This article investigates the transnational labor politics associated with the Europeanization of wage policy, based on process tracing of Irish minimum wage regulation reforms over the past two decades. The policy struggle in Ireland started as an employer-led domestic challenge to market-embedding regulation and was then affected by two EU interventions on wage policy: one with a de-regulatory orientation (during EU-IMF conditionality) and one with a re-regulatory one (with the approval of the EU minimum wage directive). Findings show that differences in collective action undertaken by employers and trade unions to influence wage policy at the national level can be explained by the intersection of each actor’s preferences toward market-constraining or liberalizing labor regulation and their access to supranational (EU-level) institutions and support. This analysis contributes to debates on how transnational opportunity structures can alter labor’s and employers’ local power resources and strategies.
AnnerMarkCarawayTeri. 2010. International institutions and workers’ rights: Between labor standards and market flexibility. Studies in Comparative International Development45:151–69.
2.
AmengualMatthewChirotLaura. 2016. Reinforcing the state: Transnational and state labor regulation in Indonesia. ILR Review69(5):1056–80.
3.
ArmingeonKlausBaccaroLucio. 2012. Political economy of the sovereign debt crisis: The limits of internal devaluation. Industrial Law Journal41(3):254–75.
4.
ArnholtzJensLillieNathan. 2020. European integration and the reconfiguration of national industrial relations: Posted work as a driver of institutional change. In ArnholtzJensLillieNathan (Eds.), Posted Work in the European Union, pp. 1–30. London: Routledge.
5.
ArnholtzJensRefslundBjarke. 2024. Workers, Power and Society: Power Resource Theory in Contemporary Capitalism. London: Routledge.
6.
BaccaroLucioHowellChris. 2017. Trajectories of Neoliberal Transformation: European Industrial Relations since the 1970s. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
7.
BairJenniferAnnerMarkBlasiJeremy. 2020. The political economy of private and public regulation in post-Rana Plaza Bangladesh. ILR Review73(4):969–94.
8.
BielerAndreas. 2005. European integration and the transnational restructuring of social relations: The emergence of labour as a regional actor?Journal of Common Market Studies43(3):461–84.
9.
BoumansSaskia. 2024. Employer discretion: The role of collective agreements in the liberalization of industrial relations. ILR Review77(2):227–50.
10.
BrookesMarissa. 2023. Re(Valuing) labor and globalization: Present reflections on the future of work. Labor Studies Journal48(3):234–42.
11.
BulfoneFabioAfonsoAlex. 2020. Business against markets: Employer resistance to collective bargaining liberalization during the Eurozone crisis. Comparative Political Studies53(5):809–46.
12.
CahillAnn. 2011. IBEC heads for Europe in bid to dismantle JLC structure. Irish Examiner, June16.
13.
CommonsJohn. 1909. American shoemakers 1648–1895: A sketch of industrial evolution. Quarterly Journal of Economics24(1):39–84.
14.
CopelandPaul. 2020. Governance and the European Social Dimension. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Della PortaDonatellaKeatingMichael. 2008. Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences: A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
20.
De SpiegelaereStan. 2023. Back on track: Are we seeing a renaissance of collective bargaining in Romania?HesaMag27:8–11.
DooleyNeil. 2023. The politics of structural reform in Ireland: Dominant growth coalitions, domestic business elites, and internal devaluation. Competition & Change. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294231194694
23.
DuffyKevinWalshFrank. 2011. Report of Independent Review of Employment Regulation Orders and Registered Employment Agreement Wage Setting Mechanisms. Open Access publications 10197/7942. University College Dublin.
24.
DundonTonyDobbinsTonyCullinaneNiallHicklandEugeneDonagheyJimmy. 2014. Employer occupation of regulatory space of the Employee Information and Consultation (I&C) Directive in liberal market economies. Work, Employment & Society28(1):21–39.
25.
ErneRoland. 2015. A supranational regime that nationalizes social conflict. Labor History56(3):345–68.
26.
ErneRoland. 2019. How to analyse a supranational regime that nationalises social conflict? In NanopoulosEvaVergisFotis (Eds.), The Euro-Crisis as a Multi-Dimensional Systemic Failure of the EU, pp. 346–68. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
27.
