Abstract
This special issue examines the impact of the sovereign debt crisis, and in some cases the demands of the Troika, on collective bargaining in the manufacturing sector in seven of the countries most severely affected. There has been an acceleration of previous trends towards the weakening of trade unions and the decentralization — or in some cases, the radical diminution — of collective bargaining. Established procedures of ‘free collective bargaining’ were subject to growing constraints from both national governments and the EU institutions. However, the actual impact on employment conditions was less clear-cut: the external pressures were mediated by specific national institutions and traditions.
The research on which these articles are based, and the special issue itself, were coordinated by Aristea Koukiadaki, Isabel Távora and Miguel Martínez Lucio. I am very grateful for their contribution.