Bargaining for equal pay and work–life balance in Danish companies – Does gender matter?

Abstract

This article adds new insights into how equal pay and work–life balance issues are negotiated in male- and female-dominated companies, based on a survey of 3275 shop stewards, conducted in 2010. Inspired by Gregory and Milner’s concept of opportunity structures, we argue that the gender composition of the workforce affects the equal pay and work–life balance discussions and actions in Danish companies, but in a slightly different way from expected. It is often the male shop steward who exploits the opportunity structure created by more women among the staff to develop equal pay and work–life balance actions.

Dualisation of Part-Time Work

“…This questions the idea of the genuine win-win situation for employers and employees alike with respect to marginal part-time employment. Indeed, our findings demonstrate that although Denmark has some of the most extensive work-life balance policies in Europe (Larsen and Navrbjerg, 2018), parents, including mothers, are less likely to work within retail or hotels/restaurants than other sectors. Therefore, the often-assumed match with part-time employment facilitating the interests of employers and employees seems highly questionable for some groups of marginal part-timers.…”

Beyond methodological nationalism in explanations of gender equality: The impact of EU policies on gender provisions in national collective agreements in Belgium (1957–2020)

“…For instance, the examined topics include trade unions’ bargaining strategy in the field of equal pay and work–family reconciliation (e.g. Gregory and Milner, 2009; Larsen and Navrbjerg, 2018), the bargaining process dynamics between trade unions and employers, and the role of the state in buttressing gender equality bargaining through gender equality policies (Milner et al, 2019; Williamson and Baird, 2014).…”

“…This literature tends to understand gender equality outcomes as endogenous, resulting from institutional characteristics of the country (e.g. the nature of industrial relations and welfare services) and the context-specific political objectives and strategies adopted by the social partners on gender equality, which leads to emphasizing institutional continuity across time (Gregory and Milner, 2009; Koskinen Sandberg, 2018; Larsen and Navrbjerg, 2018; Milner and Gregory, 2014). Factors originating outside the country often remain outside the scope of analysis, perpetuating a ‘methodological nationalism’ (Erne, 2015) that underestimates the impact of supranational political institutions on national industrial relations and their gender equality outcomes.…”

A Gender Equalizing Regulatory Welfare State? Enacting the EU’s Work-Life Balance Directive in Denmark and Poland

“…Wage and working conditions, including parental leave, sometimes earmarked and sometimes with full pay, are primarily regulated through collective agreements at the sectoral and company levels (Due and Madsen 2008). Most collective agreements have more extensive parental leave rights than the legislation in terms of earmarking and pay (Larsen and Navrbjerg 2018). For workers not covered by collective agreements, there is a statutory parental leave scheme (with no earmarking) but pay is rather low (unemployment benefits level).…”

“…The Helle-Thorning government (2011–2015) pledged to introduce earmarked parental leave, especially to encourage fathers to take leave. However, due to disagreement in the parliament, they did not adopt the proposed earmarking (Larsen and Navrbjerg 2018). In the negotiations prior to the EU adopting the WLBD, some unions under the Danish Trade Union Confederation (LO, now FH) feared that fathers would not use their earmarked leave, and provided that it could not be transferred to the mother, it would result in less parental time with children (LO 2017).…”