Why, given political freedom coupled with adverse economic change, has labour been so quiescent since the fall of communism in Eastern Europe? Through the use of case studies, this text explores the extent of these weaknesses and the relationship between labour and politcs in these countries.

`The book is well written and clearly structured, bringing together much dispersed material. The most interesting part of the book is the case study of the Czech engineering firm CKD. The case study gives an insight into the continuing processes of transition: transition is a process, rather than a jump from Socialism to capitalism. The author provides solid evidence on the ways in which adjusting to the market has proved painful, and in the end unsuccessful for CKD, which has been merged with another firm. Overall, Transformation at Work provides a valuable insight into the realities of the transition process at the enterprise level′ - Employee Relations In this book, Anna Pollert questions the values hidden in the burgeoning literature on `transformation′, and addresses the main concerns arising from these. In exploring the key issues of post-communist transformation, the author discusses important theoretical issues about the nature of change and continuity, such as historical, socio-economic and political effects of transformation, the broad problems of how workers and their organizations respond to change from command to capitalist economies, and case studies of how managers, workers and trade unionists experience these changes within their organizations. Transformation at Work explores the key issues of post-communist transformation in Eastern Europe. The author discusses important aspects of the nature of change and continuity including: historical, socio-economic and political effects; how workers and their organizations respond to change from command to capitalist economies; and how managers, workers and trade unionists experience change within their organizations.

This book offers an insight into the process of transition in Eastern Europe. It provides a comparative analysis of trends in labour relations with and between countries, incorporating country studies which share a common theoretical and empirical framework. The book is intended for postgraduate and professional researchers and for library markets in the fields of industrial relations, sociology of industry/organizations/work, social structure, and politics. Its comparative framework also makes it useful for European studies.

This book explains the role of formal labour market institutions in keeping the labour utilisation in Central and Eastern Europe above the level characteristic for Western European states. It provides an innovative and enriching take on labour utilisation at large and how various formal labour market institutions can affect the ongoing trend in labour utilisation in a way that is not covered by the extant literature. The impact of labour market institutions on labour market outcomes is analysed throughout 12 chapters, both from a cross-country perspective and in detailed case-studies, by 21 labour market experts from various CEE countries. Most chapters are based on empirical methods yet are presented in an easy-to-follow way in order to make the book also accessible for a non-scientific audience. The volume explores three key questions: How can labour utilisation be increased by labour market institutions? Which CEE countries managed to create a labour market institutional framework beneficial for labour utilisation? How should the labour market institutions in CEE countries be reformed in order to increase labour utilisation? The book argues that the legacy of transition reforms and a centrally planned past is still relevant in explaining common patterns among CEE countries and concludes that increasing the stock of skills accumulated by the employed and improving utilisation of these skills seems to be the first-best solution to increase labour utilisation. The book will be of interest to post-graduate researchers and academics in the fields of labour economics, regional economics, and macroeconomics as well as scholars interested in adopting an institutional analysis approach. Additionally, due to the broader policy implications of the topic, the book will appeal to policymakers and experts interested in labour economics.