A_08 Democratic Participation in the World of Work Between Compromise and Conflict

Sections:: Göttingen
Disciplines:: Sociology
Belongs to:: Political participation between voice and exit (A: Politics of Democratic Cohesion)

Abstract

Social partnership in the context of co-determination and collective bargaining is widely regarded as a successful model. It helps contain potentially conflict-prone dynamics in the world of work and, in doing so, safeguards social cohesion. This work package examines how resilient these structures remain in the face of multiple crises and transformations.

Co-determination and collective bargaining are currently confronted with two central challenges:

We observe an erosion of traditional forms of participation. This is evident in the declining share of companies with works councils. The decreasing coverage of collective bargaining agreements, as well as shrinking membership numbers in trade unions and employers’ associations, are further indicators of this trend.
The world of work is currently facing profound processes of crisis and transformation. Developments such as decarbonization, demographic change, digitalization, or rising energy prices generate unevenly distributed risks and opportunities. This leads to tensions, social dislocations, and protest. Different groups of employees and sectors are affected to varying degrees.

Against this background, we examine whether and under what conditions collective labor relations continue to contribute to strengthening democratic cohesion. In particular, the focus lies on the question of how interest conflicts in the world of work can be translated into stable compromises.

To address these questions, we pursue a dual research approach:

First, we analyze conflict cases at the company and sectoral levels. These exemplarily reflect the challenges of the current period of transformation.
Second, we conduct expert interviews on the problem perceptions, strategies, and action concepts of trade unions, employers’ associations, and political actors. The case studies and interviews are accompanied by exchange forums in which representatives of the different actor groups come together to discuss the research findings. The aim is to assess the practical applicability of the results and to develop policy recommendations.

The work package (WP), in cooperation with and complementary to A_06 and A_07, examines the contribution of different forms of civil society participation between voice, exit, and loyalty to democratic cohesion. In doing so, it focuses on collective labor relations as a central pillar of organized civil society and thus on the institutions and practices of economic democracy and their specific characteristics.

At the core of the WP is the question of the extent to which and under what conditions collective labor relations are still able to fulfill their contribution to democratic cohesion by transforming interest conflicts in the world of work into recognized and stable compromise equilibria within the framework of social partnership arrangements.

In the sociology of work, collective bargaining autonomy and works constitution law—the two central institutions of the German system of labor relations—are attributed a key role in social cohesion. By channeling labor conflicts into constructive pathways and facilitating social compromise formation, they have institutionalized the handling of class conflicts and thus contributed to their pacification. The institutional practices of the “German model,” which are oriented toward social peace and integration, are conceptually described as “social partnership,” “conflict partnership,” or, from the perspective of integrating labor relations actors into state-political problem-solving, as “neo-corporatism.” The WP thus builds on a conflict-theoretical concept of social cohesion that emphasizes the importance of regulated and productive forms of conflict management for containing potentially cohesion-threatening social conflict dynamics.

The continuous decline in the coverage of works councils and collective bargaining agreements, as well as in membership numbers of unions within the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) and employers’ associations, points to a longer-term crisis and erosion of institutionalized forms of participation in the world of work, accompanied by an expansion of zones without collective bargaining coverage and established employee representation structures. At the same time, organizations are emerging that present themselves as alternatives to established trade union structures, that are less oriented toward social integration (such as sectoral or occupational unions), or that—like the organization calling itself an alternative union, “Zentrum”—exhibit anti-democratic tendencies.

The world of work is also a central field of societal transformation. This is indicated by the requirements of industrial decarbonization, the demographic change of the workforce, the rapidly advancing digitalization of work and value creation processes, and the uncertainties of markets and supply chains in the face of new geopolitical constellations. These transformations are associated with far-reaching effects on working and employment conditions, with unevenly distributed opportunities and risks across employee groups, occupational fields, and sectors, and with social dislocations that processes of “creative destruction” invariably entail. It is conceivable that this will alter the axes of conflict in the fields of company-level, collective bargaining, and tripartite interest politics, and that political polarization will intensify.

Against the backdrop of institutional erosion and transformation in the world of work, the following questions arise:

To what extent and in what ways do new conflict constellations and intensifying conflict dynamics emerge?
To what extent, how, and under what conditions can the institutions of collective labor relations maintain their capacities for cooperative conflict resolution and compromise formation?
Where do limits, fault lines, and cohesion-threatening effects of social disintegration and exclusion become visible?

With a diagnostic perspective on the present, the study ultimately aims to provide an empirically grounded answer to the question of whether and under what conditions the German institutional system of labor relations is capable of continuing to fulfill its attributed function of social pacification and integration at the levels of companies, sectors, and society in times of multiple crises and transformations.