'il y a eu toute une variété de réponses à la crise au niveau de l'entreprise. ZusammenfassungDieser Beitrag befasst sich mit den Reaktionen auf die Krise, die in den baltischen Staaten auf verschiedenen Ebenen des sozialen Dialogs ausgehandelt wurden. Diese Länder bilden eine relativ kohärente Gruppe aus kleinen offenen Volkswirtschaften, die dem neoliberal geprägten mittel-und osteuropäischen Kapitalismus zugeordnet werden kö nnen. Dementsprechend reagierten sie auch auf die Krise vor allem über ihre flexiblen Arbeitsmärkte, durch rasch ansteigende Arbeitslosenzahlen und sinkende Nominal-und Reallöhne. Die Regierungen strebten eine ausgehandelte Reaktion entweder gar nicht erst an, oder sie spielte auf allen Ebenen der Interaktion zwischen den Sozialpartnern nur eine untergeordnete Rolle. Der soziale Dialog auf nationaler Ebene hat sich eher verschlechtert und ist selbst nach dem Hö hepunkt der Krise auf einem schwachen Niveau geblieben. Wir zeigen anhand von qualitativen Forschungsergebnissen zu Estland und Litauen, dass die Unternehmen auf unterschiedliche Weise auf die Krise reagiert haben.

Estonia has one the highest number of new HIV diagnoses in the European Union, mainly among injecting drug users and heterosexuals. Little is known of HIV incidence, which is crucial for limiting the epidemic. Using a recent HIV infection testing algorithm (RITA) assay, we aimed to estimate HIV incidence in 2013. MethodsAll individuals aged ≥18 years newly-diagnosed with HIV in Estonia January-December 2013, except blood donors and those undergoing antenatal screening, were included. Demographic and clinical data were obtained from the Estonian Health Board and the Estonian HIV-positive patient database. Serum samples were tested for recent infection using the LAg-avidity EIA assay. HIV incidence was estimated based on previously published methods. ResultsOf 69,115 tested subjects, 286 (0.41%) were newly-diagnosed with HIV with median age of 33 years (IQR: 28-42) and 65% male. Self-reported routes of HIV transmission were mostly heterosexual contact (n = 157, 53%) and injecting drug use (n = 62, 21%); 64 (22%) were with unknown risk group. Eighty two (36%) were assigned recent, resulting in estimated HIV incidence of 0.06%, corresponding to 642 new infections in 2013 among the non-screened population. Incidence was highest (1.48%) among people who inject drugs. ConclusionsThese high HIV incidence estimates in Estonia call for urgent action of renewed targeted public health promotion and HIV testing campaigns.Keywords: Eastern Europe, epidemiology, HIV, HIV serological assay, injecting drug users, recent HIV infection, recent infection testing algorithm Accepted 2 June 2017Introduction HIV infection is a major public health issue in former Soviet Union countries [1], including Estonia. With a population of 1.312 million [2], Estonia has experienced a rapidly expanding HIV epidemic from the year 2000 among young people who inject drugs (PWID), who are being infected with a rare HIV subtype, CRF06_cpx, and the highest diagnosis rate in the European Union of 105.3 per 100 000 population was reached in 2001 [3][4][5]. Several efforts have been undertaken by the Estonian government to contain the rapidly evolving epidemic, including a campaign to increase people's awareness of HIV infection, implementation of needle exchange programmes, and offering free testing for all pregnant women, prisoners, and those with behavioural risk factors, together with the availability of free-of-charge antiretroviral treatment for everyone [6,7]. By 2013, the rate of reported new diagnoses had decreased and stabilized at 24.6/100 000 [4,8].Case reporting of HIV infection is well established across Estonia and, since the first diagnosis of HIV Although these figures are important measures of the epidemic, they do not necessarily reflect current transmission patterns. This is an important point as the ability to estimate the current HIV incidence is an essential public health monitoring tool indicating the characteristics of individuals at greatest risk, and guiding prevention and intervention strategies.A number of serological tests hav...

This article focuses on profit-sharing and employee share ownership practices, with the aim of analysing the effect of company size and industry on financial participation, as well as the substitution or complementary effect of other direct and indirect participation methods adopted in Estonian private companies. The article uses survey data from more than 900 Estonian companies obtained via telephone interviews in 2011. The results indicate that share ownership is more common in micro enterprises, but contrary to expectations the incidence of employee financial participation is no higher in knowledge intensive sectors. The results also show that financial participation has different complementarities depending on the scheme. It seems that profit-sharing is part of the 'package' of employee participation, but this does not apply to employee share ownership. The article challenges the common understanding that certain innovative service sectors and bigger companies are more inclined to adopt employee financial participation; and raises doubts about the presumed development towards a higher degree of financial participation in Eastern European countries.

This article explores employee attitudes towards trade union membership in the post-communist Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It reports on a comparative empirical social survey of attitudes towards representation. We suggest that in addition to those employees who are union members and those who fall within an identifiable ‘representation gap’, there is a sizeable group of ‘undecided’ employees who could be persuaded to join trade unions, if they could see the relevance of collective representation. We argue that this relatively large group could be specific to the Central and East European countries, and employees who fall within the commonly understood representation gap in other countries can be found within this undecided group in Baltic countries. Trade unions therefore face a considerable challenge in proving their relevance to such employees, a problem that has wider resonances in a European context but may be more difficult to resolve in the Central and East European countries.