European Industrial Relations Research Articles

Regulation of strikes and the European social model

Regulation of conflict is not currently part of the European social model. This contribution suggests methods for underpinning the European social model with a robust system of industrial relations. One important issue is that of transnational strikes. The author sets out a number of hypotheses for what might constitute legitimate strike action in European terms. Dispute prevention and settlement procedures should be an important part of a European industrial relations system. Italian legislation on public-service strikes, with its focus on users as well as strikers, is discussed. The Italian model provides useful pointers for a European system, balancing as it does the collective and individual interests of the workers and users involved in labour conflicts.

Place, Space, and the New Labour Internationalisms

Place, Space and the New Labour Internationalisms. Introduction: Place, Space and the New Labour Internationalisms: Beyond the Fragments? Peter Waterman and Jane Wills. 1. New Developments in Trade Union Internationalism:. Trade Union Internationalism in the Age of Seattle: Peter Waterman. Southern Unionism and the New Labour Internationalism: Rob Lambert and Eddie Webster. Rethinking the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and its Inter-American Regional Organization: Kjeld Jakobsen. Transnational Capital, Urban Globalisation and Cross-Border Solidarity: The Case of the South African Municipal Workers: Franco Barchiesi. Labor Internationalism and the Contradictions of Globalization: Or, Why the Local is Sometimes Still Important in a Global Economy: Andrew Herod. 2. New Issues for Labour Internationalism:. World Trade and Worker's Rights: In Search of an Internationalist Position: Rohini Hensman. NAFTA's Labor Side Agreement and International Labor Solidarity: Lance Compa. European Integration and Industrial Relations: A Case of Variable Geometry? Richard Hyman. Uneven Geographies of Capital and Labour: The Lessons of European Works Councils: Jane Wills. Women Workers and the Promise of Ethical Trade in the Globalised Garment Industry: A Serious Beginning? Angela Hale and Linda Shaw. Propositions on Trade Unions and Informal Employment in Times of Globalisation, Dan Gallin. A Manifesto Against Femicide: Melissa Wright. Union Responses to Mass Immigration: The Case of Miami, USA: Bruce Nissen and Guillermo Grenier. Index.

EU Enlargement: Reshaping European and National Industrial Relations?

Undoubtedly, that the enlarged European Union eventually with 27 or more members and around 500 million people will considerably differ from the current EU15. The shape of this new EU (and that of the whole European continent) is, however, somewhat unclear yet. This paper addresses one specific question only: what might be the implications of the foreseen enlargement rounds on social dialogue in the EU, taking into account the developments that are likely to take place in industrial relations of the future new Member States in the years to come, due partly to the preparation for membership. The paper argues that if special efforts are not made in the candidate countries to strengthen their industrial relations and, especially, their social partners, European social dialogue might be in trouble.

The European Sectoral Social Dialogue and the Graphical Industry

The European Commission and the ETUC have outlined policies to strengthen the sectoral level of European industrial relations, but the social dialogue has developed in only a limited number of sectors. This article examines some theoretical arguments which may contribute to a better understanding of the motives of industrial relations actors for participation in social dialogue and collective bargaining at the European level. These arguments will be used to explain why no social dialogue has been initiated in the graphical sector, and what this absence implies for the prospects of the Europeanization of collective bargaining in the sector.

The Trojan Horse for the Americanization of Europe? Polish Industrial Relations towards the EU

This article discusses the implications of EU enlargement eastward for the so-called `European social model' and the `Europeanization' of industrial relations. After considering the standpoints of EU bodies, it supports an alternative `agency-based' perspective. A deeper analysis of the Polish case reveals that not only has enlargement an impact on industrial relations, but conversely industrial relations has a considerable impact on enlargement. A particular asymmetry is detected. In the West, employers strongly promote enlargement and unions (especially in some countries) are increasingly sceptical; in the East, the opposite is the case. This asymmetry increases the risks of American-style fragmentation of European industrial relations.

