ABSTRACT

Under the pressures of globalisation, the governance of employment relations (ER) across countries has been substantially challenged. The internationalisation of economic activities has increased the exit options of employers, thereby threatening the distinctiveness of national legal regimes. This chapter analyses the role of international institutions in three sections. The first one contrasts theoretical perspectives that emphasise how supranational institutional arrangements enable actors to secure joint gains via cooperation versus those that highlight how institutional arrangements constitute the outcomes of conflict settlement, with the implication that institutions require support in order to influence outcomes. The second section analyses the newly acquired influence of supranational institutions in the European Union, with a focus on institutional arrangements associated with the provision of emergency funds (European Solidarity Mechanism). The third section discusses the modest influence of the International Labour Organization on the governance of ER by illustrating how its institutional setting enables different stakeholders to protect their interests against undesired policies.