‘Varieties of institutional avoidance’: employers' strategies in low-waged service sector occupations in France and Germany

Jaehrling, Karen; Méhaut, Philippe

doi:10.1093/ser/mws016

Cited by 48 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Within such boundaries, public authorities and private contractors have a certain leeway to design their strategies, while they may also explain how these boundaries can be stretched and circumvented. The rise in the workload is a telling example of how employers exploit loopholes in collective regulation of labour, avoiding institutional constraints (Jaehrling and Méhaut, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the public-private sector gap in employment regulation is shrinking. Public employers may benefit from the less stringent regulation of employment in the private sector, by circumventing the protective and encompassing set of norms regulating public services, ratcheting protections down towards private sector standards, and shifting jobs from highly unionized public organizations towards private contractors where industrial relations institutions are weaker (Jaehrling and Méhaut, 2013).…”

Section: Public Sector Employment Relations: Between Enduring Cross-cmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of public services outsourcing on work and employment conditions in different national regimes

Mori

2017

European Journal of Industrial Relations

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This article examines the impact of outsourcing of public services on employment relations and working conditions in three countries: Italy, the UK and Denmark. It presents six matched case studies and investigates whether contracting out by public administrations causes a market-driven convergence across national boundaries or whether cross-country differences endure. Though outsourcing blurs the organizational boundaries between public and private sectors everywhere, making terms and conditions of employment fragmented and less protected, distinct structures and legacies of national employment relations institutions result in differences between national trajectories.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Public Sector Employment Relations: Between Enduring Cross-cmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of public services outsourcing on work and employment conditions in different national regimes

Mori

2017

European Journal of Industrial Relations

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“…Hospitality was chosen as a private service sector associated with low pay, precarious work and a low level of collective organisation (Jaehrling and Méhaut 2012), where services have to be delivered close to the customer and jobs are 'rooted' within the 'local' economy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hard times in latte land? Analysing pay and working time in the café industry in France, Norway and the UK

Lloyd

Payne

2018

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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Industrial relations and employment regulation are central elements of the national institutional framework shaping country-level differences in job quality. However, researchers are also interested in within-country variation by sector. International sector comparisons can shed light on the role of national institutions, individual employer approaches and workplace unions in shaping outcomes within a sector. This article uses qualitative data on pay and working time in the café industry in France, Norway and the UK to weigh the effects of institutions and employer differentiation on worker outcomes in a sector particularly challenging for union organisation. The findings identify the importance of national institutions for worker outcomes, and for shaping the scope at organisational level for employers and unions to make a difference.

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“…Such findings, along with others referred to below (for example, Cañada, 2018;Godino and Molina, 2019;Jaehrling and Méhaut, 2012), illustrate the limited role of external regulation across much of Europe in improving the job quality and earnings of hotel workers. Consequently, research on hotel work has paid little attention to collective agreements, assuming their role to be limited or irrelevant.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Deregulation and institutional conversion in the Greek hotel industry: an employment relations model in transition

Papadopoulos

Lyddon

2020

Industrial Relations Journal

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Before the debt crisis of 2010 forced Greece into almost permanent austerity, its hotel workers enjoyed wages and conditions (through a sector collective agreement) similar to those in other economic sectors. This was against the international trend where low wages and poor conditions were standard. Sweeping deregulation by Greek governments has brought much of the hotel industry into line with other countries. The sector agreement, now covering a much smaller proportion of the workforce, survived but has experienced ‘institutional conversion’, delivering a much poorer outcome. Despite buoyant tourism, institutional deregulation and derogation have delivered the employers' major objective of matching the workforce to the fluctuating demand for labour.

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‘Varieties of institutional avoidance’: employers' strategies in low-waged service sector occupations in France and Germany

Cited by 48 publications

References 10 publications

The impact of public services outsourcing on work and employment conditions in different national regimes

The impact of public services outsourcing on work and employment conditions in different national regimes

Hard times in latte land? Analysing pay and working time in the café industry in France, Norway and the UK

Deregulation and institutional conversion in the Greek hotel industry: an employment relations model in transition

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