Euro-Unionism and Wage Policy. The German Paradox: A Driving Force But Also a Brake?

A supranational regime that nationalizes social conflict: Explaining European trade unions' difficulties in politicizing European economic governance

“…the adaptation of competitive corporatist wage bargaining strategies by national wage policymakers, for example in German manufacturing industries; the erosion of national wage bargaining systems following increased relocation threats after the EU's eastward enlargement; supplyside-oriented labor law and welfare reforms; or the very technical nature of the European unions' wage coordination policies. 39 European unions failed to refer to the ETUC's wage coordination targets in their collective wage bargaining rounds. 40 Skeptical European industrial relations scholars, however, argued from the beginning that European trade union institutions would simply be too weak to enforce their voluntarist wage coordination rules.…”