European Industrial Relations Research Articles

New Forms of Employee Involvement at European Level — The Case of the European Company (SE)

AbstractThis article focuses on important but widely neglected problems of supranational employee involvement both at the level of information and consultation as well as at board level. It takes the most important pattern, the European Company (SE), and presents a systematic empirical analysis of its negotiated forms of worker representation and employee involvement. The questions addressed are: What do these new forms of collective voice and representation at the supranational level look like? What is the relevance of SEs for the development of an emerging system of European industrial relations in a broader perspective? Is the negotiated form of employee involvement likely to lead to new forms of harmonization and convergence or rather to heterogeneity and fragmentation?

The potential of employee involvement in the SE to foster the Europeanization of labour relations

This article looks at recent developments with regard to employee involvement in the European Company (SE) and in this light analyses the SE’s impact on European industrial relations. The article argues that the SE has indeed brought some innovation and new impetus at both national and European level. Thus, the SE might be better than its poor ‘reputation’ might suggest. This is all the more true with regard to the limited (new) rights granted by the SE legislation and the background of its introduction: the SE was never meant primarily as a social policy instrument, but rather to foster the cross-border mobility of companies in the EU internal market.

EWCs after 15 years — success or failure?

The present article contributes to the debate on the failure or success of European Works Councils (EWCs) as an institution of European industrial relations. To this end it takes stock of EWC performance from various points of view. First, a quantitative evaluation of the development of EWCs, based on the ETUI database, is used to show that EWCs have become an essential element of European industrial relations. Second, we show that EWCs are a dynamic, constantly developing institution of employee representation. Their significance is assessed, including by looking at their institution-building capacity on various levels. The article also considers the future of EWCs. In this context the recent recast Directive 2009/38/EC is briefly discussed. Functional developments of EWC practice (signing company-level transnational agreements) are identified as new challenges for the coming years. The article concludes by arguing that the firm position of EWCs in European industrial relations can be viewed as a self-evident success, and has had positive spillover effects resulting in provisions on employee representation in other EU instruments.

Cross-border cooperation under asymmetry: The case of an Interregional Trade Union Council

In order to protect minimum wage and social standards in cross-border regions marked by considerable economic disparities, trade unions have built cooperation structures across adjoining (usually sub-national) regions. Since the 1970s more than 40 Interregional Trade Union Councils (IRTUCs) have been established. This article investigates emerging practices of cross-border trade union cooperation in the West Pannonia region between eastern Austria and western Hungary. It argues that IRTUCs can play an important role in fuelling cooperation to preserve wages and labour rights in cross-border regions, particularly in sectors with high precarious employment. While actual practices are contingent on regional union strategies as well as industrial relations and labour market institutions, cross-border cooperation occupies an important place within European industrial relations practices and can support new forms of capacity-building.

Assessing the impact of private equity on industrial relations in Europe

Private equity firms are accused by trade unions of changing industrial relations in buyouts by demonstrating an unwillingness to recognize and work with trade unions, and by downgrading information and consultation. To explore these important policy issues, this article reports the first representative pan-European survey of managers’ perceptions of the impact of private equity on industrial relations. Managers report that private equity investment does not result in changes to union recognition, membership density or changes in management attitudes to trade union membership. Furthermore, managers in firms recognizing unions after private equity buyouts do not report reductions in the terms and conditions subject to joint regulation. Under private equity ownership more firms report consultative committees, managers regard these as more influential on their decisions, and indicate increased consultation over firm performance and future plans. Comparing industrial relations changes in different social models in Europe, the results suggest private equity firms adapt to national systems and traditional national industrial relations differences persist after buyout.

Industrial relations in Europe: recent changes and trends

This paper addresses the major features in some of the EEC countries. Of course, there are significant differences and variations from country to country: factors as important as custom. tradition, industry structure, the rate of growth, inflation, degree of unionisation. etc. differ to a large extent. Consequently, there is a built-in incentive to over-generalisation. Furthermore, there are also in-country variations from industry to industry, or from region to region. In view of this, therefore, the scope of the remarks made in this paper is limited to very general comments, around which it should be possible to point out localised exceptions.

