Do Norwegian Companies' Direct Investments in Poland Imply Exports of Labour Relations?

Torunn Kvinge and Aleksandra Rezanow Ulrichsen
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Torunn Kvinge: Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research
Aleksandra Rezanow Ulrichsen: Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research

Economic and Industrial Democracy, 2008, vol. 29, issue 1, 125-155

Abstract: This article suggests that the Norwegian model of labour relations is not transferred to Poland as a part of direct investments when it comes to representative participation of the workforce and collective bargaining. The authors suggest several explanations for their findings. One is that Norwegian manufacturing companies mainly locate simple assembling activities in Poland, and, from the employer's point of view, these activities may not call for the same extent of employee involvement in work organization as is the case with more competence-intensive activities. Second, through participation processes employees might be able to take home more of the value added, with lower profits for the Norwegian owners as a result. In addition, there are difficulties in transferring labour relations because of differences in cultural codes and lack of basic institutions, e.g. unionization and membership in employers' associations, which is absent in most of the companies.

Keywords: collective bargaining; comparative industrial relations; division of labour; employee participation; fixed-term contracts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:29:y:2008:i:1:p:125-155

DOI: 10.1177/0143831X07085142

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