Horizontal Europeanisation by Martin Heidenreich

Author:Martin Heidenreich [Heidenreich, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780815392774
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2019-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

6.4.2. The relative autonomy and legitimacy of collective bargaining fields

As elaborated earlier, the position of national or sectoral economic fields within the wider European (and global) economic field has repercussions on the position of collective bargaining fields within the European field of power. Good economic performance and recognition for the perceived contribution of collective bargaining to this may reinforce autonomy of national collective bargaining fields also vis-à-vis the European political-administrative field, which has shifted from supporting collective bargaining to supranational and international interventions to decentralise national collective bargaining fields with the aim to enhance economic competitiveness (see section 6.3).

The German and Austrian collective bargaining fields with their moderating effects on wage developments presently enjoy a comparatively high legitimacy within the European field of power (as is expressed for example in the Country Specific Recommendations issued by the European Commission as part of the European Semester). Also, during the global financial crisis of 2008–2009 the Austrian as well as the German field of collective bargaining helped the countries come through the recession rather unscathed by adopting measures such as flexible wage setting allowing for temporary wage restraint, short-time work and flexible working time arrangements. The Austrian field of collective bargaining has maintained its autonomy and has remained relatively isolated from influences of European and global institutions and actors. The same holds true for the German field where interviewees rejected any interventions by EU institutions into national fields of collective bargaining as well as the proposals of the European Commission for a stronger coordination of wages in the name of increased competitiveness that were seen as an attack on the principle of free collective bargaining (Interview 1).

By comparison, EU interventions had more direct material and symbolic effects on the Italian field of collective bargaining. During the 1990s, Italian governments were respected partners within the process of European integration and Italian trade unions contributed jointly with Austrian and German trade unions to the Europeanisation of collective bargaining norms. However, this autonomy has come under pressure with the international financial crisis and, especially diminished in 2011, when the ECB sent the famous ‘secret letter’ to the Italian government, demanding, amongst other reform measures, a further decentralisation of the bargaining system (Recchia, 2017: 459).

Even though a number of different factors including European monetary policies, the state and innovation capacities of a country’s metal industry and the levels of productivity and unit labour costs explain the relative positions of national economic fields within the transnationalized European metal industry, European economic policy actors regard national collective bargaining fields as the major culprit in producing macroeconomic imbalances within the eurozone. Against this background, collective bargaining actors in the examined countries are expected to uphold the autonomy of the national (or sectoral) collective bargaining fields to varying degrees. The strong economic position in European markets and a high level of legitimacy in the European field of power might strengthen collective bargaining fields and their actors in Germany and Austria, while the Italian collective bargaining field might be more likely to face a further disruption of its boundaries by economic or political challenges.

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