Constructing European Collective Bargaining

Abstract

Most students of European integration expect that organized labour and business are not likely to develop collective bargaining at the EU level. By analysing the interactions between the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE) since Maastricht, this article challenges this reigning pessimistic view about the prospects for building European collective bargaining. The article's analysis of the emerging collective bargaining practices and relations at the EU level supports Bercusson's prediction of the development of collective 'bargaining in the shadow of law' after Maastricht. It also shows that unlike the dominant view, the labour side is not necessarily underprivileged vis-a-vis the employer side at the EU level, as witnessed in the European Works Council (EWC) case. I also try to make some strategic suggestions for the further development of European collective bargaining, particularly with regard to pay in the context of European Monetary Union (EMU).