Unique Interest Research Articles

Sincere Cooperation, Mutual Trust, and Mutual Recognition in Social Security Coordination

This article looks into the meaning of the concepts of sincere cooperation, mutual trust, and mutual recognition in EU social security coordination. It analyses the legislative choice of coordination as the main regulatory mechanism in the field, and examines the role of administrative cooperation. Furthermore, the article highlights the challenges that arise in situations where mutual recognition is required under the Regulations, as in connection with portable documents relating to the posting of workers. It also considers the limits to mutual trust via the principle of prohibition of fraud and abuse of rights established in the case law of the CJEU on free movement. In the last few years, this principle has been extended into the field of social security law, notably in Altun. In this way, the coordination regime does not require totally blind trust: rather, it balances the Member States' interests of maintaining the integrity of their social security systems with the Union interest of simplifying free movement. As in other fields of EU law relating to free movement, the mutual trust between the Member States in social security coordination may therefore be set aside in extraordinary cases.

The Fragmented Inclusion of Gender Equality in AU-EU Relations in Times of Crises

Facing internal and external crises, the European Union and the African Union have revitalized their interregional cooperation. This article theorizes interregional norm dynamics and explores how, in times of crises, gender equality norms are shaped in interregional relations between the African Union and the European Union. The question is all the more relevant because gender equality is shaped very differently in the European Union and the African Union policies. The African Union has adopted a rather holistic understanding of gender equality, while the European Union approach is constrained by a market-making logic. Also, since the 2008 economic crisis, gender equality policies within the European Union seem to stagnate while they seem to expand in the African Union. Our analysis of core texts shows that at interregional level attention to gender equality is fragmented. Even though in some respects the African Union gender equality norms are more encompassing, and gendered effects of crises in the European Union would merit renewed attention to gender equality, the European Union norms and interests dominate the agenda. Showing how power asymmetries between and disjointed logics of regional organizations impact interregional gender equality norms, the article contributes to the scarce literature on interregional norm dynamics.

The EU Regulation on Screening of Foreign Direct Investment: A Game Changer?

In March 2019, the EU has adopted a Regulation on the screening of foreign direct investment (FDI) which will apply from 11 October 2020. Member States are allowed to use a national screening mechanism for FDI from outside the EU on grounds of widely defined public order or security, including the protection of key technologies. A cooperation mechanism is established between the Member States and the European Commission. The European Commission is authorized to give a non-binding opinion if the FDI affects Union interests. The Regulation reflects a new attitude of the EU towards FDI, triggered by geopolitical developments especially involving Chinese state-owned enterprises taking over European companies with key technologies. However, the EU’s ambitions are faced by legal and practical challenges. From a legal perspective, the Regulation seems to require an extensive interpretation of the grounds for restriction of free movement as developed by the ECJ and codified in the Regulation. From a practical perspective, making coordination work will not be easy. It requires a significant effort from the Member States and the Commission, and success is by no means guaranteed. Foreign direct investment, screening mechanism, public order and public security, free movement of capital, freedom of establishment

Rethinking Global Labour by Ronaldo Munck

Reviewed by: Rethinking Global Labour by Ronaldo Munck Susan Hayter (bio) Ronaldo Munck (2018) Rethinking Global Labour. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Agenda Publishing According to the ILO, one in every ten persons in employment (including self-employment) and one in every six persons that are in a formal employment relationship is a member of a trade union.1 This in a context in which the organisational power of unions in advanced economies fell from an average of 30 per cent in 1985 to an average 17 per cent in 2017.2 As a result, the voice of unions and their institutional power, for example to regulate conditions of work through collective agreements, has declined. The erosion of this countervailing force in the polity and in labour markets is closely associated with the dramatic rise in income inequality. These imbalances and inequalities are mirrored in the working arrangements of the new 'gig economy'. Is this the end of organised labour as we know it? How will labour respond to its commodification in the digitally mediated work in the platform-based economy? Where will the 'second movement' come from? What contribution can global labour studies make to understanding the contested nature of the making (and taking) of value and the shaping of the future of work? These are among the questions that Ronaldo Munck seeks to answer in Rethinking Global Labour, a thought provoking book that challenges labour scholars and labour activists alike to reclaim historical principles of solidarity and reconceptualise and revitalise a truly global labour movement. Rethinking Global Labour gives us a long-view account of labour agency and the development of capitalism as a contested path. The volume is informed by Karl Polanyi's thesis that history moves in a series of [End Page 139] double movements, with the initial expansion of markets and commodification of labour, followed by the re-embedding of markets in society and the regulation and de-commodification of labour. The author begins with a historical account of the transformation of labour as a working class under a new capitalist mode of production – from the Industrial Revolution onwards – and its organisation and emergence as a powerful social actor. The author shows the role that labour agency has played in repeatedly shaping the economic system, including the compromise between Fordist production methods and a welfare state in the advanced economies of 'the West' that ushered in a 'golden era' following the Second World War. In spite of the clawing and uneven incorporation of workers in the developing world during this period, the volume provides a persuasive argument for the emergence of a global working class and similar processes of contestation in shaping an 'era of globalization', beginning in the mid-twentieth century onwards. The author sees the resurgence of grass-roots labour movements worldwide, the growing interest in global unions, the incorporation of workers' organisations such as SEWA and alliances between the ICFTU (now ITUC) and NGOs as providing the seeds of a truly inclusive international labour movement capable of provoking a Polanyi counter-movement. To this might be added that despite declines in their membership, trade unions remain the largest membership-based organisations, many times higher than membership in political parties in countries where such comparisons make sense. Throughout the volume, the author provides a welcomed feminist critique of developments in labour markets and labour movements. It also shows the important contribution that global labour studies have made to understanding the nature of work under late capitalism and the growing exclusion and marginalisation of certain workers from the core of labour markets. The volume cautions against a binary conceptualisation of a new 'precariat' class. Instead, it provides an appreciation of a global working class labouring in conditions of increasing vulnerability, insecurity and precarity no matter where they are located. As history-making agents engaged in repeated periods of contestation and struggle, the emerging global labour movement needs to be nurtured through the integration of migrant workers and forging of alliances with other social movements (such as the environmental movement) if the deeply divisive and unequal path of capitalism is to be diverted. [End Page 140] While characterising the Decent Work Agenda of the International Labour Organization...