European Industrial Relations between and Soft Law: A Sectoral and Company Perspective

European Industrial Relations between and Soft Law: A Sectoral and Company Perspective

Unity in Diversity as Europe’s Vocation and Conflicts Law as Europe’s Constitutional Form

“Unity in Diversity” was the fortunate motto of the otherwise unfortunate Draft Constitutional Treaty. The motto did not make it into the Treaty of Lisbon. It deserves to be kept alive in a new constitutional perspective, namely the re-conceptualisation of European law as new type of conflicts law. The new type of conflicts law which the paper advocates is not concerned with selecting the proper legal system in cases with connections to various jurisdictions. It is instead meant to respond to the increasing interdependence of formerly more autonomous legal orders and to the democracy failure of constitutional states which result from the external effects of their laws and legal decisions on non-nationals. European has many means to compensate these shortcomings. It can derive its legitimacy from that compensatory potential without developing federal aspirations. The paper illustrates this approach with the help of a topical example, namely the conflict between European economic freedoms and national industrial relations (collective labour) law. The recent jurisprudence of the ECJ in Viking, Laval, and Ruffert in which the Court established the supremacy of the freedoms over national labour law is criticised as a counter-productive deepening of Europe's constitutional asymmetry and its social deficit. The introductory and the concluding sections generalise the perspectives of the conflicts-law approach. The introductory section takes issue with max Weber’s national state. The concluding section suggests a three dimensional differentiation of the approach which seeks to respond to the need for transnational egulation and governance.

Vers une représentation européenne des salariés. Les comités d’entreprise européens face aux restructurations

Nearly 900 European works councils (EWCs), transnational committees for informing and consulting workers, are now active in firms operating across borders inside Europe. How do they help establish a European industrial relations system? How have these new forms of representation been molded into a collective actor that is making itself heard at the EU level, in particular when the firms where EWCs exist are to be restructured? The intent is to see how an “additive logic”, whereby the EWC is the sum of the representatives of the firm's European workers, turns into an “integrative logic”, whereby the EWC becomes the place of a European representation of these workers. This study follows European works councils from the negotiations leading to their creation to their activities in coping with economic restructuring. It shows how they take part in the Europeanization and renewal of collective action in the social Europe under construction.

Prospects for European industrial relations and trade unions in the midst of modernisation, Europeanisation and globalisation

Prospects for European industrial relations and trade unions in the midst of modernisation, Europeanisation and globalisation

Labour market dualism and industrial relations in Europe

ABSTRACTThis article studies the regulation of fixed‐term contracts and its effects on European industrial relations (2002–06). The study reveals a positive association between temporary employment and industrial conflict and evaluates three mechanisms that may account for this association in 18 European countries. The study reveals that the more these contracts are used, the lower the level of wages and job security workers can expect.

“Ye shall know them by their fruits”

PurposeThis paper aims to report the continental European jurisprudence origins and Roman Catholic social teaching parallels of post‐World War II Japanese industrial relations practices. It focuses on the modes of social relation in the Japanese legal employment ecology of the post‐World War II enterprise and is designed to aid understanding of Japanese management theory and practice. An additional purpose of the paper is to facilitate development of evaluative criteria for authentic adoption of Japanese management practices to other national settings.Design/methodology/approachThe approach used is an analysis of Japanese sources using industrial relations theory to explore the “working rules” governing post‐World War II Japanese employment relations. This method, grounded in a source‐comparative method, results in the derivation of comparative employment ecology models of the USA, German, and Japanese enterprise. Against this background, the potential evangelization of the American workplace is discussed in reference to Roman Catholic social teaching.FindingsSuccess in deploying Japanese management modes of production is contingent upon adaptive appropriation of their modes of social relations within the enterprise. Insofar as the latter derive from and/or reflect continental European jurisprudence and Roman Catholic social teaching, their deployment in other nations – such as the USA – becomes, first, easier to comprehend in principle (not being subject to Japanese concepts), and, second, a potentially potent form of workplace evangelization reflecting continental European industrial relations norms.Originality/valueAuthentic deployment of the Japanese management employment ecology is a form of “evangelization” of the US workplace. Furthermore, it asserts that this constitutes a potential evangelization toward continental European sensibility regarding employment rules, closely related to Roman Catholic social teaching.