Employment Relations in France: Evolution and Innovation

Introduction: The French Exception. 1. An Institutional Legacy. 2. A New Era of Reform. A Brief Guide to the Following Chapters. 1: The 'Reform of Work' and the Evolution of Participative Management in France. Introduction. 1. Employee Involvement in France: Perspectives and Strategies. 2. The Impact of 1970's Workplace Experimentation. 3. The Auroux Laws of 1982. 4. The Progression of Work Reform Expression Groups and Quality Circles in the 1980's. 2: A Decade of Technological Modernization: Negotiation and Organizational Change During the '80's. 1. The Strategies of Institutional Actors in France. 2. Emergent Patterns of Negotiation of Technological Change. 3. Work Organization in the French Firm at the Dawn of the 90's. Conclusion: The Lessons of French Experience. Appendix: The Participative Introduction of Automation the Case of Peugeot and 'Projet ISOAR'. 1. Introduction. 2. The Environment of Peugeot in 1982 and ISOAR's Origins. 3. ISOAR - Principal Phases and Working Groups. 4. The Production of Analyses and Proposals. 5. Decisions, Action and Assessments. 6. The Impact of ISOAR. 3: Towards Quality and Process Redesign: Lean Production in French Industry. 1. Total Quality Management and its Spread as 'La qualite totale' in France. 2. 'Just-in-Time' Within Lean Production. 3. Management and Work Under 'Lean Production'. 4: Decentralized Bargaining and the Spread of Individualization in Appraisal and Remuneration. 1. The Scale of the Diffusion ofIndividualization. 2. Impacts of Individualization in the Firm New Workplace Identities? 5: Employment Crisis, Restructuring and 'Downsizing'. 1. Employment Crisis and Downsizing in France. 2. French Multinationals, Negotiated Restructuring and European Industrial Relations: A Tale of Two Companies. 6: The Impact of New Flexibilities in Working Time and Contracts. 1. French Innovations in the Use of Working Time. 2. Contractual Flexibility, Company Employment Strategies and the Problem of Insecurity. Conclusion: Employment Insecurity and the Future of Flexibility. 7: Conclusion: Crisis, Conflict and Reform in French Work and Society. 1. Crisis in Work and in Organized Labour: The Recent Resurgence of Industrial and Social Conflict. 2. Crisis of Politics and the 'Elite-Mass' Relationship. 3. Crisis of Values, Crisis of 'Identity'? Conclusion: On Reform.

European Industrial Relations in 2000: A Chronicle of Events

European Industrial Relations in 2000: A Chronicle of Events

Pacts for employment and competitiveness – an opportunity to reflect on the role and practice of collective bargaining

Pacts for employment and competitiveness (PECs) raise understandable concerns about the potential for ‘concession bargaining', ‘regime competition’ and the fragmentation of the inclusive collective bargaining structures characteristic of most European national systems. PECs are not themselves the source of the problem, however, and are unlikely to be a temporary phenomenon. Rather PECs are a manifestation of wider changes taking place in the process and structure of collective bargaining, reflecting the more complex role collective bargaining is playing in the light of ‘globalisation’ in general and ‘Europeanisation’ in particular. These developments are also bringing about a measure of convergence across EU countries in the form of substantial changes in the levels, scope, form and output of collective bargaining, all of which are being encouraged by the emerging multi-level system of industrial relations in Europe.

European Integration and Industrial Relations: A Case of Variable Geometry?

This contribution considers the implications for industrial relations of European economic integration, and possible trade union responses. We can understand industrial relations as institutions and processes of social regulation of work and employment, whether by law, collective bargaining or more diffuse norms and standards (often, a combination of all three). These systems of worker protection became consolidated at national level; their foundations are eroded by increasing economic internationalisation (to which the European single market was a response, but which it further reinforced). Through the dynamic of “regime competition”, multinational capital can play off national governments and national trade unions against one another, while norms of worker protection are subverted by growing insistence on “shareholder value”. Effective regulation of work and employment must be reconstructed transnationally; but most trade union energy has been devoted to a vain pursuit of European analogues of national legislation and collective agreements within a bureaucratic elite process of “social dialogue”. What is needed is, first, effective articulation between European‐level trade union action and the day‐to‐day realities of national and workplace trade unionism, and second, a struggle to create a European civil society within which the protection of workers' rights can win popular support and which can sustain effective collective mobilisation.

La rigidez flexible: ¿Un modelo para una Europa social?

We juxtapose four concepts across the pages of this article: the moral economy as for mulated by the English historian Edward Thompson, the risk society popularised by U. Beck, governance, taken from different sources, and finally flexible rigidity, originally for mulated by R. Dore. Conjugating these ideas will afford us a reading and interpretation of industrial relations in Europe in the following terms. European integration has been first and foremost the building of a common market. Building this market on a supranational level has bolstered trends towards a risk society whilst the elusive nature of governance in the EU has set a poor groundwork for social regulations able to confront this trend. In order to implement new regulations in this sense, it will be necessar y to mobilise and a fight for a new moral economy and a building of Europe that is not a mere formality but rather a playing field for protest.

European industrial relations in 1999: chronicle of events

This article chronicles industrial relations developments throughout the European Union (EU) during 1999. The information is gleaned from articles published by the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO). The text therefore contains numerical references to records contained in the EIRO database in order to allow the reader easy access to the relevant records. The article is divided into five sections. The first contains an overview of political, economic and legislative events at EU-level, the second looks at EU-level developments in employee representation, the third looks at the impact of European economic and monetary union (EMU) on industrial relations and collective bargaining and the fourth and fifth give a more detailed country-by-country analysis of main trends in key industrial relations areas—collective bargaining and industrial action; and employment creation, working time and new forms of work.

