We draw on a telephone survey of 1,000 American workers to explore whether alternative, non-union forms of representation appear to be filling the gap left by union decline, whether this matters to authority relations at work, and whether it may help to explain union decline. We find that...

This article discusses the historical trajectories of employment research in the U.S. and Germany. Both countries exemplify very different research traditions, which have their origins in the 19th and early 20th century and are shaped not only by the field of inquiry (different national...

Germany and the USA have very different systems of legal representation and rights at work, but these differences and their effects may have lessened. We draw on a large-scale telephone survey to explore worker perceptions of these systems, and find that perceptions of German workers are more...

Industrial relations (IR) research faces various pressures of internationalization. Not only do global economic forces increasingly shape the subject of the discipline, employment relations, but also the academic community itself is becoming more international. The article discusses whether and...

The article reviews the existing English- and German-speaking literature on the German works council. Three major research topics are discussed: the ontology and typologies of works councils; their current practice and transformation; and their economic outcomes. Although much research has been...