Comparative Industrial & Employment Relations
- Joris Van Ruysseveldt - Open University, The Netherlands
- Rien Huiskamp - The Open University of The Netherlands, Heerlen
- Jacques van Hoof - University of Leiden, Netherlands
this comprehensive textbook provides an introduction to industrial and employment relations in the wider economic, technological and political context.
Throughout, employment relations are set within the framework of the overall relationships between firms, markets, interest organizations and governments. Topics addressed include: distinct theoretical approaches to analyzing industrial and employment relations; the role of interest groups and organized interests in the industrial relations system; differences in the level of government intervention in industrial relations over time and between nations; the processes of bargaining, collective representation and participation, and the growth of flexibility; changes over time in three key elements of employment relations - wages, working time and qualifications; and developments in employment relations, work organization and technology in three important sectors - the automobile industry, banking and retailing.
`Overall the book is useful, not simply for reminding us of the continued salience of industrial relations, the employment relationship and the labour process, but also for showing that the future may see not convergence (even towards a "Euro-model" yet alone across a wider canvass) - diversity may even be increasing' - Asia Pacific Business Review
`Conceptually this book is very nicely organized.... In Part 2 there are chapters on trade unions (Jelle Visser), employers' associations (Frans van Waarden; one of the best essays I have ever read on this topic) and the state (also by van Waarden)' - Comparative Industrial Relations Newsletter
`It is impossible in this review to discuss all the rich ideas contained in this comprehensive reader. Not only from its contents, but also from a didactic point of view, the book is excellent (for example the many explanatory panels) and is a useful tool for all researchers and teachers of industrial relations as well as for labour economists' - Economic and Industrial Democracy