Macroeconomic Constraints, Social Learning and Pay Bargaining in Europe

This paper argues that European integration has constrained the discretion of industrial relations actors. The result has been not the widely predicted institutional fragmentation of collective bargaining, but a change in the functioning of these systems. At the same time, widespread ‘social dumping’ on the part of firms and member states has not materialized. The paper argues that the ‘race to the bottom’ thesis gives insufficient weight to the socialization mechanisms attached to the European integration process. Thus macroeconomic constraints and social learning processes are co‐mingling with one another in European industrial relations.

Employment and Industrial Relations In Europe

Employment and Industrial Relations In Europe

Trends and developments in east central European industrial relations

This article overviews developments in industrial relations in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland since the fall of the communist regimes in 1989, and assesses the extent to which key developments in these countries reflect both change and continuity from the communist period. We explore the four main institutions through which industrial relations have been conducted: trades unions, workers’ councils, employer organisations, and the tripartite arrangements involving representatives of unions and employers with the state.

The European Monetary Union and Industrial Relations

Despite its very recent introduction, the social and political impact of the European Monetary Union (EMU) can already be felt throughout the entire European Community. Indeed, many academics concur that the intensification of the economic integration brought about by EMU will accelerate the already evident process of structural economic change in the Member States, and undoubtedly strengthen their competitive position thanks to common employment strategies. Furthermore, it has been noted that the single currency has also served to encourage trade unions to communicate more amongst themselves to try to achieve more cross-border co-ordination of strategies and demands in the hope of counteracting any risk of a possible downward spiral rooted in EMU.

The BMW European Works Council: A Cause for European Industrial Relations Optimism?

This article evaluates the role performed by BMW's European Works Council (EWC) in the recent Rover crisis. During this period of great uncertainty a picture emerges whereby contacts achieved through the EWC came to play a central role in discussions and negotiations with BMW and Rover management. Of particular interest are the issues of trust relations between British and German EWC members and the changing attitudes towards each other. Here, the diverse points of reference resulting from contrasting industrial relations settings are discussed at some length. It is concluded that a new industrial relations platform now exists that could allow European trade unionists the chance to develop better cross-border relations as well as mutually supportive positions.

European industrial relations in 1998: chronicle of events

The end of the year 1998 marked a milestone in the development of the European Union. On 1 January 1999, eleven member states officially joined the European single currency. Only Denmark, Greece, Sweden and the UK remain outside ‘Euroland’, but it appears inevitable that they too will join the single currency in the not too distant future. The impact of EMU on industrial relations has been more widely assessed in 1998 (cf. Sisson et al., 1999) and has been the subject of keen debate for the social partners both at European, national and regional level. Among the other key issues which have dominated the industrial relations sphere in 1998 are the following:

The Constitution of European Works Councils: From Information Forum to Social Actor?

This article presents and discusses the findings of an empirical study of European Works Councils (EWCs) in the metalworking and chemical industries in the UK, Italy, France, and Germany. It focuses on four issues: internal communication networks; relations with company management; links between EWCs and national institutions for employee representation; and cooperation between EWCs and trade unions. The research indicates that EWC members are rapidly learning to handle and develop the mechanisms of this new body. In a significant number of cases, informal relations between EWC and management have become an established fact. In short, a distinctive European industrial relations system is developing at the micro-level. Whether this proves a threat or an opportunity for the trade unions will depend not least on their own strategies for Europeanization.

The Internationalization of Industrial Relations in Europe: Prospects and Problems

Abstract European industrial relations are rapidly internationalizing; internationalization, however, is not necessarily de-nationalization. Even as European integration accelerates, national politics and industrial relations will remain the principal arenas for the social regulation of work and employment in Europe. The paper investigates the implications of European industrial relations developing into a multi-level system within which national regimes compete with each other in an integrated international market. In particular, it tries to outline the emerging new peace formula between business and labor in Europe, which is centered on the notion of joint competitiveness, and its consequences for social protection and the regulation of labor markets. Five examples are given for the continuing importance of national industrial relations in integrated Europe: the renewal of tripartite concertation at national level, especially under the pressure of the Maastricht criteria; the likely impact of European Monetary Union on national collective bargaining regimes; the practical consequences of the European Works Councils Directive of 1994; the experience with the Social Dialogue since the Maastricht Treaty; and the Posted Workers Directive, which is discussed as a possible paradigm of the future relationship between European and national social protection in Europe.

Institutional Dynamics in European Industrial Relations

Since the end of the 1970s, all European systems of industrial relations have experienced some common developments. In order to shed some light on this subject we look for common as well as specific changes within some selected systems of industrial relations in Europe. Therefore, we deal with the moving forces behind these tendencies which are, on the whole, global in character. We discuss the institutional responses to these general developments in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. These countries have been chosen because their industrial relations are generally seen as belonging to different types of systems.We conclude that many responses are still national specific and, in line with the distinguished national logics of collective action, to be defined respectively as the logic of contract, the logic of opposition and the logic of cooperation. At the end some reflections about the future of European industrial relations are presented.