Is Migration from Central and Eastern Europe an Opportunity for Trade Unions to Demand Higher Wages? Evidence from the Romanian Health Sector

European Journal of Industrial Relations Vol. 22(2): 167-183

15 Pages Posted: 9 Jun 2016

See all articles by Sabina Stan

Sabina Stan

Dublin City University

Roland Erne

University College Dublin, School of Business

Date Written: 2016

Abstract

Industrial relations scholars have argued that east-west labour migration may benefit trade unions in Central and Eastern Europe. By focusing on the distributional aspect of wage policies adopted by two competing Romanian trade unions in the health care sector, this article challenges the assumption of a virtuous link between migration, labour shortages and collective wage increases. We show that migration may also displace collective and egalitarian wage policies in favour of individual and marketized ones that put workers in competition with one another. Thus, the question is not so much whether migration leads to wage increases in sending countries, but whether trade unions’ wage demands in response to outward migration consolidate collective solidarity and coordination in wage policy-making, or support its individualization and commodification.

Keywords: Collective bargaining, migration, wage distribution, health care, Romania, wage equality, trade unions

Suggested Citation

Stan, Sabina and Erne, Roland, Is Migration from Central and Eastern Europe an Opportunity for Trade Unions to Demand Higher Wages? Evidence from the Romanian Health Sector (2016). European Journal of Industrial Relations Vol. 22(2): 167-183, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2791374

Sabina Stan

Dublin City University ( email )

Ireland 9
Dublin 9, leinster 9
Ireland

Roland Erne (Contact Author)

University College Dublin, School of Business ( email )

Belfield
Belfield, Dublin 4 4
Ireland

HOME PAGE: http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/staff/rolanderne/

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