Abstract
This article examines the preconditions for successful implementation of multi-employer collective bargaining in countries lacking supportive institutions. It presents cases from three liberal market economies where multi-employer bargaining has either survived in some sectors or where there have been recent attempts to strengthen it. In the UK engineering construction sector, multi-employer bargaining has endured due to the benefits it delivers for employers and workers. In New Zealand, attempts to resurrect multi-employer bargaining failed due to employer hostility, which made it hard to establish supportive institutions. In Australia, multi-employer bargaining has been strengthened but the lack of employer support threatens its longevity. The findings highlight the importance of both ‘regulatory’ institutions (e.g., laws) and ‘cognitive’ institutions (e.g., social norms) to ensure that, first, employment relations actors have the power and resources to support multi-employer bargaining in practice and, second, workers and employers accept this form of wage-setting as legitimate.