Multinational companies and collective bargaining

This free online report by Paul Marginson and Guglielmo Meardi is published by the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO.)

Multinational companies (MNCs) are significant employers across Europe, with corresponding influence in national collective bargaining systems. The international organisation and management structures of MNCs – and their capacity to move production and jobs across borders – have implications for the structure, agenda and outcomes of collective bargaining. This study finds that under multi-employer bargaining arrangements, MNCs have been a major source of pressure for decentralisation, giving greater scope for company negotiation. In relation to single-employer bargaining, MNCs often set the pace. Moreover, they make widespread use of cross-border comparisons of costs and performance in local negotiations in manufacturing. The result is the implementation of cost-saving and flexibility-enhancing measures, particularly in the context of company restructuring. Relocations – actual and threatened – heighten the coercive pressures of MNCs on local negotiators.