Solidaristic Wages Policy: The European Experience

This book considers the role of both wages and unions in economic theory, asking whether wages are merely a mechanical outcome of the economic process or are they a political variable subject to influence by organised labour? The author moves on to consider the changing concepts put forward by European trade unions themselves in support of their pay strategies and wage claims, and in particular the concept of a ‘solidaristic wage policy’. Schulten also examines the outcomes of such concepts: the division of income between labour and capital and that between different categories of workers. Identifying from the way these outcomes have changed over time a crisis in trade union theory and practice, the author considers recent developments in European collective bargaining and union interaction with employers and the state (corporatism). He concludes with ideas about how European trade unions can pursue strategies that will enable them once again to regain the initiative in terms of collective bargaining on wages.