Employee Relations against Economic Crisis in the Countries of South-East Europe - The case of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hellas and Romania

Abstract

In the era of globalization and economic crisis, an alarming issue has been raised in relation to employee relations both in the public and the private sector. The aim of this article is to depict changes in employee relations during the recession period in the countries of South-East Europe [members of EU], that have been severely struck by the crisis. Over the past few years, a gradual deregulation of employee relations and a reduction of employment percentage with aparallel increase of managerial rights have been noted. Gradually, typical employment and stable working models have been downgraded, the appearance of flexible ways of employment, the 'haircut' of employee rights and provisions, the downgrade of employees' role into decision making progress, the reduction of wages with parallel reduction of working time through collective agreements, the "borrowing" of employees inside and outside the mother company, the reorganization of technical services and the closure of shopping malls, all led to the creation of personnel surplus. At the same time, an effort to replace existing personnel with cheap personnel from subsidiary companies is being promoted. This research is based (i) on the study of written evidence, (ii) in the usage of the historical method, in order for the evolution of the phenomenon to be conceived and (iii) on the comparison method, for the troop with the administration of other countries, experiencing the same problems, to be clarified. Conclusions are significantly important and whatever their utilization will contribute essentially to the understanding of the concept flexicurity and the improvement of employee relations, in the globalization frame.