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The Role of Mediation Institutions in Sweden and Denmark after Centralized Bargaining
Author(s) -
Ibsen Christian Lyhne
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/bjir.12142
Subject(s) - bargaining power , collective bargaining , mediation , alliance , human settlement , economics , class action , collective action , reciprocal , economic system , labour economics , political science , microeconomics , law , state (computer science) , linguistics , philosophy , algorithm , computer science , archaeology , politics , history
This article compares coordinated collective bargaining in Sweden and Denmark after centralized bargaining. Existing theories — power resource and cross‐class alliance theory — seem capable of explaining the transition from centralized bargaining to pattern bargaining system. However, they do not explain the internal stability of bargaining coordination once established. This analysis stresses the role of mediation institutions of both countries for solving collective action problems in pattern bargaining by pegging other settlements to the manufacturing labour cost norm. Mediation capabilities, however, differ, which is reflected in more frequent defections in Sweden than in Denmark and thus a more unstable bargaining coordination. These differences have substantive consequences for bargaining outcomes in the two countries.