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Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt

Winter term 2009/2010

Essay

in the course

Industrial relations in work organizations

Subject: A new set of issues? Ecology in the Employment Relations.

Author: Sven Golob

Matriculation number: 333939

Address: App. 40, Freiwasser 5

85072 Eichstätt
Lecturer Prof. Franceso Garibaldo

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Classic employment relationship is based on two sets of issues: social and economic

issues. These issues then are split into individual and collective issue-sets, then being ne-

gotiated by the different actors in the Industrial Relations system. Since the 1980s, ecology

has arisen as a new dimension not only to policy making, but also to economy 1.

! 1) Sustainability in Industrial Relations

The concept of sustainability has entered the arena after the World Climate Confer-

ence in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and implies not only the installation of a renewable energy

circuit in production and consumption, but also a new understanding of intergenerational

justice. After the Rio conference, the so-called Agenda 21 policy was initiated for the

strengthening of local, global and multi-level governance structures. Democratization is a

key term of that policy and brought to the economic level implies a dual shift in industrial

relations:

1) A shift towards an ecological set of issues that have to be thought with whenever

negotiations on employment issues arise, next to economic and social issues;

2) A shift towards reinforced democratic processes being taken into consideration

when thinking employment and industrial relations.

There are several problems that arise from such a posture: on the one hand Trade Un-

ions as institutionalized negotiation parties were seen by many ecological activist as part

of a „Fordist pact for growth“2 until the 1980ʻs; Unionists, on the other hand were very

sceptic concerning an integration of an environmentalist agenda to their strategies in In-

dustrial Relations (IR). Furthermore, the concept of sustainability did not fully fit the frame-

work of IR, i.e. the notion of sustainability that focusses human-nature relations was

1 p.e. UN Commission on Environment and Development (1987): “Our Common Future“.

2 Beerhorst 1999: 1.

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somewhat incompatible with the Unionsʻ interpretation of welfare of workers. Hildebrandt3

explains that Unions located the responsibility for ecological preservation in the corporatist

German production system with the State and the employers, criticizing measures for envi-

ronmental security whenever they seemed to implicate job losses and welcoming such

measures whenever the workersʻ wellbeing was being supported. This perception shifted

in the mid-1980s, when sustainability became the paramount interest of policy-makers and

- most importantly - the public4 . Qualitative economic growth needed to be substituted with

a new concept of economy and wealth5 .

In 2000, the German Hans-Böckler-Foundation did a research on the need for a

broadening of Unionsʻ agendas towards the sustainability-approach, resulting in a new no-

tion of sustainability that can fill the hole by replicating the two issue dimensions in em-

ployment relations and adding a third one: Social, economic and ecologic sustainability.6

! 2) Ecology as a new issue in the IR system

Hildebrandt states that the German economic system, since the introduction of sus-

tainability, has seen three different phases of implementation7 . In a first time, the state was

the main actor pressing for stronger environmental regulations in a phase of prosperity,

both socially and economically. In a second phase, economic factors are being pushed to

the forefront, implicating the decline of environmental policies opposed to competitiveness

as new paramount interest. Social issues then began to lose weight in the same time, also

implicating the decline of the welfare state.

3 Hildebrandt 1999.

4 p.e. DGB 2002: 2; the integration of environmental protection in the DGBs constitution.
5 Beerhorst 1999: 2.
6 Hans-Böckler-Stiftung 2000: 14.
7 Hildebrandt 1999: 7f.

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The third and present phase is one of modernization with the aid of sustainability

strategies. Precarious relationships have become common in the IR system with its new

ecological dimension. Environmentalist approaches favor dematerialization in terms of a

different notion of wealth and an overall critique toward mass consumption. Moreover,

economy-social-relations are characterized by precarious situations, as well. Social secu-

rity and traditional employment goals are being put aside. Only - and most surprisingly -

the relation between ecology and economy seems to turn out as an equal system: growth

of Green Markets accompanies the expansion of renewable energies and sustainable pro-

duction strategies. In this triad, the social dimension lacked a strong player: the Unions.

