393
Views
2
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

Strengthening social regulation in the digital economy: comparative findings from the ICT industry

ORCID Icon
Pages 22-38 | Received 08 Apr 2022, Accepted 05 Jul 2022, Published online: 25 Aug 2022
 

ABSTRACT

National economies with different industrial relations and welfare state traditions are experiencing a similar digital transformation. This article examines how labour unions are seeking to influence digital strategies and investments in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, based on initial research findings in the US and Germany. These efforts can be divided into three action fields: campaigns focused on influencing state investment and data protection or AI regulation; efforts to extend legal or negotiated labour market protections to new groups of workers; and collective negotiations over new technologies at firm and workplace levels. All three can be seen as complementary in establishing the conditions for the social regulation of new digitally enabled markets.

Acknowledgement

This article is based on a keynote address at the AIRAANZ conference in Sydney, Australia in February 2022. Nell Geiser, Dan Reynolds, and Giovanni Suriano provided helpful comments on an earlier draft.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Case study findings draw on research in progress with Sean O’Brady and Ines Wagner, funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant, a Research Council of Norway Grant (# 295914), and a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Research Award.

Notes on contributors

Virginia Doellgast

Virginia Doellgast is the Anne Evans Estabrook Professor of Employment Relations and Dispute Resolution in the ILR School at Cornell University and a Senior Research Fellow at the WSI-Hans Böckler Stiftung. She is the author of Exit, Voice, and Solidarity (Oxford University Press, forthcoming) and Disintegrating Democracy at Work (Cornell University Press, 2012).

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 279.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.