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Decentralizing Wage Bargaining in Germany — A Way to Increase Employment?
Author(s) -
Ochel Wolfgang
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
labour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1467-9914
pISSN - 1121-7081
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9914.2005.00291.x
Subject(s) - collective bargaining , wage bargaining , decentralization , wage , economics , labour economics , bargaining power , collective agreement , unit (ring theory) , resistance (ecology) , production (economics) , market economy , microeconomics , ecology , mathematics education , mathematics , biology
. The area‐wide wage agreement is at the centre of Germany's system of collective bargaining. In recent years, however, there has been a tendency towards the decentralization of collective bargaining. Individual wage agreements have led to more moderate wage developments, whilst collective agreements with individual firms, and agreements at the production unit level, have not had this moderating effect. On the other hand, collective bargaining has become more flexible, leading to greater pay differentiation. The further decentralization of collective bargaining, although desirable, has given rise to objections based in constitutional law and to resistance from employees and employers.