Affiliation:
1. Department of Social and Political Sciences Università degli Studi di Milano Milan Italy
Abstract
AbstractOn the basis of a comparative analysis of market risks (re)distribution between labour and management in public‐service outsourcing in Italy and Denmark, this article examines different cross‐national patterns of social solidarity in similar encompassing and co‐operative employment relations regimes. It seeks to explain why similar inclusive and collaborative systems of public‐sector employment relations are not functionally equivalent in preventing labour inequalities under market‐making pressure, as predicted by the extant literature. The analysis demonstrates that variation between the countries considered was due to three interrelated factors which mutually reinforced each other in either virtuous (Denmark) or (semi)vicious (Italy) circles: (i) the availability of legislative loopholes; (ii) the cross‐sectoral (public/private) organizational structure and strategy of trade unions and (iii) employers’ outward/inward orientation. The findings confirm the capacity of cross‐sectoral public/private dynamics to either build or erode solidarity in inclusive systems, and they highlight the importance of incorporating the strategic agency exerted by unions and public employers as a crucial determinant of the granular differences emerging between similar models.
Subject
Management of Technology and Innovation,Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management,General Business, Management and Accounting