Industrial Relations in Car-manufacturing Industry: a Comparative Case Study of Audi Hungaria, Gyor and Mercedes Benz, Kecskemet

This comparative study is based on fieldwork conducted at two German automobile factories in Hungary between end of 2015 and beginning of 2016. It examines the changing position and role of trade unions at both the plants, comparing their style of unionism in everyday practices (recruitment, daily involvement of members, expansion; bargaining with senior plant management). The study points out the similarities between the two cases emerging from their historic context of Hungarian trade unionism and current political-legal realities, but also highlights some of the differences stemming from the specific plant history and the socio-geographic context of the region. It seems that a more advantageous socio-geographic parameters lead to a stronger bargaining power of unions, while a more precarious labour situation urges trade unions to enter into less open conflicts with the employer and act in a more consensual manner.