Strikes against foreign contractors

FOCUS □ PRECARIOUS, INFORMAL AND MIGRANT WORKERS Strikes against foreign contractors A xenophobia. spectre raise against ishaunting Many labour expected Europe migration the thespectre spectre stemming of to xenophobia. Manyexpectedthespectre to raise againstlabour migration stemming fromthe EU enlargement eastwards.However, thespectre has longkeptquiet.Apart from riots against Romanians in Southern Italy(whichhad nothing to do withemployment, butmuchwith pre-existing urbandegradation), there havebeen no prominent protests againstEastern European migrants. The extreme Right was too busywith Muslim migrants toconsider the(whiteandmostlyChristian ) Eastern Europeanones. Itwas also strongest incountries thathad kepttheir borders closedwith'transitional arrangements' (Austria), thaninthosewhichhad opened itto thelargest inflows (UK,Ireland, andsoonafterwards Spain). ItseemedthatEuropewas copingwellwiththe freedom of movement of labour- until January 2009,atleast. The problem is that, whilemigration was taking place without muchprotest (and withthe enthusiasm of the EuropeanCommissionand western employers), thefreedom ofmovement of services was emerging as a contested socialissue. The so-called'Bolkestein Directive' opened the debates.Unlikethe freedomof movementof workers, thatof servicesis not subjectto any transitional periodlimitation. In spiteoftheserviceDirective notbeingapprovedintheoriginal Bolkestein text - with the'country oforigin' principle -, thedestabilising effect of thisfreedom hasbecomeapparent veryquickly. TheLavalconflict of2004inSweden,withthe subsequent EuropeanCourtofJustice's ruling in 2007,has been thefirst clearcase. In thatoccasion (protests ofSwedishtradeunionsagainsta Latvian contractor adoptingLatvian, rather than Swedish,labour standards),the Swedish and Latvian employers tried toorganise Latvian workersinLatvian tradeunionsto bypassand underminetheSwedish ones.Thiscase evokedthefear of'liaisonsdangereuses' emerging betweeneasternEuropean unionsandemployers against 'protectionist ' western regulations - something capable of disrupting Europeanindustrial relations. Such developments have been avoided at the political level,butat greateffort, as in thedifficultnegotiation of a commonEuropeanTrade Union Confederation standpoint on the Bolkestein Directive. In concomitance to the transition periodson thefreedom of movement of workers, a 'tradeoffbetweenfreemovement ofworkers and free movement of servicesemerged, thelatter being more disruptive where the formeris limited (Germany andAustria aboveall).BothPolishand Germanmediahighlighted in 2007 the case of Polishsubcontractors employedby the largest meat-processing companyin Germany, Tönnies, withinits own factories. Germantradeunions were struggling to finda way to oppose the employment conditions ofPolishcontract workers (^.50/hour pay,84-hour working week),as thesewere notconsideredas Germanemployees . The laterRüffert and Luxembourg ECJrulings ,likeLaval's,highlighted howthefreedom of movement of serviceswas theAchilles'heel of western labourstandards. Interestingly enough,themostvisiblemobilisationsagainstforeign contract workersoccurred notin Germany or Austria (wheretradeunions supported limits to labourmigration), butin the 'open border' Sweden (Laval), Ireland (Irish Ferries), and UK (in construction engineering). The questionis thenwhether suchmobilisations' nature is nationalistic ornot- as theseareexactlythecountries where,atthesametime, thefree entry of migrants has proceededsmoothly and withtheconsent oforganised labour.In theIrish Ferriescase, the Latviantrade unions were involved,and some efforts in thisregardwere made also by theSwedes on Laval:thesecases arenotprimarily protectionist oragainstinternationalsolidarity , and xenophobictoneswerenot detected. Thecase that rangthealarmbellofnationalism occurred in theUK inJanuary-February 2009at the Total Lindseyrefinery, underthe banners 'British jobs forBritish workers' (a reference toa speech by GordonBrown).It did not actually involve workers from thenewmember states, but contractors fromone of the oldest founding membersof the EU, Italy.However,the case quickly gainednational relevance fortheissueof foreign contract workersin general,and especiallyfrom eastern Europe. In theLindsey case,theroleofthemediawas instrumental in depictingthe protestsagainst Siciliancontractor IREM as 'xenophobic'.BBC reportsengaged in selectivequotationswhen showing protesters saying 'we cannot work alongsidetheEyties'(a politically incorrect, but not necessarilyoffensive, colloquial termfor 'Italians'), cutting off thesubsequent explanations thattheywere notallowed to (rather thatthey did notwantto) worktogether withcontractor workers. Evenworsewas therepresentation of theeventsintheItalian media.Leftwing newspapers II manifesto and L'Unitàdevotedto itthe wholefirst pageandcompared theprotests tothe concomitant rightwing anti-migrant actions in Italy. As ifre-enacting theBoxers'revolt of1900, statebroadcaster RAI opened the reports from thesafety of thefloating bargethathousedthe Italianworkersunderalleged siege, and even provocatively interviewed Italian workerson Italian sites where British workers were employed, askingwhether theywantedto take Recentdisputes across Europe involving the cross-border movementof companies and so-called 'posting' ofworkershave revealed weaknesses of transnational union organisation GUGLIELMO MEARDI is Associate Professor (Reader) of Industrial Relations atthe University of Warwick in the UK Page 9 Volume 16Issue 3 2009 INTERNATIONAL union rights FOCUS □ PRECARIOUS,INFORMAL AND MIGRANT WORKERS Coordinated transnational responses to these cases by trade unions would keep xenophobia at bay and keep the focus on worker rights revenge forthetreatment oftheir compatriots in England(to thebafflement oftheinterviewees). Such reportshad politicaleffects, withstrong condemnations oftheprotests, amongothers, by BusinessSecretary LordMandelsonin the UK, and even from theItalianPresident Napolitano. The Sicilian governor Lombardo eventhreatened to stopprocurement ofcontracts to British companiesinretaliation . Suchportrayal influenced national andinternationaltradeunions .TheEuropeanaffairs...

