Problems of Employment-Effective Working Time Policies — Theoretical Considerations and Lessons from France, the Netherlands and West Germany

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Abstract
Central to this paper is the question of whether the actors dealing with working time policy are in the position to adopt a policy of working time reduction when unemployment becomes acute and to make it an effective strategy for improving the employment situation. Particularly relevant to this question are the intraorganisational problems of unions reaching a consensus on this issue. Unions' strategic problems are analysed as well as the preconditions for aiming at compromises with the other collective actors involved (employers' associations and the state). Empirically, this is demonstrated by evaluating the recent working time reductions in France, the Netherlands and West Germany. In all three countries this policy has not attained the originally desired goal of reducing unemployment.