Friday, July 17, 2009
[IWS] TOWARDS COMPUTER-AIDED COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: ENHANCING THE TRADE UNIONS POSITION UNDER FLEXICURITY
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut in der Hans-Boeckler-Stiftung
Towards computer-aided collective bargaining: Enhancing the trade unions position under flexicurity
by Andranik Tangian (Tanguiane)
Diskussionspapier Nr. 165
June 2009
http://www.boeckler.de/pdf/p_wsi_diskp_165_e.pdf
[full-text, 154 pages]
Abstract
The paper develops a negotiation model for flexicurity-relevant collective bargaining.
Flexicurity is a European labour market policy which should compensate the ongoing
flexibilization of employment relations by advances in employment security and social
security. Flexibility is promoted by employers, whereas trade unions are concerned with
security.
First, the opposite interests of negotiating sides are expressed by indicators which
evaluate °exibility and security aspects of a collective labour agreement (CLA). A fair
agreement should have 0-balance, by analogy with credit{debit 0-balance in ¯nances.
Since the °exibility and security indices are expressed in di®erent scales ('in di®erent
currencies'), the substitution rate ('exchange rate') should be determined. In our case it
is done by regression analysis of °exicurity-relevant CLAs from the past practice. The
data are taken from the Dutch computer archive of about 5400 CLAs in years 1995{
2007. For a given CLA, a positive deviation from the °exibility{security 0-balance means
that °exibilization issues are well compensated by security measures (better than on the
average). A negative deviation means that °exibility prevails over security, implying that
trade unions are disadvantaged.
The model outputs tables and graphics and can be regarded as a kind of interactive
check-list. It shows shortages and advantages of a given collective agreement with several
indices, and displays its relative position with regard to all reference CLAs considered,
to those of the given year, to those within the branch, or within the branch in the given
year. Finally, the total evaluation of the CLA is made in terms of so called °exicurity
balance. This approach can be easily extended to issues beyond °exibility and security.
Besides pragmatic goals, the study provides empirical evidence of increasing °exibility
at the price of security. This is a serious warning against improper implementation of
flexicurity and one-sided use of this policy in favor of employers. The computer tool de-
veloped is just aimed at enhancing the position of trade unions to the end of surmounting
this negative trend.
Contents
1 Introduction 7
1.1 Flexicurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2 Trade-unions response to °exicurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3 Pragmatic view at °exicurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 Composite indicators of °exibility and security 11
2.1 Idea of composite indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Data structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 Calibration and re-coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.4 Scaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.5 Weighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.6 Aggregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3 Analysis of Dutch CLAs 17
3.1 Analysis by year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Analysis by industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3 Flexicurity 0-balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.4 Evaluation of a CLA in terms of °exicurity balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.5 Finding the °exicurity-best CLAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.6 Flexicurity trends in Dutch CLAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4 Interactive check-lists for evaluating CLAs 32
4.1 Flexicurity check-list No. 1 (descriptive) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.2 Flexicurity balance for partial indices of °exibility and security . . . . . . . 38
4.3 Flexicurity check-list No. 2 (analytical) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5 Conclusions 42
6 Annex 1: Constructing indicators of °exibility and security 43
6.1 Evaluating CLAs variable-by-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
6.2 Evaluating CLAs with partial and aggregated indices . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7 Annex 2: List of variables 138
8 References 152
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut in der Hans-Boeckler-Stiftung
Towards computer-aided collective bargaining: Enhancing the trade unions position under flexicurity
by Andranik Tangian (Tanguiane)
Diskussionspapier Nr. 165
June 2009
http://www.boeckler.de/pdf/p_wsi_diskp_165_e.pdf
[full-text, 154 pages]
Abstract
The paper develops a negotiation model for flexicurity-relevant collective bargaining.
Flexicurity is a European labour market policy which should compensate the ongoing
flexibilization of employment relations by advances in employment security and social
security. Flexibility is promoted by employers, whereas trade unions are concerned with
security.
First, the opposite interests of negotiating sides are expressed by indicators which
evaluate °exibility and security aspects of a collective labour agreement (CLA). A fair
agreement should have 0-balance, by analogy with credit{debit 0-balance in ¯nances.
Since the °exibility and security indices are expressed in di®erent scales ('in di®erent
currencies'), the substitution rate ('exchange rate') should be determined. In our case it
is done by regression analysis of °exicurity-relevant CLAs from the past practice. The
data are taken from the Dutch computer archive of about 5400 CLAs in years 1995{
2007. For a given CLA, a positive deviation from the °exibility{security 0-balance means
that °exibilization issues are well compensated by security measures (better than on the
average). A negative deviation means that °exibility prevails over security, implying that
trade unions are disadvantaged.
The model outputs tables and graphics and can be regarded as a kind of interactive
check-list. It shows shortages and advantages of a given collective agreement with several
indices, and displays its relative position with regard to all reference CLAs considered,
to those of the given year, to those within the branch, or within the branch in the given
year. Finally, the total evaluation of the CLA is made in terms of so called °exicurity
balance. This approach can be easily extended to issues beyond °exibility and security.
Besides pragmatic goals, the study provides empirical evidence of increasing °exibility
at the price of security. This is a serious warning against improper implementation of
flexicurity and one-sided use of this policy in favor of employers. The computer tool de-
veloped is just aimed at enhancing the position of trade unions to the end of surmounting
this negative trend.
Contents
1 Introduction 7
1.1 Flexicurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2 Trade-unions response to °exicurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3 Pragmatic view at °exicurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 Composite indicators of °exibility and security 11
2.1 Idea of composite indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Data structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 Calibration and re-coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.4 Scaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.5 Weighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.6 Aggregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3 Analysis of Dutch CLAs 17
3.1 Analysis by year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Analysis by industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3 Flexicurity 0-balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.4 Evaluation of a CLA in terms of °exicurity balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.5 Finding the °exicurity-best CLAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.6 Flexicurity trends in Dutch CLAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4 Interactive check-lists for evaluating CLAs 32
4.1 Flexicurity check-list No. 1 (descriptive) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.2 Flexicurity balance for partial indices of °exibility and security . . . . . . . 38
4.3 Flexicurity check-list No. 2 (analytical) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5 Conclusions 42
6 Annex 1: Constructing indicators of °exibility and security 43
6.1 Evaluating CLAs variable-by-variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
6.2 Evaluating CLAs with partial and aggregated indices . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7 Annex 2: List of variables 138
8 References 152
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 5:51 AM
