Abstract
The articles in this issue look at labour migration from various perspectives, the role of HR practices, multinational companies, the various effects of privatization of industrial relations, temporary workers, and local collective bargaining in various countries around the world. We would like to warmly thank our readers, authors and referees around the globe for all your dedicated work during 2016.
The first article in this issue, by Bjarke Refslund, Aalborg University, Denmark, titled ‘Intra-European labour migration and deteriorating employment relations in Danish cleaning and agriculture: Industrial relations under pressure from EU8/2 labour inflows?’, discusses how labour migration influences working conditions and wages in agriculture and cleaning. The author emphasizes the risks of a dual labour market, putting strain on the Danish model, since some employers offer below average working conditions without collective agreements. Further, the increased practice of using subcontracted workers leads to lower wage levels and worse working conditions in the two industries studied. The low unionization rates are putting pressure on the Danish unions as well.
In the second article, ‘When do social actors shape sub-national employment policies? Case study evidence from four multinationals in Belgium’, by Vickie Dekocker, University of Leuven, Belgium, four multinational firms operating in Belgium were studied with regard to sub-national strategies. More specifically, the role of social actors in shaping employment policies in these multinational companies with subsidiaries was studied. The author suggests that the different historical developments on a sub-national level were important in this respect. Also important was the use of collective bargaining resources.
The third article, ‘The contradictory effects of neoliberalization on labour relations: The health and social work sectors’, by Jonathan Preminger, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, discusses the various effects of neoliberalism in different sectors of the economy. By using two sectors in the Israeli economy, public health care and social services, the author shows that privatization has had different outcomes for Israeli doctors and social workers, respectively. Further, specific factors such as institutional factors, the specific historical background and links to other sectors might be important in these different outcomes.
The fourth article, ‘Temporary agency versus permanent workers: A multigroup analysis of human resource management, work engagement and organizational commitment’, by Maria José Chambel, Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon, Portugal, Filipa Castanheira, INOVA Research Center, Nova School of Business and Economics, New University of Lisbon, Portugal, and Filipa Sobral, Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon, Portugal, discusses differences between temporary and permanent workers in Portugal. The authors discuss, among other aspects, the mediating role of work engagement in the comparison of these two groups of employees. Both in call centres and manufacturing, there was a stronger affective commitment among permanent workers compared to temporary workers. The authors discuss further ‘workers’ perception of HR practices systems on workers’ affective outcomes’ and they conclude that this seems important for both groups of workers. High quality HR-practices were found to be important for both groups.
James Chowhan, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Canada, Isik U Zeytinoglu, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Canada, and Gordon B Cooke, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, explore the job satisfaction of immigrants in Canada, compared with Canadian-born employees in the article ‘Immigrants and job satisfaction: Do high performance work systems play a role?’. The authors discuss high performance work systems (HPWS) in relation to immigrants in terms of job satisfaction. However, recent immigrants experienced lower job satisfaction, compared to immigrants entering Canada earlier, the authors argue.
The final article in this issue, ‘Analysis of Italian medium-sized enterprises’ collective bargaining from an international perspective: Evidence from the manufacturing sector’, by Andrea Signoretti, Università di Brescia, Italy, discusses local collective bargaining in Italy. Institutions and local culture were according to the author important in order to understand the specific outcomes and role of these local bargaining practices.