STRIKES: ARE THEY USEFUL ANYMORE? LESSONS FROM THE TRANSFORMATION OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
T. ZANE REEVES
DOI: 10.2190/KW8T-P474-01B3-FKLP
Abstract
This article examines theoretical models and pragmatic results of strike-based collective bargaining, with particular attention to the effectiveness of strikes in Central and Eastern Europe from 1989 to 1996. The thesis is that the strike was historically utilized by workers in Western Europe and North America as a coercive technique to secure economic leverage with their employers. However, an overview of worker strikes in Poland, Romania, and Hungary during the aforementioned years reveals the utilization of strikes as a "political exchange" transaction rather than as a weapon to secure economic leverage against the employer. Specifically, the strike more frequently was employed by labor unions with limited access to the political system as a means of increasing their policy-making influence. Finally, the article focuses on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) initiatives as viable alternatives to the traditional strike, with particular attention given to recent ADR efforts in Hungary as a model for interest dispute resolution between unions and employers in Central and Eastern Europe.
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