You Can't Always Get What You Want? Collective Bargaining Demands and Outcomes

Carl Gergs; Alice Kügler; David Zentler-Munro

doi:10.1111/irel.70038

You Can't Always Get What You Want? Collective Bargaining Demands and Outcomes

Carl Gergs
, Alice Kügler
, David Zentler-Munro^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Economics

RFBerlin
University of Essex

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Trade union demands are a key input for collective bargaining negotiations (CBNs). However, there is little quantitative evidence on these demands and how they shape CBN outcomes. We digitize novel data on union demands for wages and non-wage amenities to examine the relationship between demands and outcomes in German CBNs from 1993 to 2019. We find CBNs cover a rich set of non-wage amenities in addition to wages. We show how these objectives are traded off against each other in the demands made by unions and in the outcomes of CBNs. We further investigate how CBNs reflect macroeconomic and labor market conditions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-23
Number of pages	23
Journal	Industrial Relations
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/irel.70038
State	Published - 19 Aug 2026

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

Keywords

Collective bargaining agreements
Monopsony
Non-wage amenities
Trade unions
Wage determination

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10.1111/irel.70038License: CC BY

Kuegler-Alice_2026-08-19Publisher version, 5.13 MBLicense: CC BY

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abstract = "Trade union demands are a key input for collective bargaining negotiations (CBNs). However, there is little quantitative evidence on these demands and how they shape CBN outcomes. We digitize novel data on union demands for wages and non-wage amenities to examine the relationship between demands and outcomes in German CBNs from 1993 to 2019. We find CBNs cover a rich set of non-wage amenities in addition to wages. We show how these objectives are traded off against each other in the demands made by unions and in the outcomes of CBNs. We further investigate how CBNs reflect macroeconomic and labor market conditions.",

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You Can't Always Get What You Want? Collective Bargaining Demands and Outcomes

Abstract (may include machine translation)

UN SDGs

Keywords

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