A solution to this problem was proposed by the joint research group that was initiated

by the Hans-Böckler-Foundation: finding key interests that could harmonize the three di-

mensions in the field of IR. Therefore, the three notions of sustainability (social, economic

and ecologic) were presented 8.

These notions represent a possible interpretation for their application in the Trade Un-

ionsʻ bargaining procedures. Quality of Life is the the key concept to this interpretation:

sustainability in this view means the emphasis on immaterial aspects of satisfaction of hu-

man needs9 . Good Life in the sense of harmonic human-environment relations is the main

interest of this qualitative approach. It therefore stands in opposition to the traditional Liv-

ing Standard, i.e. a material goal to achieve by social compensation. Underneath, we see

a graphic display of the new triad of sustainable Living Quality-oriented IR-policy.

8 Hans-Böckler-Stiftung 2000: 14.

9 Hildebrandt 1999: 11.

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! Social sustainability:
- self-determined lifestyle through
profession
- fulfillment of basic needs
- social security
- equal participation in civil soci-
ety
- enabling social innovations and
designing types of work

Economic sustainability: Ecologic sustainability:

- securing foundations of material
need satisfaction
- maintaining performance of
production capacity
- liberal economic and social or-
der
- full employment, social security
and inter-generational justice in
wages
- contributing to international
economic stability
- improving environmental quality
- decreasing resource consump-
tion
- decreasing energy consumption
- protecting biologic diversity
- limiting risks for both humans
and nature

This new triad also applies to the Employment Relations scheme mentioned above.

We therefore have to consider a new matrix of ER, p.e. in a three-partite IR-system:

Economic issues Social Issues Ecologic Issues

Trade Unions

Employers collective individual

State actors

The columns represent specific issues, both individual and collective, such as working

time, wages, energy efficiency, bargaining procedures, etc. We thereby have shown that

ecologic issues can and must have a place in Industrial and Employment Relations, leav-

ing the question of the implications to participation.

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! 3) Democratization through the sustainability approach

In an unprecedented example, the Spanish government initiated, together with the

most important Trade Unions and representatives of the biggest employersʻ organizations,

a series of round tables as monitoring institutions for the socially and economically sus-

tainable and appropriate implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. In this particular case, de-

mocratization means the three-partite system as a equal regulation of social costs - espe-

cially in the light of environmental policy.

Albeit, the addition of ecological issues to the IR and ER-system not only applies to the

macro-level, but also to the actual micro- and meso-environment of company-level bar-

gaining procedures or sectorial bargaining procedures respectively. At these levels, de-

mocratization does not only imply equal participation, but also direct participation of the

workers, thus empowering the individual citizen worker and shifting the context from a

capitalistic worker-employer-relation to a holistic approach of civil society and Live Quality

in the work place and the society in general.

One could argue that this empowerment weakens the position of intermediate organi-

zations such as Trade Unions and their scope of action. Once again, it implies a shift of

focus: if the worker-citizen is to lead a sustainable and ecologically meaning- and respect-

ful lifestyle, he/she has to have a lifelong learning network to rely on10 . Trade Unions are

the appropriate organizations to provide this support function11: the interpretation of sus-

tainability in a working-place context differs according to the point of view and thus has to

be done by the relevant organizations.

10 IGB/TUAC 2007: 16.

11 compare DGB 2002: 4f.

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! 4) Conclusion

With the change of the IR-system comes a shifting role for Unions - especially in de-

velopped industrial nations, where structural change is menacing traditional industries and

where new sectors related to Green Technology arise. This brings new perspectives to

Trade Unions and their role in the IR-system, but also great peril if the Unions fail to adapt

to a more and more company-level and individually focused employment relation.

The integration of ecological issues in the IR and ER-system must come with a further

democratization of the IR in order to guarantee a social-ecological reform of the industrial

society towards a Green economic system that does not distinguish between citizen and

worker. Unions as attachment organizations have to reposition in this ever more complex

matrix and empower their members if they are to co-configure the structural change and to

enforce Living Quality for the citizen-worker.

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