A European Solidaristic Wage Policy?

Abstract

In the first postwar decades, unions in many western European countries were able to implement solidaristic wage policies, with pay increasing in line with productivity and a significant reduction in differentials. Since the 1980s, however, wage policy has become increasingly competition oriented, involving pay restraint and increased inequality. This article analyses the concept of solidaristic wage policy, describes how it has been beset by crisis, and discusses its possible reconstruction at European level.