The paper aims to collect and analyse examples of worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer (i.e. beyond a single legal person). The cases presented will be selected according to different criteria: the perimeter of worker representatives and the scope of collective agreements (group; site; district; subcontractors; supply chain; etc.); the entity that has promoted the worker representative or has started the collective bargaining (the leading company; the national or local trade unions; the worker representative in the leading company; a local public authority; etc.); the content of the collective agreement. The research will focus mainly on unexplored perimeters of worker representatives and scopes of collective agreements. We intend to present cases in which workers involved in the same production chain try to collectively defend their common interests. Besides, we will present cases concerning workers active in the same workplace (e.g. construction site; airport; hospital) or in the same local area (e.g. site; district). We will clarify that sometimes worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer are promoted and supported by the leading company, in order to better organise its production chain and to assure the quality of its goods and services. In other cases, these forms of worker representative and collective agreement are facilitated by public authorities in order to increase legality in subcontracting, to guarantee better services or to boost local industry. Trade unions as well are interested in worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer to fight the fragmentation of the workforce pointing out workers’ common interests, and to strengthen collective claims. Evidences that can undermine the bases of the insiders/ outsiders theory will be presented. Having clarified the reasons why several actors promote worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer, we will verify if the outcomes of the cases examined are satisfactory for the actors involved. In the cases in which the main expectations were not fulfilled, we will investigate the reasons of this failure. We will present as well the difficulties faced by the different actors to implement worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer. And we will verify if, in the selected cases, the legal regulation has fostered or hindered worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer. In order to limit our research, we concentrate mainly on national cases. Indeed, we are interested in presenting how local context, legal regulation, national industrial relations can (positively or negatively) influence the development of worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer.
In search of lost solidarity: site and supply chain collective agreements
Silvia Borelli;
2018
Abstract
The paper aims to collect and analyse examples of worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer (i.e. beyond a single legal person). The cases presented will be selected according to different criteria: the perimeter of worker representatives and the scope of collective agreements (group; site; district; subcontractors; supply chain; etc.); the entity that has promoted the worker representative or has started the collective bargaining (the leading company; the national or local trade unions; the worker representative in the leading company; a local public authority; etc.); the content of the collective agreement. The research will focus mainly on unexplored perimeters of worker representatives and scopes of collective agreements. We intend to present cases in which workers involved in the same production chain try to collectively defend their common interests. Besides, we will present cases concerning workers active in the same workplace (e.g. construction site; airport; hospital) or in the same local area (e.g. site; district). We will clarify that sometimes worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer are promoted and supported by the leading company, in order to better organise its production chain and to assure the quality of its goods and services. In other cases, these forms of worker representative and collective agreement are facilitated by public authorities in order to increase legality in subcontracting, to guarantee better services or to boost local industry. Trade unions as well are interested in worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer to fight the fragmentation of the workforce pointing out workers’ common interests, and to strengthen collective claims. Evidences that can undermine the bases of the insiders/ outsiders theory will be presented. Having clarified the reasons why several actors promote worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer, we will verify if the outcomes of the cases examined are satisfactory for the actors involved. In the cases in which the main expectations were not fulfilled, we will investigate the reasons of this failure. We will present as well the difficulties faced by the different actors to implement worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer. And we will verify if, in the selected cases, the legal regulation has fostered or hindered worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer. In order to limit our research, we concentrate mainly on national cases. Indeed, we are interested in presenting how local context, legal regulation, national industrial relations can (positively or negatively) influence the development of worker representatives and collective agreements beyond a single employer.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
