Impact of Globalisation on Industrial Relations

Globalisation means intensified competition, the transfer of investments, production relocation outside of Europe, job losses, unemployment and rapid structural changes. European labour markets are characterised as relatively rigid, with high social security and strong industrial relations (IR). The aim of this study is to find out, how the social partners, governments and researchers interpret the challenges of globalisation on future developments of industrial relations. The research is based on expert foresight survey where IR experts from 34 countries were interviewed. The project looked to the future, to the year 2025 and discussed on what industrial relations and social dialogue would look like after fifteen-twenty years. The main findings convinced that decentralisation of collective bargaining is expected in old member states, while the situation will remain unchanged in majority of the new member states. We can conclude that European level convergence is expected in the area of industrial relation