Collective bargaining, minimum wages and public procurement in Germany: Regulatory adjustments to the neoliberal drift of a coordinated market economy

Abstract

This article analyses different types of labour clauses in public procurement regulation that have been enacted in Germany, a coordinated market economy that has experienced a ‘neoliberal drift’ including the decline of the traditional governance of labour and contracting out. Based on an analysis of relevant regulations adopted by the 16 Germany federal states, the article corroborates insights into the prominent role of left parties advocating for labour clauses in public procurement on a much broader empirical foundation than previous research. It adds to scholarly knowledge by revealing that the relative comparative advantage of regions with lower wage levels inhibits labour clauses in federal political systems. It finds that centre-right parties are willing to stipulate certain labour clauses in order to protect small-and medium-sized enterprises, which are core parts of their electoral support base.

Moving In and Out of the Shadow of European Case Law: the Dynamics of Public Procurement in the Post‐Post‐Rüffert Era

“…Our findings thus highlight the room for domestic pushback that Blauberger and Schmidt () somewhat underplay, which is dependent on domestic actors, mainly unions, employers' association and politicians, and their preferences and determination to ‘push‐back’ against EU law as well as the power relations among key societal actors (Sack, ; Seikel, ). Our findings support previous studies (Jaehrling et al, ; Sack, ; Sack and Sarter, ) that point to the role of social democratic and left‐wing domestic politicians in contesting EU case law, at least in the case of public procurement. In the Danish case, we have shown how social democrats and left‐wing parties, urged by unions, imposed an advanced procurement regime despite opposition from the employers' associations, along their own political preferences.…”

“…In fact, minimum wages with no basis in a collective agreement were completely alien to the German wage‐setting system. These procurement‐specific minimum wages were mostly contingent on the Länder's political leadership, as evidenced by the fact that their adoption of procurement specific minimum wages were pioneered by Social Democratic‐led Länder (Jaehrling et al, ; Sack and Sarter, ).…”

“…Generally, these studies argue that various ‘pushback’ or contestation strategies (understood as national actors actively challenging and mitigating the domestic effects of Europeanization) are viable from a political, administrative and legislative perspective (Hofmann, ; Martinsen, ). In this group of studies, the domestic configuration of political interests and key actors' interests (on labour market issues, particularly employers’ association and unions) as well as partisan politics are found to be influential for whether and how Europeanization is contested (Blauberger, ; Sack and Sarter, ). Other studies have highlighted ‘push‐back’ emanating from the legal system in member states.…”

Measuring and Comparing the Regulatory Welfare State: Social Objectives in Public Procurement

“…They are discussed largely independently from one another, and different labels are used by different authors. Writing from a comparative politics perspective, scholars interested in public procurement emphasize (national) “production conditions.” Geographically these studies focus on continental Europe (e.g., Sack and Sarter 2018). A second strand in the public procurement literature is interested in “products” that are sustainable in their provision of services and/or the (transnational) supply chain (e.g.…”

Employees’ Managed Resentment: Public Procurement and the Part of Emotions in Social Change

“…Past entitlements, either to remuneration or to forms of direct participation in the sense of having a say about work processes (Gallie 2013), are no longer publicly recognized. In the context of the current, polarized power relations (Vosko 2010) typical of workplaces, engendered by outsourcing and contracting-out procedures (Sack and Sarter, forthcoming), formal replacement of past entitlements could have had one of three implications for employees’ emotional response. First, entitlement could have disappeared: Estrangement, a form of alienation that hinders one’s ability to experience the full range of human feelings, leading to partial functioning (Weyher 2012), could have signaled a sharp turning point at which employees accept their new, deprived situation and their low levels of remuneration and participation.…”