Networked pay coordination and the containment of second-tier pay bargaining: Social partnership in Ireland at the height of the economic boom

Abstract

Pay coordination is a subject of continuing interest in industrial relations, especially achieved through networks and as a feature of social pacts. Yet few empirical studies have examined the issue in a systematic way. This article examines how pay was coordinated to contain second-tier bargaining and pay drift under Irish social partnership at the peak of the Irish economic boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Drawing on case studies of collective bargaining in the building construction and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors, the article examines the relevance of a series of mechanisms of network-based pay coordination in containing second-tier pay bargaining and potential economy-wide pay drift.