Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

working time, occupational safety and health and social issues (health care, social benefits),
altogether a much narrower purview than in Western Europe (Sajkiewicz 2000: 329).
To sum up: the decrease in importance of trade unions in industrial relations might have
a negative impact on the changes for the prolongation of working life as trade unions have
throughout Europe always been the proponents of improved working conditions and quality
of work. A countertendency to that risk is however the obligation to adapt occupational
safety and health standards to EU norms (Solska 2008: 42). The main arena of collective
negotiations is the firm level. Due to the presence of several rival trade unions and the
factual dismantling of their veto power, the management will be the decisive force in
shaping working conditions and deciding upon the internalisation or externalisation of older
workforce. This argument equally applies to early exit policy pursued at firm level. The
related hypothesis 7 will be tested in section 4.3.
3.4. Comparison of the Determinants of Prolongation of Working
Life in Germany and Poland
In this chapter, I will compare the institutional and socio-economic framework
which has an impact on retirement transitions and employment in higher age brackets in
Germany and Poland. The chapter will start with a depiction of the current situation (section
3.4.1.), namely the progress of Germany and Poland towards the Stockholm target
(employment rates of the 55-64-year-olds shall reach 50%) and the Barcelona target (the age
of exit from the labour market shall climb by five years) to be reached by 2010. Section
3.4.2. will deal with institutional determinants of this situation and will be used as basis for
testing hypothesis 6. Structural/socio-economic factors depicted in section 3.4.3. will add
additional explanatory variables, and section 3.4.4. will recapitulate the findings.
3.4.1. The Current Situation
We agreed in the first chapters that the employment rates of workers aged 55-64 years
and the average exit age would serve as indicators of prolongation, resp. shortening of
working life, just as in the case of the Stockholm and Barcelona targets set by the European
Council (EC 2004b). There is a strong positive correlation between the degree of fulfilment
of both targets (EC 2007: 66).
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