This collection of essays focuses on employee ownership in the transitional economies of Central and Eastern Europe. This subject is attracting growing interest, since sales or free distribution of enterprise shares to employed workers and managers has surprisingly become one of the most frequent privatization methods in many transitional economies. The contributors highlight some of the crucial issues which have been debated in literature, in particular the advantages and risks of employee ownership in comparison with other privatization methods. Additionally, they provide an overview of the...

Over the last decade the emergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has contributed towards better corporate governance by tackling such burning issues as child labour and basic human rights violations. However, as the author argues in this important new book, the time has now come to incorporate wage issues into CSR. Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead proposes a new methodology, the 'Fair Wage' approach, which should allow all CSR actors to make progress in this field through a coherent and comprehensive set of fair wage dimensions and indicators.

The goal of this volume is to study this 'public sector shock'. While budgetary reforms seek to ensure a more balanced and sound economic policy, they may generate new work inequalities among public sector employees, most particularly among women, who account for a considerable proportion of public sector employment. Cuts in education and training may also have an impact on the quality of human capital in both the public and private sectors, despite the fact that the recent crisis has shown the value of education as employees with better skills and training are more likely to maintain their...

The European Social Model has been an integral part of the construction of the European Community and has been effective in stimulating its economic growth. This social dimension represents the soul of the European Union, and has been envied and adopted by other regions and countries in the world. Under the pressure of the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent introduction of austerity measures across Europe, many countries have reformed basic elements of the model including social protection, pensions, public services, workers' rights, quality of jobs, working conditions and social...

While recent studies have highlighted the phenomenon and risks of increased inequalities between the top and the bottom of society, little research has so far been carried out on trends relating to the median income range that generally represents the middle class. This volume examines the following questions: what are the main transformations in the world of work over the last 20 years in terms of the labour market, social dialogue, and conditions of work, wages and incomes that may have affected the middle class? How has the middle class been altered by the financial and economic crisis?...

International debate has recently focused on increased inequalities and the adverse effects they may have on both social and economic developments. Income inequality, now at its highest level for the past half-century, may not only undermine the sustainability of European social policy but also put at risk Europe's sustainable recovery. A common feature of recent reports on inequality (ILO, OECD, IMF, 2015-17) is their recognition that the causes emerge from mechanisms in the world of work. The purpose of this book is to investigate the possible role of industrial relations, and labour...

The main original aim of the European Union was to promote convergence towards higher economic growth and social standards. However, EU countries have sometimes experienced different trajectories, due in part to their different starting points and the fact that their convergence on particular socio-economic indicators has varied. At the same time, little evidence has so far been presented on cross-country convergence within the EU. This book aims to answer a number of important questions. To what extent have European countries converged or diverged with EU-wide economic and social...

Actors in the world of work are facing an increasing number of challenges, including automatization and digitalization, new types of jobs and more diverse forms of employment. This timely book examines employer and worker responses, challenges and opportunities for social dialogue, and the role of social partners in the governance of the world of work. Through interviews and surveys, the volume provides direct evidence on three central questions: how can we cultivate autonomous, bipartite social dialogue in order to meet these critical challenges? How can the social partners strengthen...

Global supply chains have become a dominant business model that has generated millions of jobs in developing and emerging economies. At the same time, we do not know what is behind this rise, as well as the effects that purchasing practices between buyers and suppliers have on wages and working conditions. This book is the first to address the root causes of poor working conditions within global supply chains themselves, in terms of living wages, working hours, types of work contract, and health and safety, not only in the garment sector, but also in other sectors, such as food, electronics...