Book Reviews: Der Staat als ‚Guter Auftraggeber‘? Öffentliche Auftragsvergabe zwischen Vermarktlichung und Sozialpolitisierung [The State as “Good Commissioner”? Public Procurement between Marketization and Social Protection]. By Karen Jaehrling and Christin Stiehm

Abstract

Third, collective bargaining, an indispensable factor in promoting better working conditions, is in peril. While trade unions are resilient actors in most of the upper-middle and high-income countries, they face challenges from expanding outsourcing and subcontracting, migrant workers, and employer and government hostility. The unionized sector has been losing its market share and survives in the infrastructure, civil, and heavy construction where they are more competitive owing to higher skill and productivity. One fascinating account relates to the responses of employers and trade unions in Denmark, Germany, and Sweden to internationalization of capital and labor within the European Union. The traditional high-road construction industries of these countries are based on compromise and cooperation between trade unions and employers. Rules and regulations related to foreign workers and subcontractors, however, are supranational. They are potentially in conflict with the national-level social contract between employers and trade unions and, thereby, endanger the existing balance of power. The fourth theme is the Janus-like nature of the state, which is both the largest owner of construction projects and the dominant political and legal power center. As the owner, legislator/regulator/enforcer, and the conflict mediator and coordinator, the state can either promote or impede worker security, job protection, risk management, and skill formation at the workplace. The contributors to the volume provide a multitude of examples, both across the countries and over time within a country, of the state placed on either side of this divide. The overall trend has been one in which the state adopts policies and practices that contribute to the emergence of the informal labor market and subcontracting chains, weakening of unions, and deregulation or lax enforcement. Yet, other examples (e.g., Denmark, Sweden, the United States) demonstrate that at times the state plays a constructive role to sustain social partnerships between the employers and the unions and to promote training. Each chapter has dedicated sections on training and on health and safety. Shortage of skilled workers and the hazardous nature of construction work are constant refrains in each chapter. Rigorous training in the trades and higher health and safety standards are coincident with the presence of formal labor relations and employer-union partnerships. As the industry becomes more fragmented, subcontracting chains lengthen, and casual labor relations proliferate, incentives to engage in formal training and the enforcement of health and safety regulations vanish. The editors clearly endorse the high road over the low road in construction, that is, higher compensation and productivity, employment protection, safer workplace, innovation, and skill formation. They consider collective bargaining agreements and formal work relations as the essential means to achieve this end. The international experience showcased in this book, however, does not leave this reader optimistic about the world making headway in this direction. Economic and political winds of the past few decades are making the low-road construction practices more prevalent. Of course, it would be fallacious to take the current state of the economic and political forces as a given or unalterable. Social conflict may play out in the future along alternative paths depending on the strategies and actions of the participating actors. To this end, Work and Labor Relations in the Construction Industry fulfills its intention “to raise questions, so that those working in or having influence within the industry, or those who are policy makers, advisers or worker representatives can review current practice with a critical and informed eye, to encourage change” (pp. 3–4).