Institutional continuity in German collective bargaining: Do employer associations contribute to stability?

Abstract

Employer associations’ organizational capacity to extend collective bargaining coverage (CBC) beyond unionization levels is one important factor contributing to the stability of multi-employer bargaining in Germany. Based on a representative sample of 142 German employer associations, this article carries out an empirical examination of the characteristics influencing this capacity. The major results are that a wider political domain and adherence to social partnership positively contribute to associations’ static capacity to extend CBC, as approximated by membership density. Yet, in a dynamic perspective – approximated by membership growth rates – a paradoxical trend is revealed by which organizational stabilization of associations is achieved at the expense of decoupling firms’ membership status from collective bargaining arrangements, weakening employer associations’ future capacity to extend CBC.