Reflections on gender, equality and migration in a new Europe

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the Gender, Migration and Equality stream of the Industrial Relations in Europe 2007 (UREC) Conference, which took place in Athens, Greece.Design/methodology/approachThis paper summarizes a paper delivered at the first plenary session and also papers presented at the stream.FindingsThe paper finds that all papers within the stream highlighted the fact that discrimination and prejudice still exist throughout Europe and these are endemic and institutionalised. Some progress has been made in some areas and industries but for the situation to really alter, people in power should acknowledge their role in reproducing discrimination.Originality/valueThe research papers selected show that equality discussions and debates took a prominent position in the IREC Conference, which is beneficial in terms of pushing forward an equality agenda to the mainstream.

The Establishment of the European Company: The First Cases from an Industrial Relations Perspective

This article presents the first systematic empirical analysis of all European Companies established at the time of writing, and focuses on industrial relations issues and the negotiated rules of employee involvement in particular. It elaborates on the election procedures, the special negotiation body and the mechanisms of employee information and consultation and board-level representation. Some tentative conclusions consider the likely impact on the development of European industrial relations.

Diálogo social y negociación colectiva a escala sectorial en la Unión Europea. Limitaciones y perspectivas

The lack of stable and clear structures for dialogue and negotiation at sectoral level represents a fundamental problem threatening future developments in European industrial relations. In fact, whereas interprofessional and firm level European industrial relations underwent an important improvement after the Social Protocol of Maastricht, advances in sectoral level have been much more limited. This article attempts to analyze the two different but not mutually exclusive ways to develop this level of dialogue and negotiation: the European Sectoral Social Dialogue and the various trade union initiatives for transnational coordination of collective bargaining. We will present the current situation of the debate on these topics and we will connect our arguments with the consequences the latests economic and political projects of the European Union (Economic and Monetary Union and enlargement) are having on European industrial relations.

The role of the state in Central and Eastern European industrial relations: the case of minimum wages

ABSTRACTGovernments in Central and Eastern Europe are dominant players in the field of industrial relations, acting in a ‘liberalisation dilemma’ between the needs of further state regulation to compensate the shortcomings of autonomous self‐regulation by social actors and the demands of liberalised markets in the enlarged EU. Compared with the different types of industrial relation systems in Western Europe, a transitional model with specific etatist features has emerged. This becomes particularly evident when analysing the decision‐making process in Tripartite Councils and its function in determining national minimum wages. The article underlines the recent trends of differentiation and convergence of such pay principles as well as urgent tasks of the state to regulate the unsolved problems of poverty, labour markets and labour standards.

Book Review: European Integration and Industrial Relations

Book Review: European Integration and Industrial Relations

Mod en europæisk velfærds- og arbejdsmarkedsmodel

Towards a European welfare and labour market model: an analysis of the genesis of an institutional order During the past decade, cooperation in the European Union has intensified in the field of social- and labour mar-ket policy and has led to a supranational system of wel-fare and labour market regulation. This article analyses the establishment of a European industrial relations system as an ‘institutional order’ and discusses how and why the system has developed. Three crucial situations are ana-lysed as to their contribution to the development of this institutional order. The first is the EU Commission’s three proposals for directives on atypical work in the beginning of 1990. The second is from October 199l when negotiators from three labour market organisations: UNICE, ETUC, and CEEP signed an agreement concerning possibilities of negotiating collective agreements at the European level. The third crucial situation is from Novem-ber 1995 and concerns the first agreement these organi-sations signed concerning maternity leave. The article argues that these events make up crucial situations on the road to the establishment of a European labour market model.

The Directive on Employee Involvement in the European Company: Its Role in European Corporate Governance and Industrial Relations

Abstract: This paper assesses the likely contribution of the European Company Statute (ECS) and accompanying Directive on employee involvement to the development of participatory workplaces in the European Union. The argument advanced is that the Directive has economic aspirations that outweigh its social objectives and that the prospects for employee participation are cosmetic rather than real. An improved mutual understanding between commercial actors and labour relations actors is required in order to appreciate more fully the interaction between corporate structures and employment rights. More effective dialogue between participants in the two fields is necessary, without which employee representatives have little choice but to pursue a stronger adversarial approach to industrial relations.