Employment Relations and Restructuring Management in the Banking Sector in Luxembourg

• Authors: Kirov Vassil , Thill Patrick
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article discusses how restructuring during the crisis has affected employment relations in the banking sector in Luxembourg. The crisis has reinforced the impact of a series of exogenous factors influencing Luxembourg's banking sector and its continental employment relations system. These include the automatic exchange of information, rapidly-evolving European and international regulation and the resulting stronger compliance of banks, the mobilisation of external expertise by social partners, as well as stronger skills and professional requirements. It is argued that although these factors challenge the consensus-based and neo-corporatist employment relations framework, coordinated decentralization with strong government involvement in tripartite bargaining arenas has meant that the functioning of the employment relations system has been maintained. Collective bargaining has contributed to a socially-responsible restructuring in the banking sector through the anticipation and management by consenting to legally-based labour agreements and certified training for dismissed employees, as well as impact management through implementing transition support instruments.

Keywords

EN

collective bargaining; restructuring; Luxembourg; social partners; banking sector

• Publisher: Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie
• Journal: Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociology
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 11
• Pages: 75-100

Contributors

author

Kirov Vassil

• Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS)

author

Thill Patrick

• Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research

References

• Adam, G., (2011), Representativeness of the European social partner organisations: Banking. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/studies/tn1009018s/tn1009018s.htm (last accessed on 28 of October 2014).
• Arrowsmith, J., Marginson, P., (2011), Variable pay and collective bargaining in British retail bankin, "British Journal of Industrial Relations", 49: 54-79.
• Bechter, B., Brandl, B., Meardi, G., (2012), Sectors or countries? Typologies and levels of analysis in comparative industrial relations, "European Journal of Industrial Relations", 18 (3): 185-202.
• Bergstrom, O., (2014), Monitoring learning and innovation in European restructuring. Draft synthesis report, Gothenburg, IRENE Policy Papers, 12.
• Bispinck, R., Dribbusch, H., (2011), Collective bargaining, decentralization and crisis management in the German metalworking industries since 1990, Düsseldorf, WSI Discussion Paper, 177.
• Brandl, B., Traxler, F., (2011), Labour relations, economic governance and the crisis, "Labor History", 52 (1): 1-22.
• Castegnaro, G., Claverie, A., (2011), Luxembourg: The representativeness of trade unions and employer associations in the banking sector, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/studies/tn1009018s/lu1009011q.htm (last accessed on 28 of October 2014).
• Clément, F., (2008), Les relations professionnelles au Luxembourg, Differdange: EURES Publications.
• Conseil économique et social (2014), Perspectives économiques sectorielles à moyen et long terme dans une optique de durabilité : Le secteur financier, Luxembourg: Conseil économique et social.
• Didry, C., Jobert, A., (2010), Introduction, in: Lentreprise en restructuration: Dynamiques institutionnelles et mobilisations collectives, Didry, C., Jobert, A., eds., Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes.
• Dorry, S., Musil, R., (2015), European financial centers as strategic nodes in the financial industry: London, Luxembourg and Vienna, "Geographische Rundschau", 67(2): 10-16.
• Eurofound (2011), Recession and social dialogue in the banking sector: a global perspective, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef1115.htm (last accessed on 28 of October 2014).
• Forde, C., Stuart M., Gardiner J., Greenwood, I., MacKenzie, R., (2009), Socially responsible restructuring in an era of mass redundancy, Leeds: University of Leeds, CERIC Working Papers Series.
• Gazier, B., (2008), Comparing processes across Europe, in: Gazier, B., Brüggeman, F., eds., Restructuring work and employment in Europe, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
