Export Dependence and Institutional Change in Wage Bargaining in Germany

This article explores the adjustment of wage bargaining institutions to international trade in Germany. Embracing IPE as opposed to CPE lenses yields a novel interpretation of change in the institution of wage bargaining. Export dependence of a sector, we argue, has destabilizing effects for industry-wide bargaining by sparking an intra-sectoral cleavage between domestic- and export-oriented enterprises. Specifically, the greater the degree of export dependence of a sector, the greater the degree to which domestic-oriented enterprises within that sector will abandon collective bargaining. We also explain how workplace employee representation through works councils mitigates this effect, such that the presence of works councils helps domestically oriented firms to hold to collective bargaining agreements in the face of a sector's deepening exposure to export markets. These claims find empirical support in the history of labor relations developments in the metal industry and, especially, in extensive analysis of a cross-section of establishments. Our findings attribute major responsibility to the firms driving globalization for undermining collective bargaining institutions and suggest that economic globalization is a cause of dualization. In all, the article provides fresh ammunition for a version of globalization-induced institutional convergence. [Correction added after online publication on May 28, 2014: “conversion” changed to “convergence” in preceding sentence.]

本文探讨德国工资谈判制度对国际贸易的适配调整。相较于比较政治经济学（Comparative Political Economy, CPE）视角，采用国际政治经济学（International Political Economy, IPE）的分析框架，可为工资谈判制度的变迁提供全新阐释。本文主张，某一产业的出口依赖度会通过催生本土导向与出口导向企业间的产业内分化，削弱行业集体谈判制度的稳定性。具体而言，产业出口依赖度越高，该产业内的本土导向企业就越有可能放弃集体谈判。此外，本文还阐释了通过工厂委员会（Works Council）实现的职场员工代表机制如何缓解这一效应：当产业面临不断加深的出口市场渗透时，工厂委员会的存在可帮助本土导向企业坚守集体谈判协议。上述主张在金属产业劳资关系发展历程中得到了实证支撑，尤其通过对大量跨企业截面样本的系统性分析得以验证。本研究发现，推动全球化的企业是破坏集体谈判制度的主要责任方，同时表明经济全球化是引发劳资关系二元化的诱因之一。综上，本文为全球化驱动的制度趋同假说提供了全新的论据支撑。[2014年5月28日在线出版后补充更正：前文中的"conversion"已修改为"convergence"]