Contemporary Employers’ Organisations

Employers have long sought to advance their interests within work and employment by joining together to form national and international employers’ organizations.

But how have these organizations adapted to changing circumstances? Dr Leon Gooberman and Professor Marco Hauptmeier have edited a volume, Contemporary Employers’ Organizations: Adaptation and Resilience, that explores this question by bringing together chapters written by academic experts specialising in a range of national and international contexts.

The book argues that employers’ organizations are resilient organizations that have adapted pragmatically by developing new practices and activities. Adaptation has been prompted by changing economic and social contexts, including state interventions and union activities.

Contexts vary over time, across countries and world regions. The book explores these variations and their impacts on employer organization. It is one of the few edited volumes to examine employer collective action within work and employment and is the first since 1984 to consider western and non-western contexts.

The book comprises four thematic sections:

• theoretical perspectives on employer collective action
• employers’ organizations in different types of capitalism
• different types of employers’ organizations
• international and comparative employer interest representation.

Theoretical explorations examining employer power, political preferences, meta-organizing, and ideological foundations are complemented by detailed studies of employers’ organization in China, Denmark, Australia, Germany, Turkey, Canada, and the UK. Finally, different types such as regional and international employers’ organizations are also examined. The book is of interest to employment relations and sociology of work researchers, scholars, advanced students, and practitioners as it brings new perspectives to an understudied actor in employment relations: employers’ organizations.

Contemporary Employers’ Organizations: Adaptation and Resilience, edited by Leon Gooberman and Marco Hauptmeier is available from Routledge. ISBN 9781003104575 May 2022