I. Flexibility: Concept, types and model
E. Collective bargaining and flexibility
Within much of the debate on flexibility, there is little focus on the extent to which collective bargaining limits employers' ability to deploy flexibility or the extent to which trade unions negotiate the introduction of flexibility either to save jobs or in return for productivity payments. This may result from the fact that the debate has been dominated by developments in the United Kingdom at a time of trade union decline. The situation in Ireland is unlikely to be the same as that applying in the United Kingdom, given the extensive system of social partnership which has been constructed since 1987. Furthermore, the debate has to an extent been dominated by either a managerial perspective on the one hand, or a sociological one on the other, which may miss the complex interrelationships involved in day-to-day industrial relations.