Minimum Wage Regimes

Irene Dingeldey is Director of the Institute Labour and Economy at the University of Bremen, Germany. Damian Grimshaw is Professor of Employment Studies at King’s College London, UK, and Associate Dean for Research Impact. Thorsten Schulten is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) at the Hans Böckler Foundation, and Head of the WSI Collective Agreement Archive. He is also an honorary professor at the University of Tübingen, Germany.

• 1. Introduction: Minimum wage regimes in Europe and selected developing countries 2. Minimum wages and the multiple functions of wages Part I: Actors’ strategies influencing collective bargaining and minimum wage regulations at national level in European countries 3. Securing wage floors in the absence of a statutory minimum wage: Minimum wage regulations in Scandinavia facing low wage competition 4. Minimum wages in Southern Europe: Regulation and reconfiguration under the shadow of hierarchy 5. Shaping minimum wages in Central and Eastern Europe: Giving up collective bargaining in favour of legal regulation? Part II: The combined effects of minimum wages and collective bargaining in different sectors 6. The interplay of minimum wages and collective bargaining in Germany: How and why does it vary across sectors? 7. Downward convergence between negotiated wages and the minimum wage: The case of the Netherlands 8. The SMIC as a driver for collective bargaining: The interplay of collective bargaining and minimum wage in France Part III: The minimum wage beyond Europe – an accomplishment or an alternative to collective bargaining? 9. Minimum wages in Indonesia: Informality, politics and weak trade unions in a large middle-income country 10. Are minimum wages for textile and garment industry workers effective? A sector-in-country institutionalist approach for five developing countries 11. Minimum wages and inequality mitigation in post-dictatorship industrial relations systems in Latin America: The case of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay Part IV: Conclusion: Lessons to be learned? 12. Conclusion: Understanding the multiple interactions between institutions of minimum wages and industrial relations

'The ideal types of institutional interaction provide an excellent typology for distinguishing and assessing minimum wage regimes and offers an important impetus for further research in this area. At the same time, the volume provides an important source of information for policy-makers on how to adjust the parameters of minimum wage systems in order to ensure effective minimum wage policies which ‘in concert with collective bargaining, are vital to protect the most vulnerable workers, ensure real wage growth and contribute to global social justice’ (p. 279). Thus, the volume is also – and especially – relevant to the current debate on common standards for an appropriate minimum wage in Europe.' - Felix Syrovatka, Free University of Berlin, Germany,