A large body of research has investigated the impact of industrial relations on workplace innovation. Econometric research based on U.S. data suggests that unions are detrimental to innovation, while evidence from Europe is more mixed. This points to the importance of "contextualized" theorizing...

This position paper outlines the characteristics of the trends at stake in affecting the twin transition in the European automotive industry, and the political economy of the actors behind such transition. We first describe the automation and digitalization processes in the automotive sector and...

This paper investigates the impact of firm-level collective bargaining on firms' investment in intangible assets and, specifically R&D. While standard hold-up theories predict a negative effect of organized labour on intangible investments, the inclusion of pay-for-performance schemes in...

Concession bargaining at workplace level has been spreading in the US and across Europe. It is often framed as a response to organisational or economic crises and therefore as a useful instrument for dealing with employment restructuring in the short term. This policy brief examines the practice...

Employment relations scholars argue that industrial relations institutions reduce low pay among the workforce, while the insider-outsider literature claims that unions contribute to increase the low-pay risk among non-union members. This article tests these expectations by distinguishing,...

This special issue wants to honour the memory of Giulio Regeni, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge who was assassinated while he was conducting field research on independent trade unions in Egypt. This introduction and the following articles focus on the theoretical, empirical and...