Documents Frans, Dorien 2 results

"The paper uses a qualitative comparative case study design to examine across (and within) sectoral variation in occupational welfare outcomes (i.e. flexible working hours, occupational pensions and health and sickness benefits, fringe benefits complementing wages) for different groups of workers in food and chemical manufacturing in Germany and Belgium. Findings indicate that common national challenges can yield different occupational welfare outcomes across (and within) different sectors, which in turn affect workforce segmentation. The integration between local and sector-level power dynamics explains how, and the extent to which, negotiation on occupational welfare can entail segmentation."

" This article examines union strategies towards the twin digital and green transitions, comparing the German and Belgian automotive industries. The drive towards net-zero and more digital economies is manifested through the move from fossil fuel-powered cars to electric cars, engendering a reorganisation of production, work and employment among car manufacturers. We identified two strategic union response patterns. While German unions are developing proactive strategies and proposals to influence and shape the ongoing transition of the automotive industry, Belgian unions are more passive, reacting primarily to management proposals and focusing narrowly on employment and working conditions without a broader strategy on how to influence the transformation of the automotive industry. We explain the observed cross-national differences by two factors: the importance of national institutions, i.e., the varying integration of labour into management decision-making, and the role of union knowledge regimes. The latter refers to internal union organisations and structures such as research departments, research institutes and foundations tasked with providing own research and funding external research on change topics from a union perspective, publishing studies and developing programmatic agendas, and disseminating the knowledge to union members through training, workshops and conferences."