Consolidating Segmentation: Post-Socialist Employment Relations in Central and Eastern Europe

The article argues that, of the four major potential mechanisms for integration - the state, tripartite social partnerships, employer and employee organisations and shared values - in Central and Eastern Europe only the trade unions are contributing significantly towards national employment relations convergence. Against a background of imminent European Union accession, incorporation into global production systems, economic growth and gradual improvement in real incomes, four divergent employment relations systems are thus emerging: the state budget, privatised or about to be privatised, private and multinational.