ErneRolandStanSabinaGoldenDarraghSzabóImreMaccarroneVincenzo. 2024. Politicising Commodification: European Governance and Labour Politics from the Financial Crisis to the Covid Emergency. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
28.
FarrellHenryNewmanAbraham L.2014. Domestic institutions beyond the nation-state: Charting the new interdependence approach. World Politics66(2):331–63.
29.
FarrellHenryNewmanAbraham L.2016. The new interdependence approach: Theoretical developments and empirical demonstration. Review of International Political Economy23(5):713–36.
30.
GearyJohn. 2016. Economic crisis, austerity and trade union responses: The Irish case in comparative perspective. European Journal of Industrial Relations22(2):131–47.
31.
GearyJohnGamwellSophie. 2017. An American solution to an Irish problem: A consideration of the material conditions that shape the architecture of union organizing. Work, Employment and Society33(2):191–207
32.
GilesAnthony. 2000. Globalisation and industrial relations theory. Journal of Industrial Relations42(2):173–94.
33.
GoldenDarraghErneRoland. 2022. Ryanair pilots: Unlikely pioneers of transnational collective action. European Journal of Industrial Relations28(4):451–69.
34.
HarrodJeffrey. 1997. Social forces and international political economy: Joining the two IRs. In GillStephenMittelmanJames H. (Eds.), Innovation and Transformation in International Studies, pp. 105–17. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
35.
HigginsColman. 2011. EU an ‘observer’ in wage-setting review, as security employers back JLCs. Industrial Relations News (IRN), April20.
36.
HigginsColman. 2012. Troika delves into detail of new ERO/REA Bill, as changes proposed. Industrial Relations News (IRN), January25.
[IBEC] Irish Business and Employers Confederation. 2011. IBEC in Brussels on concerns about reform of wage rules. IBEC, June15.
39.
[IBEC] Irish Business and Employers Confederation. 2021. Proposal for a Directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union. Ibec Submission to the Enterprise Department of Trade and Employment, February19.
ImZhen JieLarsenTrine PernillePircherBrigitte. 2024. European social dialogues: Shaping EU social policy through parental leave rights. ILR Review. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00197939241231789
43.
Irish Legal News. 2021. Ireland raises concerns about EU minimum wage directive. February9.
44.
JordanJamieMaccarroneVincenzoErneRoland. 2021. Towards a socialisation of the EU’s new economic governance regime?British Journal of Industrial Relations59(1):191–213.
45.
KeuneMaartenMarginsonPaul. 2013. Transnational industrial relations as multi-level governance: Interdependencies in European social dialogue. British Journal of Industrial Relations51(3):473–97.
46.
KorpiWalter. 2006. Power resources and employer-centered approaches in explanations of welfare states and varieties of capitalism: Protagonists, consenters, and antagonists. World Politics58(2):167–206.
47.
LangleyAnne. 1999. Strategies for theorizing from process data. Academy of Management Review24(4):691–710.
LéonardEvelyneErneRolandMarginsonPaulSmismansStijn. 2007. New Structures, Forms and Processes of Governance in European Industrial Relations. Luxembourg: Office for the Official Publications of the European Union.
50.
LévesqueChristianMurrayGregor. 2010. Understanding union power: Resources and capabilities for renewing union capacity. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research16(3):333–50.
51.
LillieNathanGreerIan. 2007. Industrial relations, migration, and neoliberal politics: The case of the European construction sector. Politics & Society35(4):551–81.
52.
MaccarroneVincenzoErneRoland. 2023. Ireland: Trade unions recovering after being tipped off balance by the Great Recession? In WaddingtonJeremmyMüllerTorstenVandaeleKurt (Eds.), Trade Unions in the European Union: Picking up the Pieces from the Neoliberal Challenge, pp. 585–62. Brussels: Peter Lang.
53.
MaccarroneVincenzoErneRolandReganAidan. 2019. Ireland: Life after social partnership. In TorstenMüllerVandaeleKurtWaddingtonJeremy (Eds.), Collective Bargaining in Europe: Towards an Endgame, pp. 315–35. Brussels: European Trade Union Institute (ETUI).
54.
ManaghRayO’FaolainAodhan. 2022. High court blocks minister of state from introducing pay increases for 16,000 security workers. Irish Times, August24.
