Social partners and OSH: a multilevel and cross-country exploration in the hospital and social services sectors

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Abstract The article examines the role of social partners (trade unions and employers) in the field of occupational safety and health (OSH). The Covid-19 pandemic directed attention to the importance of greater national and European level policy coordination to protect and promote healthy, safe, and well-adapted work environments. On the basis of two sectors, hospitals and social services with a focus on elder care, the article asks how OSH policy interventions at the national level and the European level are interlinked. To explore interlinkages, the article focuses on OSH policy coordination between national social partners and European level sectoral social dialogue. The analysis is informed by actor-centred institutionalist and multilevel governance approaches and uses qualitative data. The article explores patterns of interlinkages between the national and European levels in two sectors and six countries and discusses the limitations of applying a cross-national and multilevel conceptual approach. The analysis shows that the pandemic has promoted some coordination at national and between national and EU levels, yet still rather modest interlinkages and degrees of ‘vertical’ coordination can be observed. The paper concludes that there continues to be a degree of ‘in-the-making’ to the multilevel governance of employment relations, even in the presence of common challenges.