Who Protects Workers in a Neoliberal State? Estonian Employers and Trade Unionists’ Conflicting Views on Labour Relations

Taking Estonia as an example, this paper analyses discourses on labour relations by the representatives of employers’ associations and trade union federations in a contemporary neoliberal labour market a few years after the financial and economic crises of 2008. Estonia has been classified as an example of a neoliberal market economy where, on the one hand, social security benefits are quite limited and, on the other hand, the position of trade unions in shaping labour relations in companies or at sector level and influencing public policies has also been rather weak). These aspects raise a question: Who protects workers’ interests in a neoliberal state (like Estonia)? This paper analyses how the abovementioned labour market counterparties perceive labour relations in general and the role of trade unions in particular. In doing so, the paper contributes to understanding how the need for employee representation and protection is nowadays evaluated. The analysis is based on 15 semi-structured individual and group interviews with nine representatives of Estonian employers’ associations and 14 representatives of trade unions federations conducted in 2011. The results highlight a rather similar understanding within one group (employers versus employees) and a controversial one between these two groups regarding the necessity of a collective representation of employees.