Abstract
This article highlights the importance of organizational resources and individual capabilities for interactions and relationships among social partners in European sectoral social dialogue committees (SSDCs). We use an actor-centred approach to investigate work programme setting in the hospital and metalworking SSDCs. Our research reveals differences in how European social partner organizations coordinate and integrate members in SSDCs. In hospital, European Union (EU)-social partners build bridges that span otherwise separate actors or groups. The findings suggest that the absence of bridging efforts can lead to the dominance of a few actors. In metalworking, small cohesive groups are more effective in forming close networks and determining work programmes. While work programmes in hospital represent issues which are on national agendas, in metalworking, they focus mainly on EU policy areas.
Highlights
This article is about the role of trade unions and employer organizations – social partners – as critical actors in the shaping of social dialogue practices and policies in European sectoral social dialogue committees (SSDCs)
We find evidence of intensive interactions between the European Union (EU)-social partner officers and loosely connected SSDC actors aimed at integrating all potential actors into the work programme setting process
Our data suggest that SSDC actors are constrained in their actions by organizational resources and individual capabilities
Summary
This article is about the role of trade unions and employer organizations – social partners – as critical actors in the shaping of social dialogue practices and policies in European sectoral social dialogue committees (SSDCs). SSDCs are the fora where national and European social partner organizations and their representatives (in the following, SSDC actors) engage in social dialogue to develop and influence work and employment related policies at European Union (EU) level (European Commission, 1998). Considerable research has been devoted to factors fostering or hampering effective engagement of SSDC actors in social dialogue De Boer et al, 2005; Keller and Weber, 2011; Léonard, 2008), little is known about these factors as a source for facilitating interactions and dialogue among actors in SSDCs While the functionality of these factors for European dialogue outcomes has been subject to research (e.g. De Boer et al, 2005; Keller and Weber, 2011; Léonard, 2008), little is known about these factors as a source for facilitating interactions and dialogue among actors in SSDCs
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