Collective and individual strategies to improve working conditions
Deteriorating and working conditions are among the more worrying developments in the post-fordist European labor markets (Kalleberg, 2009; 2018; Lohmann, 2009; Standing, 2011; Vosko, 2010). Scholars argue that as part of overall processes of liberalization, work is offering less security than it used to (Azmanova, 2020; Baccaro & Howell, 2011; 2017; Bulfone & Afonso, 2020; Rueda, 2014; Streeck, 2009; 2016). Different developments are pointed to as problematic. A first example is the flexibilization of the labour market. This has, among other things, resulted in an increase of workers holding temporary or flexible contracts (Barbieri, 2009; Dekker, 2017). In some sectors, such as the cultural and creative industries, workers on flexible contracts (including solo self-employment) nowadays exceeds those holding standard employment relations (Been & Keune, 2022). This development contributes to insecurity about work continuity among workers and decreases their bargaining position. Second, low wage work has been increasing (Been et al., 2021). The recent surge in inflation rates has increased the problem of insufficient wages as it rendered the salary levels of an expanding segment of workers problematic. This issue is evident in the growing number of workers who now depend on supplementary assistance, such as food banks . Third, mounting work pressure is frequently cited as a problem across numerous sectors, leading to fatigue, discontent, and burnout among workers (Chung, 2022; TNO, 2020). The recent resurgence of strikes across Europe, including countries with historically low strike rates like the Netherlands, highlights the urgent nature of workers' discontent regarding their working conditions. Moreover, the protests and demands put forth by trade unions have not been entirely unsuccessful, as evidenced by higher wages being agreed upon in recent collective labor agreements than was common in the decades before (AWVN, 2023).
The recent revival of strikes and trade union membership , might suggest that collective action and -organization are regaining popularity after decades of declining trade union membership rates (CBS, 2021). In the Netherlands, as in many other countries in continental Europe, collective bargaining for a long time served as the means to keep checks and balances between the interests of employers and employees. This institutional framework gained its grip on the labour market in the decades after the second world war (De Beer & Keune, 2018). For a long term, collective bargaining and collective action were the go-to instruments for workers to improve their working conditions. This turned around in the past decades which show across Europe a steady decline in trade union membership rates (Muller et al., 2019). In many of these countries, collective bargaining is still an important tool for regulating working conditions. The low trade union membership rates show, however, that few workers are actually personally using it as a tool to influence their working conditions (and that of their co-workers).
It seems that in the context of general tendencies in society, such as individualization and flexibilization, unsatisfactory working conditions were during the past decades, increasingly met with individual strategies to improve them. There is a wide area of options to do so. In line with Hirschman (1970), speaking up and/or trying to negotiate better conditions with your employer (voice) is a first option and leaving (exit) a job, sector or profession another one. In the context of a flexibilized and tight labour market, switching between employers might even be a very effective strategy to improve working conditions. It allows for rapid accumulation of a relevant network and skills and provides natural possibilities to negotiate better conditions (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; Kovalenko & Mortelmans, 2014; Verbruggen, 2012). Especially when labour market shortages provide a good bargaining position.
The options of exit and voice might however not be equally realistic for workers across sectors. Those that have a high intrinsic motivation for the specific work they do, such as health care professionals, teachers and artists, might be less inclined. These professions are part of the group of professions we often refer to when we talk about ‘labour of love’ (Graham, 2022). On the one hand, workers in these professions are highly passionate about what they do. The flip-side it that they are often (relatively) badly paid and that work pressure tends to be high. These issues around working conditions are shared among workplace and workers in these occupations. Therefore, either individual (re)negotiation or changing employers within their sector might not be effective strategies to improve working conditions. It is likely that these groups of workers have looked for alternative options to improve their working conditions. Health care workers in the public sector have been found, for example, to look for additional jobs in private health care institutes to supplement their income levels (Van Lerberghe et al., 2000) and workers in the cultural and creative industries find supplementary jobs outside their own sector, for example in a café, for the same reason (Throsby & Zednik, 2011). Recently, there are signs that self-employment has entered as a legible strategy in the Netherlands to improve working conditions in the context of a tight labour market, with several news articles mentioning the rise in solo self-employed nurses and teachers ; .
Negative externalities and cooperation problems
Individual strategies might, when balanced against the down-sides, work out well for the individual. For example, self-employed nurses are able to demand better remuneration and turn-down night shifts since they have a good bargaining position in the context of a tight labour market. This might weigh up to possible downsides of being self-employed. However, negative externalities might occur beyond the individual. In the example of the self-employed nurse, one possible negative side-effects might be that nurses that are still employed by the hospital need to share the unpopular shifts among less colleagues leading to even more irregularity and work pressure for them. A second negative side-effect is that the continuity of care becomes harder to guarantee for hospitals, since it is not a given that there are enough nurses available around the clock. Chances are that employers have to spend more and more time on trying to get all timeslots filled in the schedule. A final example of a negative side effect is that it may exacerbate inequalities, as it is the workers with already strong bargaining power who are able to enhance working conditions through individual strategies, while leaving behind colleagues who face less favorable bargaining conditions in more precarious work situations. The examples of possible negative externalities that might result from individual strategies to improve their working conditions, show that all stakeholders on the labour market are potentially affected and that vicious cycles are looming.
The described development of strategies by individuals to improve their working conditions outside the institutions of companies/organizations (employer-employee relationships) and the industrial relations system might contribute to the drift of the existing labour market institutions (Thelen, 2012). Moreover, it can be interpreted as a sign of cooperation problems within these institutions. For example, employers are not able to provide employees with satisfying working conditions to keep them on board, trade unions are not able to negotiate satisfying working conditions with employers (organizations) and workers do no longer become trade unions members to collectively pressure for better working conditions. This project aims to set light on the individual and collective strategies used by workers to improve their working conditions (micro-level) and the consequences of these strategies for organizations/companies and labour market institutions (meso and macro level), developing and using a lens of externalities.
Project approach
The project aims to use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.
• Semi-structured interviews (possibly complemented with a vignette study) are held with workers in selected professions and sectors (up to the candidate) to:
o Understand the reasons (cooperation problems?) why they opt for certain strategies (individual or collective) to improve their working conditions.
o Understand which strategies (e.g. leaving the profession, solo self-employment, strike) they see as legible and preferable and why.
o Understand the conditions under which they opt for certain strategies
• Semi-structured interviews with employers, trade union representatives and employers’ organizations to:
o Understand the consequences (positive and negative externalities) of the strategies adopted by workers
o Understand potential cooperation problems
• Analyses of CBS micro data (potentially supplemented with data on the contents of collective bargaining agreements) to:
o Map the strategies used by workers and the externalities connected to them in the sectors under study
o Test the conditions under which workers adopt certain strategies, using career trajectories
Together with the selected candidate it will be decided whether the project will focus on the Netherlands alone or adopt a country-comparative component.
Project Initiators
Wike Been (UG), Selin Dilli (UU), Rafael Wittek (UG)