CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Szabó, Imre Gergely |
|---|---|
| Title | Serving the public, fighting against the state labor unrest in the public sector across the eu |
| Summary | Why has the public sector become the main source of unrest in European labor relations? Why do nurses, doctors and teachers organize protest action despite their tradition of being quiescent? Based on the analysis of eight conflict events in four countries - Hungary, Estonia, Ireland and Denmark, over the period 1999-2014 - I explain public sector labor unrest trough the concepts of marketplace power, sovereign power and discursive power. First, I challenge the prevailing view in comparative political economy that associates labor militancy with a protected (sheltered) status of employees from the market. Instead, I claim that in a large part of the sector – health care – employees challenge the status quo relying on their strong position on the market. I borrow the notion of marketplace power from Beverly Silver, but refine it based on the least likely event of junior doctors’ resignation campaign in Hungary in 2011. I apply the marketplace power argument to three other conflict events in health care, which followed a similar pattern despite large differences in the institutional environment.Marketplace power is the source of employee-initiated conflict, but sovereign power provides the most coherent explanation of employer offensives. The state uses its sovereign power as a legislator and as a policymaker to terminate institutional compromises with public sector unions, who call defensive protest in response. The least likely case of the Danish school lockout in 2013 demonstrates the sovereign capacity of the state to challenge strong unions. The sequence of labor protest and patience in the wake of austerity measures in Ireland shows how governments can use their sovereign power not only to provoke conflict but also to curb it. While I explain the eruption of conflict with the notions of marketplace power and sovereign power, I also bring in the concept of discursive power to understand the outcomes of conflict. Discursive power denotes the ability to frame disputes in a way that convinces patients, parents and the general public that their interests are also served by employee protest. By identifying these three concepts of power and by teasing out the ways in which they lead to conflict and influence the result of conflict, I contribute to the political economy and the social movements literature. I also provide new insights to practitioners on the chances and risks of protest in a quiescent era of employment relations. |
| Supervisor | Greskovits, Béla |
| Department | Political Science PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/szabo_imre-gergely.pdf |
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