Hospital bargaining in the wake of management reforms: Hungary and Slovakia compared

Abstract

This article analyses the impact of new public management on employment relations in public healthcare in Hungary and Slovakia. We argue that hospital corporatization – a process which changed the ownership structure and management of public hospitals without privatization – created an opportunity for institutional change in collective bargaining. However, the interaction between hospital owners and managements, the state and trade unions accounts for the absence of major institutional change. Instead, corporatization helped maintain bargaining coordination in Slovakia and bargaining fragmentation in Hungary.