Decentralized pay coordination in Europe and the new Irish model
研究了爱尔兰出现的‘灵活协调’模式，该模式通过工会主导的硬性和软性分散协调机制，在没有同步工资运动、正式双边协议或主动调解机构干预的情况下，实现了持久的积极成果，挑战了欧洲分散式协调的既有假设。
The coordination of decentralized pay bargaining remains a subject of theoretical and empirical debate in European industrial relations. This paper identifies and examines a distinctive model emerging in Ireland – ‘flexible coordination’ – which sustains durable positive outcomes without synchronized wage campaigns, recurring pay rounds, formal bilateral accords between unions and employer associations, or the intervention of proactive mediation bodies. Drawing on extensive quantitative data, documentary data, and multi-level interviews, the paper illustrates how Ireland’s union-led model operates through a combination of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ decentralized coordination mechanisms, anchored in workplace institutions, and adaptive union strategies. Situated within a comparative European framework, the analysis challenges prevailing assumptions about institutional, agency-based, and competitive preconditions widely regarded as necessary for effective decentralized coordination in Europe.