• Glassner, V., Keune, M., (2012), The crisis and social policy: the role of collective agreements, "International Labour Review", 151 (4): 351-375.
• Haipeter, T., Jürgens U., Wagner K., (2012), Employment relations in the banking and automotive industries in Germany, "International Journal of Human Resource Management", 10 (23): 2016-2033.
• Hassel, A., (2009), Policies and politics in social pacts in Europe, "European Journal of Industrial Relations" 15 (1): 7-26.
• Jefferys, S., (2010), Financial crisis and social dialogue in the UK banking sector, Working Paper / Working Lives Research Institute, 10, London: Working Lives Research Institute, http://workinglives.org/fms/MRSite/Research/wlri/Working%20Papers/WLRI%20Working%20Paper%20No%20 10.pdf (last accessed on 28 of October 2014).
• Katz, H.C., Darbishire, O., (1999), Converging Divergences: Worldwide Changes in Employment Systems, Ithaca, New York: ILR Press, Cornell University Press.
• Klagge, B., Dorry, S., (2015), Geographies of finance, "Geographische Rundschau", 67(2): 4-9.
• Kornelakis A. (2014), Liberalization, flexibility and industrial relations institutions: evidence from Italian and Greek banking, "Work, Employment and Society", 28(1): 40-57.
• KPMG (2014), Luxembourg. banks insights 2014, http://www.kpmg.com/LU/en/IssuesAndInsights/Articlespublications/Documents/BanksInsights2014.pdf (last accessed on 28 of October 2014).
• Marginson, P., (2014), Coordinated bargaining in Europe: From incremental corrosion to frontal assault?, "European Journal of Industrial Relations", 21(2): 97-114.
• Michaux, R., (2013), Le secteur bancaire au Luxembourg, Luxembourg: Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques du Grand-Duché du Luxembourg.
• OECD (2010), Economic survey of Luxembourg of 2010, Paris: OECD Publications.
• Pieretti, P., Bourgain, A., Courtain, P., (2007), La place financière de Luxembourg: Analyse des sources de ses avantages compétitifs et de sa dynamique, Luxembourg: De Boeck.
• Pulignano, V., Stewart, P., (2013), Firm-level restructuring and union strategies in Europe: local union responses in Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands, Work, Employment and Society 27 (5): 842-859.
• Rhodes, M., (2001), The political economy of social pacts: competitive corporatism and European welfare reform, in: Pierson, P., ed., The new politics of welfare, Oxford: Oxford University Press: 165-194.
• Ries, J., (2011) La syndicalisation au Luxembourg, Luxembourg: Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques du Grand-Duché du Luxembourg.
• Schultz, C., Walther O., (2010), Adaptation strategies of Luxembourgs financial center under pressure, Differdange, CEPS/INSTEAD Working Papers.
• Sproll, M., (2013), Precarization, genderization and neotaylorist work. How global value chain restructuring affects banking sector workers in Brazil, desiguALdades.net Working Paper Series, No.44, http://www.desigualdades.net/Resources/Working_Paper/44_WP_Sproll_Online_revised.pdf (last accessed on 24.08.2015).
• Streeck, W., (1992), National diversity, regime competition and institutional deadlock: Problems in forming a European employment relations system, "Journal of Public Policy", 12 (4): 301-330.
• Thill, P., Thomas, A., (2009), Le 'modèle luxembourgeois' au défis de la crise, Differdange: CEPS/INSTEAD.
• Thill, P., Thomas, A., (2011), The end of consensus? The effects of the economic crisis on employment relations in Luxembourg, in: Baglioni, M., Brandi, B., eds., Changing labour relations between path dependency and global trend, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, Labour, Education and Society.
• Trausch, G., (2012), Les mutations économiques et sociales de la société luxembourgeoise depuis la révolution française, Luxembourg: Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques du Grand-Duché du Luxembourg.
• Traxler, F., (1995), Farewell to labour market associations?, in: Crouch, C., Traxler, F., eds., Organised employment relations in Europe: What future?, Aldershot: Avebury.
• Zagelmeyer, S., (2013), Tackling the crisis through concession bargaining: evidence from five German companies, "International Journal of Manpower", 34 (3): 232-251.
• Zahlen, P., (2001), La société luxembourgeoise à travers le prisme du capital social, "Forum für Politik, Gesellschaft und Kultur in Luxemburg", 207: 20-28.