European Journal of Industrial Relations

This article introduces the Special Issue on industrial relations in Central and Eastern Europe since the financial and economic crisis. Already dependent economically on funding from the west and lacking the robust industrial relations institutions traditional in much of Western Europe, countries in the region were particularly vulnerable. However, there are important cross-national differences, and the strategies of key actors have significantly affected the outcomes.

Labour markets in post-transition countries have undergone radical changes, with a shift away from full employment and strong legal protection for employees, though the extent of these changes has differed between countries. I show that the loosening of employment protection went in parallel with growing income inequality and widening poverty levels, which led to a rise in household debt. This enabled additional consumption in the short term, but later deepened recession by hampering consumption. Following the financial crisis, the tendencies to make labour markets more flexible were confirmed and strengthened. This was facilitated by the weakness of trade unions, conditioned by structural changes brought about by transition.

A growing literature has analysed capitalist institutions in Slovenia and Estonia, two countries often viewed as representing very different varieties of capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe. Slovenia has been unique in the region, given its highly centralized wage bargaining and the importance of corporatist institutions, notably the tripartite Economic and Social Council; it is thus an exception to the general pattern of weak unions and ‘illusory corporatism’ across the region. By contrast, Estonia is commonly viewed as a prime example of a liberal market economy, in which industrial relations are decentralized. This article analyses how these distinctive institutional configurations have shaped the two countries’ responses to the global economic crisis beginning in 2007–2008. It explores whether these institutions have undergone changes as a result of the crisis, and also seeks to identify lessons from this experience for the future prospects for corporatism and tripartism, and also for the revitalization of trade unions and progressive politics in Central and Eastern Europe more generally.

Economic transformation after 1989 and the global economic recession that began in 2008 have caused an increase in precarious work in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. As a result of refamilialization, precarious work acquired a specific form for women. We use the Czech Republic as an example in analysing a trend that is obvious throughout the Visegrád countries and apply the capabilities approach to understand the dynamics of precarious work in the lives of women with care responsibilities. Neither the objective characteristics of work nor its subjective assessment alone makes it possible to understand precarious work. The explanation lies in the (temporal) dynamics of the interconnection between the two: insecure jobs accepted by women with care responsibilities as a temporary strategy may turn into a trap excluding them from a stable job.

This article examines union revitalization in Central and Eastern Europe, focusing on two countries: Hungary and Latvia. Trade unions have not only had to cope with a declining membership base, but have also had to respond to austerity programmes and government cuts in public sector employment. We argue that the inability of unions to provide a strong voice for alternative policies to the current neoliberal orthodoxy has been driven by a declining membership base, but also by weakened social dialogue mechanisms, limited industrial representation and an ageing membership profile, exacerbated by net outward migration in recent years. However, we find that unions in Latvia and Hungary have responded differently to these issues.

Over the last two decades, trade union membership in Central and Eastern Europe has been in continuous decline, and unions in the region are generally considered weak. However, little is known about the actual relevance of trade unions for individual workers in the post-socialist world. We explore the role that unions played in protecting their members from the negative effects of the global economic crisis. Using data for 21 post-socialist countries from the Life in Transition-2 survey, we find that union members were less likely than comparable non-members to lose their jobs during the crisis. This beneficial effect of union membership was particularly pronounced in countries which were hardest hit by the crisis. At the same time, union members were more likely to experience wage reductions, suggesting that unions were engaged in concession bargaining. Overall, our results challenge the common view that unions in the post-socialist countries are irrelevant.

This article compares industrial relations in production sites in Slovakia and Russia owned by a single transnational automotive firm, Volkswagen. We analyse the empirical data using a working-class power approach. In Slovakia, associational and institutional power is well developed and influenced by the model of German work councils, but structural power is weakly exercised and unions rely on non-conflictual engagement with management. In Russia, structural working-class power remains strong, but the opportunities for transforming this into lasting associational, let alone institutional power, remain limited; thus, new unions make use of unconventional methods of protest to promote worker interests.