dr. A.R. Lehr (Alex)

How can employers and employees be collectively represented when there are growing conflicts of interests not only between, but within these groups, e.g., between small businesses and large multinationals, or between employees that are securely and flexibly employed? What are the possibilities for coordination and representation of labor market interests when traditional institutions, such as collective bargaining and social partnership, are partially dissolving? What do the resulting barriers to collective action mean for societies’ ability to become more sustainable? Without answers to these questions, we face a serious risk of increasingly unmanageable negative externalities of economic production and ineffective policies. The focus of my research, and increasingly also of my teaching, is hence that of “sustainable employment relations”. I study the (conflict of) interests of employees and employers, and how these are individually and collectively represented at every level – from the workplace to (inter)national socio-economic institutions. In short, I am concerned with how employment relations can be made sustainable, and how they can, in turn, contribute to sustainable societies. As these issues transcend disciplinary boundaries, I have a very strong interdisciplinary orientation.