The New Structure of Labor Relations: Tripartism and Decentralization (review)

The origin of this book was a conference in October 2001 co-sponsored by the Korean Labor Institute and the ILR School of Cornell University. The conference theme was to "examine the changing nature of labor, management, and government interactions with a special focus on tripartite dialogue and labor policy-related forums."

The contributors examine eight countries (Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, and the United States) framed around the "varieties of capitalism" school that integrates comparative industrial relations and comparative political economy. Specifically, this school makes a distinction between "coordinated" and uncoordinated" market economies, but also examines the depth and implications of the various forms of corporate and industrial relations structure that appear within advanced industrial economies. Within this framework the book adds an in-depth analysis of the changing nature of labor, management, and government interactions since the 1980s. It reveals that in all countries, while there was movement toward decentralization of collective bargaining in the 1990s, there also were efforts made—with mixed results—to create some form of tripartite arrangement.

The newer tripartism had precedents in a number of social democracies in the 1960s and 1970s. The older types of tripartism formed to control inflation through incomes policies and were not very successful. The more recent arrangements, while sharing some similarities with the earlier models, are broader in scope and are often concerned with workplace and employment flexibility, participatory processes, and part-time work. New groups and partners have been brought into the dialogue, including women, senior citizens, the unemployed, and other members of "civil society."

Moreover, tripartism appeared in countries without previous experience with it. For example, both Italy and Ireland created a tripartite system to bring inflation and public debts under control to conform to European Monetary Union standards, while Korea's arrangement developed in response to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In countries where tripartism has not been central to economic policymaking (as in Japan, Korea, Australia, and the United States), the authors show how a variety of "coordinating" mechanisms have developed to affect employment conditions and labor policy, actually with little success in the United States.

At the same time, there has been a common trend across the eight nations toward decentralization in the locus of collective bargaining and the individualization of pay and work practices (especially in Australia and continuing in the United States), even in countries with more formal tripartite arrangements (Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, and Italy). Employers in all cases have been the driving force behind decentralized bargaining, which often involves union concessions. The co-existence of tripartism and decentralization within some of the countries makes categorizing industrial relations systems difficult. Gone are the days when each country was known for having a distinct industrial relations system.

What have been the outcomes of varied national arrangements and what does the future hold for tripartism? The book reports improvements in macroeconomic conditions, including wage moderation, labor market flexibility, and a stabilized European Union. But most of the immediate gains have accrued to employers and conservative governments that have supported "market solutions" to labor and economic problems. The editors note that political will is important, and the lack of it has contributed to few benefits for workers and unions. Consequently, unions have been reluctant to support tripartism. Moreover, with unions in retreat and the influence of collective bargaining in decline, the book notes the difficulties in constructing and sustaining tripartite dialogue.

For labor educators and unions, the findings reported in this interesting and analytical book speak to the importance and challenge of building coordinated networks locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Yet, as the American case study (now somewhat outdated) reveals from its focus on autos and telecom services, even where unions have been willing participants, an unfriendly political economy has made it nearly impossible to place key social and labor issues on a national agenda. Still, "The New Structure of...