Organized labour and restructuring: coal mines in the Czech Republic and Romania

0343926 - NHU-C 2011 RIV DE eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Brůha, Jan - Ionascu, D. - Jeong, Byeongju
Organized labour and restructuring: coal mines in the Czech Republic and Romania.
Labour market impact of the EU enlargement: a new regional geography of Europe? Heidelberg, DE: Physica-Verlag, 2010, s. 49-72. AIEL Series in Labour Economics. ISBN 978-3-7908-2163-5.
[Annual Conference of the Italian Association of Labour Economists /22./. Naples (IT), 13.09.2007-14.09.2007]
Institutional research plan: CEZ:MSM0021620846
Keywords : organized labour * restructuring * coal mines
Subject RIV: AH - Economics

We examine the role of organized labour in the restructuring experience of two coal-mining regions in the 1990s. Under similar external circumstances, the Czech Republic's Ostrava region underwent gradual restructuring from early on whereas Romania's Jiu Valley region went through no restructuring until 1997 followed by massive layoffs over 2 years. We conduct a quantitative exercise that accounts for mine productivity, labour market conditions and the constraints in compensating laid-off miners We show that the Jiu Valley's delay in restructuring was inefficient Gradual restructuring with compensation would have benefited both the miners and the government The proximate reason for the delay was the Jiu Valley miners' action against restructuring We discuss what motivated their action and why it was effective.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0186286