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Patrick Emmenegger
Title
Prof. Dr.
Last Name
Emmenegger
First name
Patrick
Email
patrick.emmenegger@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 2332
Homepage
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PublicationThe Politics of Job Security Regulations in Western Europe : From Drift to LayeringThis article analyzes business and union strategies in the reform of job security regulations. It argues that unions are the main political actors pushing for their expansion of regulations, but given employers' opposition, unions are able to enforce better protection only in exceptional periods. Once the first restrictions are in place, employers use their power advantages at the workplace level to circumvent regulations, which unions combat by reducing the level of discretion awarded to employers in interpreting regulations. In recent decades, job security regulations have come under increasing pressure. Unions have reacted to this new situation by consenting to the continuous deregulation of temporary employment, while they fight any attempt at deregulating job security in open-ended contracts in order to protect their members' interests and their institutional involvement in the administration of dismissals. The theoretical argument is supported by empirical evidence from four Western European countries since the postwar period.Type: journal articleJournal: Politics and SocietyVolume: 43Issue: 1
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PublicationLow Statism in Coordinated Market Economies: The Development of Job Security Regulations in SwitzerlandDespite the prominent role of job security regulations in the "varieties of capitalism" literature and although Swiss law gives only limited protection to workers against dismissal, Switzerland is normally classified as a coordinated market economy. This apparent contradiction is often explained by emphasizing the trade-off between extensive job security regulations and generous unemployment insurance benefits. This explanation, however, is not convincing for the Swiss case, as the coverage of the unemployment insurance system was very low until the late 1970s. This article argues that low levels of job security regulations are the result of the weakness of the federal state, which attempted several times to enact restrictive job security regulations. Each attempt to enact job security regulations, however, has been blocked by an alliance of liberal-conservative political groupings and employers' associations. The present article traces the historical development of job security regulations in Switzerland and reveals the political coalitions that successfully kept the federal state weak.Type: journal articleJournal: International Political Science ReviewVolume: 31Issue: 2
Scopus© Citations 9