"Multinational companies (MNCs) are significant employers across Europe, with corresponding influence in national collective bargaining systems. The international organisation and management structures of MNCs – and their capacity to move production and jobs across borders – have implications for the structure, agenda and outcomes of collective bargaining. This study finds that under multi-employer bargaining arrangements, MNCs have been a major source of pressure for decentralisation, giving greater scope for company negotiation. In relation to single-employer bargaining, MNCs often set the pace. Moreover, they make widespread use of cross-border comparisons of costs and performance in local negotiations in manufacturing. The result is the implementation of cost-saving and flexibility-enhancing measures, particularly in the context of company restructuring. Relocations – actual and threatened – heighten the coercive pressures of MNCs on local negotiators."

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