Varieties of industrial relations in the shipping industry : a comparison of two Anglo-Saxon liberal market economies and two European coordinated market economies

The paper examines industrial relations in the shipping industries of two Liberal Market Economies (LMEs), Australia and the United States and in two Coordinated Market Economies (CMEs), Germany and Denmark. Hall and Soskice's (2001) theory of Liberal versus Coordinated market economies has been used to discuss two polar approaches to the issue of reform in industrial relations in the context of globalisation pressures. The scope to which local institutional factors offset the major trend towards the 'globalisation' of the shipping labour market is assessed by discussing the role of state policies on shipping, trade unions, and employer organisations. The paper argues that in shipping two distinctly different policy approaches and reforms of industrial relations at the industry and national levels can be identified. The paper delivers empirical evidence to the understanding of industrial relations differences in liberal and coordinated market economies.