Minimum Wage Regimes: Statutory Regulation, Collective Bargaining and Adequate Levels (Routledge Research in Comparative Politics)

This book goes beyond traditional minimum wage research to investigate the interplay between different country and sectoral institutional settings and actors’ strategies in the field of minimum wage policies. It asks which strategies and motives, namely free collective bargaining, fair pay and/or minimum income protection, are emphasised by social actors with respect to the regulation and adaptation of (statutory) minimum wages. Taking an actor-centered institutionalist approach, and employing cross-country comparative studies, sector studies and single country accounts of change, the book relates institutional and labour market settings, actors’ strategies and power resources with policy and practice outcomes. Looking at the key pay equity indicators of low wage development and women’s over-representation among the low paid, it illuminates our understandings about the importance of historical junctures, specific constellations of social actors, and sector- and country-specific actor strategies. Finally, it underlines the important role of social dialogue in shaping an effective minimum wage policy. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and policy-makers and practitioners in industrial relations, international human resource management, labour studies, labour market policy, inequality studies, trade union studies, European politics and political economy. This book goes beyond traditional minimum wage research to investigate the interplay between different country and sectoral institutional settings and actorsâ€TM strategies in the field of minimum wage policies. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 List of figures 8 List of tables 10 List of boxes 12 List of contributors 13 Acknowledgements 18 1. Introduction: Minimum wage regimes in Europe and selected developing countries 20 2. Minimum wages and the multiple functions of wages 36 PART I: Actors’ strategies influencing collective bargaining and minimum wage regulations at national level in European countries 56 3. Securing wage floors in the absence of a statutory minimum wage: Minimum wage regulations in Scandinavia facing low-wage competition 58 4. Minimum wages in Southern Europe: Regulation and reconfiguration under the shadow of hierarchy 83 5. Shaping minimum wages in Central and Eastern Europe: Giving up collective bargaining in favour of legal regulation? 106 PART II: The combined effects of minimum wages and collective bargaining in different sectors 132 6. The interplay of minimum wages and collective bargaining in Germany: How and why does it vary across sectors? 134 7. Downward convergence between negotiated wages and the minimum wage: The case of the Netherlands 156 8. The SMIC as a driver for collective bargaining: The interplay of collective bargaining and minimum wage in France 181 PART III: The minimum wage beyond Europe: An accomplishment or an alternative to collective bargaining? 208 9. Minimum wages in Indonesia: Informality, politics and weak trade unions in a large middle-income country 210 10. Are minimum wages for textile and garment industry workers effective? A sector-in-country institutionalist approach for five developing countries 225 11. Minimum wages and inequality mitigation in post-dictatorship industrial relations systems in Latin America: The case of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay 254 PART IV: Conclusion: Lessons for theory and practice 276 12. Conclusion: Understanding the multiple interactions between institutions of minimum wages and industrial relations 278 Index 300 wage,regulation;,statutory,minimum,wage;,industrial,relations;,wage,policies;,labour,markets;,women's,pay;,trade,unions;,wage,negotiations;,minimum,wage wage regulation,statutory minimum wage,industrial relations,wage policies,labour markets,women's pay,trade unions,wage negotiations,minimum wage "This book goes beyond traditional minimum wage research to investigate the interplay between different country and sectoral institutional settings and actors' strategies in the field of minimum wage policies. It asks which strategies and motives, namely free collective bargaining, fair pay and/or minimum income protection, are emphasised by social actors with respect to the regulation and adaptation of (statutory) minimum wages. Taking an actor-centred institutionalist approach, and employing cross-country comparative studies, sector studies and single country accounts of change, the book relates institutional and labour market settings, actors' strategies and power resources with policy and practice outcomes. Looking at the key pay equity indicators of low wage development and women's over-representation among the low paid, it illuminates our understandings about the importance of historical junctures, specific constellations of social actors, and sector- and country-specific actor strategies. Finally, it underlines the important role of social dialogue in shaping an effective minimum wage policy. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and policy-makers and practitioners in industrial relations, international human resource management, labour studies, labour market policy, inequality studies, trade union studies, European politics and political economy"-- Provided by publisher