Article 2020

Social versus liberal collective skill formation systems? A comparative-historical analysis of the role of trade unions in German and Swiss VET

EP
Emmenegger, Patrick
 GL
Graf, Lukas
 SA
Strebel, Alexandra
European Journal of Industrial Relations
Journal · Vol. 26 · Issue 3 · pp. 263-278
Abstract

We distinguish between social and liberal collective skill formation systems and demonstrate that the German VET system is a social system with a strong (parity) role for trade unions in its governance. In contrast, unions play a considerably weaker role in the more liberal Swiss system, which privileges employers’ interests. We show that the different position of unions in VET systems has the expected consequences on a range of indicators. We further examine why unions are less important in Switzerland and show how, after the First World War, differences in the institutional environment and power resources of the union movements set Germany and Switzerland on different paths, which are still visible today. © The Author(s) 2019.

Keywords

Author Keywords

VET Germany Switzerland Employers Trade unions skill formation systems

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
University of St. Gallen, St Gallen, SG, Switzerland
Hertie School, Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Eidg. Hochschulinstitut für Berufsbildung, Renens VD 2, Switzerland
Funding & Acknowledgements
Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation, SBFI
An earlier version of this article was presented at the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE) in Berlin in 2018 and an international VET workshop in Konstanz. We thank all participants as well as Lorenzo Bonoli and the members and scientific advisors of the Swiss Leading House ‘Governance of Vocational and Professional Education and Training’ (GOVPET) for their generous and insightful comments. All remaining errors are our responsibility. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Schweizerisches Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation in the framework of the Leading House ‘GOVPET: Governance of Vocational and Professional Education and Training’.
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