Ten Years of Post-Communist Central Eastern Europe: Labour's Tenuous Foothold in the Regulation of the Employment Relationship

Abstract

Ten years on from the 'revolutions' of 1989 which overthrew the state command economies of Central Eastern Europe (CEE), this article explores progress in the democratic reform of industrial relations as a key area of change. Worker interest representation both at state level, at the intermediate industry level and at the workplace level is reviewed and analysed. The competing dynamics of building tripartite and corporatist institutions, encouraged by the ILO, and the neoclassical thrust of the transformation process, which has encouraged deregulation and decentralization, are explored. Trade unions' focus on and faith in this institution-building has arguably deflected attention from developing deeper processes of democratizing industrial relations. This leaves labour with a weak influence over the reregulation of the employment relationship, as the CEE embarks on harmonization prior to accession to an enlarged EU.