ILPC 2027

Retailing is vast industry with regard to revenue and employment in nearly all major Western societies but it is rarely investigated (for some exemptions see the contributions in Grugulis/Bozkurt 2011). Recent publications substantiate a deterioration of employment conditions (Carré et al. 2010). Looking at German retailing we find similar developments in a highly concentrated industry which is marked by a fierce (cost) competition, reorganization of operations, a restructuring of employment and a new configuration of the value chain (Geppert et al. 2014). Pfeffer/Baron (1988) captured the two latter developments with the term externalization of employment and the reduction of the attachment of employer and employee with regard to duration and administration. Administrative externalization of employment brings about a modular retailing whose services are produced by different firms working in the same store. Therefore we ask at the example of retailing in Germany: 1. What is the extent of the externalization of employment and how did it develop over time? 2. What are the consequences of the externalization of employment for workers and their interest representations and 3. what counter measures did they introduce and what were the results of their actions? We examine these questions for a sample of 14 retailing stores which are located in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg and which are in most cases member of a corporate group. The data collection was carried out from 1991 to 2012 and combines – apart from an extensive literature review, the analysis of internal documents from trade unions as well as works councils and publicly accessible data – mainly two forms of qualitative methods. In 1991, 1993 and 2012 all works councilors of these workshops as well as three trade union officials on the local, regional and federal level were interviewed. In 1998 and 2005 works councils members of four stores which proved to be exemplary for the development of German retailing were interviewed as well as several trade union officials. Throughout the period from 1991 to 2012 the results were shared with the interviewees and were discussed in trade union training programs (with other trade union officials and works councilors). As a result this study integrates elements of action research (Huzzard/Björkman 2012). The data was coded with reference to the conceptual framework which draws on (classical) works of the labour process debate (Friedman 1977), labour market segmentation theory (Sengenberger 1987) and institutionalist political economy (Hall/Soskice 2001). In our contribution we show that in the period under investigation a significant externalization of employment with regard to duration and a massive reduction of employment took place. Different forms of administrative externalization were introduced and in some cases have been abandoned by management later on. Both forms of externalization back a loss of control of employees (and their interest representations) over the labour process. This brings about a new segmentation in the labour market and contributes to a change of the German political economy because interest representations could not generate suitable counter measures. Growing power asymmetries between employer and employee, a fiercer competition among employees (also triggered by institutional reforms in the German welfare regime) and micro politics within the interest representation are the main reasons for this loss of control over the labour process for employees.   References Carré, F./Tilly, C./Klaveren, M. van/Voss-Dahm, D.: Retail jobs in comparative perspective. In: Gautié, J./Schmitt, J. (eds.): Low-wage work in the wealthy world. New York: 211-268. Friedman, A. L. (1977): Industry and labour. London/Basingstoke. Geppert, M./Williams, K./Wortmann, M. (2014): Micro-political game playing in Lidl: A comparison of store-level employment relations. In: European Journal of Journal of Industrial Relations, 21 (3): 241-257. Grugulis, I./Bozkurt, Ö. (eds.) (2011): Retail Work. Basingstoke, Hampshire et al.. Hall, P .A./Soskice, D. (eds.) (2001): Varieties of Capitalism – The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage. Oxford. Huzzard, T./Björkman, H. (2012): Trade unions and action research. In: Work, Employment & Society, 26 (1), S. 161-171. Pfeffer, J./Baron, J. N. (1988): Taking the workers back out: Recent trends in the structuring of employment. In: Staw, B. M./Cummings, L. L. (Hrsg.): Research in organizational behaviour. Vol. 10. Greenwich/Connecticut: 257-303. Sengenberger, W. (1987): Struktur und Funktionsweise von Arbeitsmärkten. Die Bundes¬republik im internationalen Vergleich. Frankfurt am Main/New York.