Industrial relations in Central and Eastern Europe

Martin, Roderick and Cristescu-Martin, Anamaria M. (2006) Industrial relations in Central and Eastern Europe. In, Collings, D.G., Morley, M.J. and Gunnigle, P. (eds.) Global Industrial Relations. (Global HRM) London, UK. Routledge.

Abstract

This chapter examines recent trends in industrial relations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The focus is on developments since 1989, when the fall of Socialism in the region led to a series of revolutions in politics, economics, and society. The analysis relates to developments in seven countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. In the Socialist period, from the end of the Second World War to 1989, the institutional arrangements in the seven countries were broadly similar, with the state, on behalf of the Communist Party and in the name of the proletariat, largely determining the pattern of industrial relations. Trade unions were ‘transmission belts’ to assist in the implementation of state policies (Pravda and Ruble 1986). Since 1989 the institutional uniformity has disappeared, with different countries following different paths, in industrial relations institutions as in other spheres. The divergences have become so great in the case of the former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union that they fall outside any common analysis. The disintegration of Yugoslavia has resulted in the destruction of the former system of industrial democracy, and the creation of different systems in the successor states. In Russia a catastrophic decline in living standards, rising unemployment, and a large disparity between the relative prosperity of small groups in major metropolitan areas, employees in the oil and gas sector, and the rest, sidelined industrial relations institutions (Standing 1996; Clarke 1999).

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