The Role of the State in Central and Eastern European Industrial Relations: The Case of Minimum Wages
Governments in Central and Eastern Europe are dominant players in the field of industrial relations, acting in a liberalization dilemma between the needs of further state regulation to compensate the shortcomings of autonomous self-regulation by social actors and the demands of liberalized markets in the enlarged EU. Compared with the different types of industrial relation systems in Western Europe, a transitional model with specific etatist features has emerged. This becomes particularly evident when analyzing the decision-making process in Tripartite Councils and its function in determining national minimum wages. The article underlines the recent trends of differentiation and convergence of such pay principles as well as urgent tasks of the state to regulate the unsolved problems of poverty, labor markets and labor standards.
Auflösung des Liberalisierungsdilemmas
ZusammenfassungAm Beispiel von Polen und Tschechien wird gezeigt, dass die Arbeitsbeziehungen in Mittelosteuropa in einem Spannungsfeld von sozialpartnerschaftlichen, marktliberalen und etatistischen Orientierungen institutionalisiert wurden. Nur vor diesem Hintergrund lässt sich erklären, warum es möglich ist, zugleich „exzessive” und „zu wenig” Flexibilität bzw. eine unilaterale Entscheidungsmacht des Managements und Etatismus zu diagnostizieren. Charakteristisch für die Arbeitsbeziehungen der 1990er Jahre ist eine spezifische Permissivität, die im Gegensatz zum angelsächsischen Voluntarismus nicht auf geringer Normierung und Standardisierung beruht, sondern auf der Diskrepanz zwischen Normierung und Praxis. Die Akteurs-und Institutionenschwäche erzeugt ein Liberalisierungsdilemma, weil jeder Rückzug des Staates aus der Normierung der Arbeitsbeziehungen auch den Unilateralismus des Managements fördert. Der EU-Beitritt bildet für dieses Dilemma eine nicht-intendierte institutionelle Zäsur.AbstractScholars and unionists often claim an “excessive” flexibility and unilateral manager power in the labor relations system of Central Eastern Europe, while others observe “insufficient” flexibility and etatism. Beyond mere political reasoning the article provides an explanation for these contradicting diagnoses by reconstructing the varying influence of three conflicting concepts within the institutionalization process: economic liberalism, etatism and the continental European idea of social partnership. Focusing on Poland and the Czech Republic, it is argued that the varying influence of the three concepts contributed to permissive labor relations that clearly differ from Anglo-Saxon voluntarism: The labor relations are not permissive by formal standards but by deviation. During the 1990s the weakness of actors in regulating interaction and establishing powerful sanctions created a dilemma for liberalization. On the one side strong formal regulation by the state provided little incentives for employers to bargain. On the other side, a further withdrawal of the state from regulation did only ease unilateral decision-making of management as collective bargaining is weak. The impacts of harmonization with the EU regulatory regime are ambiguous. While establishing new minimum standards and regulations in new areas it also provided an opportunity structure for actors to push for the dissolution of the liberalization dilemma without compensating employees with more bargaining strength.RésuméCet article montre à partir de l’exemple de la Pologne et de la Tchéquie que l’institutionnalisation des relations du travail en Europe centrale a été le fruit d’un arrangement entre des orientations prônant la négociation entre les partenaires sociaux, le libéralisme économique et l’étatisme. Ce n’est que dans ce contexte que l’on peut expliquer pourquoi il est possible de diagnostiquer à la fois un „excès“ et un „manque“ de flexibilité ou, en d’autres termes, l’exercice d’un pouvoir de décision unilatéral par les dirigeants économiques et une forte intervention de l’Etat dans le domaine économique. Les relations du travail dans les années 1990 se caractérisent par une permissivité spécifique qui, contrairement au volontarisme anglo-saxon, ne repose pas sur une modération de l’activité normative, mais sur le hiatus entre l’activité normative et la pratique. La faiblesse des acteurs et des institutions est à l’origine d’un dilemme de la libéralisation car chaque retrait de l’Etat hors de l’activité normative dans le domaine des relations du travail favorise l’unilatéralisme des dirigeants économiques. L’entrée dans l’UE marque pour ce dilemme une rupture institutionnelle nonpréméditée.
Remote estimation of nitrogen and chlorophyll contents in maize at leaf and canopy levels
a b s t r a c t Leaf and canopy nitrogen (N) status relates strongly to leaf and canopy chlorophyll (Chl) content. Remote sensing is a tool that has the potential to assess N content at leaf, plant, field, regional and global scales. In this study, remote sensing techniques were applied to estimate N and Chl contents of irrigated maize (Zea mays L.) fertilized at five N rates. Leaf N and Chl contents were determined using the red-edge chlorophyll index with R2 of 0.74 and 0.94, respectively. Results showed that at the canopy level, Chl and N contents can be accurately retrieved using green and red-edge Chl indices using near infrared (780-800 nm) and either green (540-560 nm) or red-edge (730-750 nm) spectral bands. Spectral bands that were found optimal for Chl and N estimations coincide well with the red-edge band of the MSI sensor onboard the near future Sentinel-2 satellite. The coefficient of determination for the relationships between the red-edge chlorophyll index, simulated in Sentinel-2 bands, and Chl and N content was 0.90 and 0.87, respectively.