Mediation in Collective Labor Conflicts

This book opens up the black box of mediation in collective conflicts through the analyses and comparisons of various systems. Mediation and related third party interventions such as facilitation and conciliation are discussed as effective prevention and regulation tools for different types of collective labor conflicts. These interventions fit in a new developed five-phase model of collective conflicts in organizations, going from capacity building in latent conflicts, through mediation and arbitration in escalating phases, to rebuilding of trust after hot conflicts.

The authors promote understanding and discussion with regards to labor mediation systems, presenting comparative research on the perspectives of mediators and users of mediation. This book describes and analyses laws, regulations and practices of mediation in seventeen countries, with a relative strong emphasis on European countries. Europe is represented by chapters on collective labor mediation in Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Australia, China, India, South Africa and the USA.

The book offers indepth analyses, good practices and offers new ways to go for third party intervention in collective labor conflicts in a changing environment. This book is a must-read for policy makers, social partners at different levels, as well as scholars and practitioners in industrial relations, human resources management and conflict management.