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Transnational Collective Agreements and the Development of New Spaces for Union Action: The Formal and Informal Uses of International and European Framework Agreements in the UK
Author(s) -
Mustchin Stephen,
Lucio Miguel Martínez
Publication year - 2017
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.12244
Subject(s) - multinational corporation , context (archaeology) , collective action , dimension (graph theory) , action (physics) , european union , business , economic system , political science , sociology , economic geography , international trade , economics , law , politics , physics , mathematics , pure mathematics , paleontology , biology , quantum mechanics
Transnational collective agreements (TCAs) are an important development in the international dimension of industrial relations. This article compares four case studies of multinational companies in the UK covered by TCAs. Findings show that while the formal influence of TCAs was limited, they were invoked around particular disputes and could strengthen union influence in a context otherwise characterized by limited union rights. Such influence depended on the co‐ordination of workplace‐ and firm‐level industrial relations institutions, union access to management at headquarters level and union receptiveness to and outward engagement with transnational activity. The formal but also the informal dimensions of these dynamics played a significant role.