Strengthening legislation, weakening collective bargaining? Two faces of trade union strategies in Czechia and Slovakia

Marta Kahancová and Monika MartiÅ¡ková
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Monika Martišková

European Journal of Industrial Relations, 2023, vol. 29, issue 1, 63-81

Abstract: The paper studies how unions used two types of resources, namely, access to national legislation/policy and to collective bargaining, to improve working conditions in healthcare and in agency work in Czechia and Slovakia. It examines how these two types of institutional resources interact, whether they are potentially in competition and how this affects union revitalization. Unions’ post-2008 strategies in the two sectors converged towards political action due to their preference for legislative regulation of issues previously bargained about or unregulated. The paper argues that extensive use of institutional safeguards contributes to improving working conditions; however, prioritizing political action may weaken other types of union strategies and undermine future access to collective bargaining. In other words, extensive utilization of one institutional resource (legislation) may gradually weaken other types of resources (collective bargaining) and thereby undermine the overall revitalization capacity of trade unions.

Keywords: Trade unions; collective bargaining; legislation; Czechia; Slovakia; temporary agency work; healthcare; revitalization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:eurjou:v:29:y:2023:i:1:p:63-81

DOI: 10.1177/09596801221140408

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