Documents Geyer, Leonard 5 results

"As skill formation systems are increasingly under pressure from de-industrialization and the rise of knowledge economies, their ability to include the low-skilled has been strained. But what determines how skill formation systems adjust to this challenge? By explaining the divergence of two most-similar systems, those of Austria and Germany, the article highlights the key role of trade unions and of the institutional resources and legacies available to them. Where institutional resources are high and legacies positive, as in Austria, unions were crucial in setting an inclusive pathway of reform of the training system. Where, on the contrary, institutional resources are low and legacies negative, as in Germany, unions' strategies for inclusion failed, paving the way to a dualizing outcome. The article therefore provides a novel analysis of institutional change in skill formation systems, while also offering broader insights on the relationship between coordinated and egalitarian capitalism in post-industrial knowledge-based economies."

"A burgeoning literature has analysed how and why platform workers express their (collective) voice. While this ‘willingness to act' of platform workers is evidenced across several countries, there is little research on their ‘willingness to pay', however. Are platform workers willing to become dues paying union members? Exploiting novel survey data from Austria, this article addresses this gap by analysing the propensity of app-mediated food delivery couriers to join trade unions. Similarly to traditional industries, the findings demonstrate that the decision to join a union is driven by instrumental and value-rational motivations. Compared to employed couriers, those on ‘free-service provider contracts', i.e. freelancers, are less likely to unionise, however. Also, short expected job tenure and limited personal contacts hinder unionisation in app-mediated food delivery. Yet unions are not without tools: they can significantly improve relationships between them and the couriers by supporting grassroots activists."