Defence is the Best Offence: Horizontal Disintegration and Institutional Completion in the German Coordinated Market Economy

Abstract

The article considers how (new) forms of horizontal disintegration, like onsite subcontracting, challenge and change the industrial relations institutions of the German coordinated market economy (CME). Focusing on firm-level co-determination practices, it analyses how works councils respond to strategies of onsite subcontracting and what effects their responses have for the employment system. Based on evidence from 12 case studies, it is argued that although onsite subcontracting might prompt institutional erosion, this does not pass uncontested. Rather, practices of networkoriented employee representation on the part of works councils might bring about an 'institutional completion', in this case, the institutionalisation of the network as an additional point of reference for employee representation. This may stabilise and even extend the scope of existing CME institutions through a process of 'institutional upgrading'. In some areas of the economy, however, management and works council practices are more likely to exacerbate dualisation and social inequality.

Service Delivery Networks and Employment Relations at German Airports: Jeopardizing Industrial Peace on the Ground?

“…Contrary to that, where works councils and unions stick to their prevailing social partnership practice and do not reflexively monitor what is going on (Airport 1), they get entrapped in corporate restructuring and fragmentation. In line with recent research on agency work (Benassi and Dorigatti 2015) or on onsitesubcontracting (Hertwig et al 2018), we conclude from these findings that worker representatives are able to co-shape network restructuring, working conditions and the level of industrial conflict in inter-firm networks by deploying either expelling or integrative practices.…”

“…However, it remains to be seen whether works councils and trade unions can contribute -contrary to the hollowing-out thesis of marketization research (Holst 2014) -to the reproduction and transformation of employment relations institutions in Germany during the ongoing restructuring processes towards inter-firm networks. For example, it is unclear whether unions are able to trigger a process of 'institutional completion' (Hertwig et al 2018), in which networks are built into the fabric of the extant regulatory system by creating new institutions of network forms of worker representation. Such a transformation seems to be in high demand, at least if the challenges of network restructuring for employment relations continue to persist, very likely not only in Germany and not exclusively in aviation.…”

Estimating the Wage Premium to Supervision for Middle Managers in Different Contexts: Evidence from Germany and the UK

“…Even so, Hall and Thelen (2009) tend to agree that significant differences between LMEs and CMEs persist. Recent research suggests that for studies of employment relations the VoC framework is still valid (Hassard and Morris, 2018; Hertwig et al, 2018; Kornelakis, 2014). For example, Farndale et al (2017) offer evidence of substantial variation in HRM practices between the two types of economy.…”

‘Good’ Bad Jobs? The Evolution of Migrant Low-Wage Employment in Germany (1985–2015)

“…However, the SOEP data do not allow for such a fine-grained analysis. The same point applies to the growing role of 'onsite subcontracting' in manufacturing firms, which equally is more prone to low-wage employment (see Hertwig et al, 2019). 9.…”