55.
MarginsonPaul. 2016. Governing work and employment relations in an internationalized economy: The institutional challenge. ILR Review69(5):1033–55.
56.
MarginsonPaulSissonKeith. 2004. European Integration and Industrial Relations: Multi-level Governance in the Making. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
57.
MarginsonPaulWelzChristian. 2015. European wage-setting mechanisms under pressure. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research21(4):429–50.
58.
McMahonGerry. 2021. Trade unions: To recognise or not to recognise?Industrial Relations News (IRN), April4.
59.
MeardiGuglielmo. 2018. Economic integration and state responses: Change in European industrial relations since Maastricht. British Journal of Industrial Relations56:631–55.
60.
MiróJoan. 2021. In the name of competitiveness: A discursive institutionalist analysis of the EU’s approach to labour market structural reform, 2007–2016. Socio-Economic Review19(2):711–33.
61.
MosleyLayna. 2013. Introduction: Just talk to people? Interviews in contemporary political science. In MosleyLayna (Ed.), Interview Research in Political Science, pp. 1–27. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
62.
NatiliMarcelloRonchiStefano. 2023. The politics of the European minimum wage: Overcoming ideological, territorial and institutional conflicts in the EU multi-level arena. Journal of Common Market Studies62(3):725–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13526
63.
O’FaolainAodhan. 2021. Security companies seek to have pay order set aside. Irish Times, July19.
64.
O’SullivanMichelleRoyleTony. 2014. Everything and nothing changes: Fast-food employers and the threat to minimum wage regulation in Ireland. Economic and Industrial Democracy35(1):27–47.
RathgebPhilipTassinariArianna. 2022. How the Eurozone disempowers trade unions: The political economy of competitive internal devaluation. Socio-Economic Review20(1):323–50.
67.
RefslundBjarkeArnholtzJens. 2022. Power resource theory revisited: The perils and promises for understanding contemporary labour politics. Economic and Industrial Democracy43(4):1958–79.
68.
SchultenThorstenMüllerTorsten. 2015. European economic governance and its intervention in national wage development and collective bargaining. In LehndorffSteffen (Ed.), Divisive Integration: The Triumph of Failed Ideas in Europe—Revisited, pp. 331–63. Brussels: European Trade Union Institute (ETUI).
69.
SchultenThorstenMüllerTorsten. 2021. A paradigm shift towards Social Europe? The proposed Directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union. Italian Labour Law E-Journal14(1):1–19.
70.
SeawrightJasonGerringJohn. 2008. Case selection techniques in case study research: A menu of qualitative and quantitative options. Political Research Quarterly61(2):294–308.
71.
SeikelDaniel. 2023. European integration, power resources and social classes: A proposal for a political economic extension of the Europeanisation approach. Journal of European Public Policy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2023.2205886
72.
SheehanBrian. 2011. Congress meets Troika, commences ‘tour’ of European unions. Industrial Relations News (IRN), April20.
73.
SheehanBrian. 2019. New ICTU policy on collective bargaining aspires to EU Directive. Industrial Relations News (IRN), July4.
74.
SheehyClodagh. 2015. Banking inquiry: ‘Troika was uncaring technocracy of neoliberal zealots’ — David Begg. The Irish Independent, July22.
75.
StreeckWolfgang. 1998. The internationalization of industrial relations in Europe: Prospects and problems. Politics & Society26(4):429–59.
76.
SyrovatkaFelix. 2021. Labour market policy under the new European economic governance: France in the focus of the new European labour market policy. Capital & Class45(2):283–309.
77.
ThomasDamian. 2022. An opportunity to review and reframe collective bargaining and the industrial relations regime. Report. National Economic and Social Council, 2022-11-22. NESC Secretariat Paper, no. 31, October.
78.
TurnbullPeter. 2006. The war on Europe’s waterfront — Repertoires of power in the port transport industry. British Journal of Industrial Relations44:305–26.
79.
van ApeldoornBaastian. 2002. Transnational Capitalism and the Struggle over European Integration. London: Routledge.
80.
VennessonPascal. 2008. Case studies and process tracing: Theories and practices. In Della PortaDonatellaKeatingMichael (Eds.), Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences: A Pluralist Perspective, pp. 223–39. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
