This research project examines organisational restructuring and its employment effects in the European telecommunications industry. In recent decades, European governments have liberalised their telecommunications markets and privatised major service providers. Firms have responded with a range of organisational restructuring measures, creating new divisions, hiving off subsidiaries, and outsourcing jobs. These measures have often contributed to improved operating performance but have had more mixed implications for employees. Are radical restructuring and the growth of marginal jobs inevitable outcomes of liberalisation, or can national and sectoral regulation encourage firms to adopt high road strategies that create 'good jobs' with high pay and skills? The present study examines how institutions such as industry regulations, industrial relations systems, and labour laws have influenced restructuring strategies; as well as how these strategies relate to payment systems, work organisation, and job security. The study has two parts. Sectoral developments will be compared in eight western European countries, based on archival data and interviews. Firm- and establishment-level strategies will be compared in France and Germany, using matched case studies and employer surveys. Findings will contribute to debates on the advantages and costs of different approaches to regulating service markets and organising service work.

Interviews, surveys, archival data (collective agreements, news reports)