Labour markets, industrial relations and human resources management, from recession to recovery

R. Blanpain, William Bromwich, Olga Rymkevich, Iacopo Senatori

Social models are always contested and ambiguous. This is particularly evident in the field of human resources management, where decisions that ultimately affect the patterns of social relations are made every day. This collection of in-depth essays focuses on some central human resources elements - gender, youth, ageing, educational background, training, workers' rights - providing an up-to-date summary and analysis of how employers are dealing - and should be dealing - with workforce characteristics under current globalized forces. The emphasis is on Europe, but valuable insights come also from Chile, Canada, and the United States. Sixteen experts discuss such important issues as the following: the shift from intervention in favour of workers' rights towards corporate neo-liberal policies; importance of transnational framework agreements in countries where a trade union; tradition...