On Public Spending and Economic Unions

We analyze the conduct of fiscal policy in a financially integrated union in the presence of financial frictions. Frictions create a wedge between the return to investment and the union interest rate. This leads to an over-spending externality. While the social cost of spending is the return to investment, governments care mostly about the (depressed) interest rate they face. In other words, the crowding out effects of public spending are partly exported to the rest of the union. We argue that it may be hard for the union to deal with this externality through the design of fiscal rules, which are bound to be shaped by the preferences of the median country and not by efficiency considerations. We also analyze how this overspending externality -- and the union's ability to deal with it effectively -- changes when the union is financially integrated with the rest of the world. Finally, we extend our model by introducing a zero lower bound on interest rates and show that, if financial frictions are severe enough, the union is pushed into a liquidity trap and the direction of the spending externality is reversed. At such times, fiscal rules that are appropriate during normal times might backfire. Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.

The EU’s FDI Screening Proposal – Can It Really Work?

Nowadays China and EU share close investment relations. However, concerns have been raised over FDIs (Foreign Direct Investments) aimed at sensitive sectors, especially those from Chinese state-owned companies. In light of this, the European Commission in late 2017 proposed a FDI Screening Regulation. This proposal contains certain features, including cooperation mechanisms between Member States and the Commission to notify and give comments on FDIs, direct monitoring of FDIs by the Commission on the grounds of Union interests, and the illustration of instances to be considered when screening FDIs. However, the success of this proposal is in doubt. Its fate regarding being adopted as law through the EU’s legislative process is uncertain, due to the Member States’ divided attitude towards FDI screening. Its provision contains a lethal loophole, undermining the cooperation and exchange of information between the Member States and the Commission. The non-binding nature of the opinions and comments addressed to the FDI receiving Member State renders the mechanisms practically unenforceable. To establish an effective FDI screening framework for the EU, this proposal needs to be revised and amended.

Janus, Union Member Speech, and the Public Employee Speech Doctrine

In Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (“AFSCME”), the Supreme Court held that public sector unions can no longer collect fees from nonmembers to fund the costs of representing them in collective bargaining and grievance proceedings. The Court determined that virtually all union speech is political speech and that collection of these fees is impermissible compelled speech under the First Amendment. However, not everything in Janus harms public union interests. The Janus Court’s discussion of Garcetti v. Cabellos and Connick v. Myers actually helps protect union member speech in the context of First Amendment retaliation cases. This Article argues that, after Janus, speech by union representatives on behalf of their union is not “employee speech” under Garcetti and is almost always a matter of public concern under Connick. Further, this Article argues that ordinary union member speech and union grievance filings are not “employee speech” either. In support of the latter, this Article also looks to the Supreme Court’s decision in Lane v. Franks as well as the nature of union membership generally.

Mitigating Interest in Union Organizing: Employee Relations Plan Case Study

<p><em>This discussion examined a case study regarding whether resident assistants were university employees who had the right to unionize under federal and state law. Factors contributing to employee interest in unionization were addressed. The university’s strategy to win certification election as well as the union’s strategy to win was evaluated. Finally, a plan for employee relations was developed to mitigate interest in organizing unions by university </em><em>R</em><em>esident </em><em>A</em><em>ssistants (RAs) and their mentors known as CDAs on other campuses and institutions.</em></p>

Understanding the UK’s productivity problems

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the nature, causes and consequences of the UK’s productivity problems and whether these may be addressed through the new technologies of artificial intelligence (AI).Design/methodology/approachThis paper reviews the literature on productivity to explain how it relates to earnings within different theoretical frameworks, advocating a “power over rents” framework as most realistic. It explains the UK’s twin productivity problems and reviews their potential causes, critically assessing the capacity for new technologies of AI to address them. It highlights the enduring importance of distribution and the design of work to improving the UK’s productivity.FindingsThe authors find that the UK’s productivity problems will not be solved by AI technologies due to technical and socio-technical challenges which will require the significant re-design of work. The authors highlight the importance of aggregate demand, which has been inhibited by the shifting distribution of income towards capital and rising inequality of earnings. These issues suggest an important role for trade unions and a renewal of the institutions of employment regulation and collective bargaining. While reversing recent trends raises considerable challenges, the authors observe renewed interest in trade unions from previously hostile thinktanks and international institutions including the IMF and OECD.Originality/valueThis paper advocates adopting a “power over rents” theoretical framework to understanding productivity and the distribution of gains. This provides a clear rationale for the role of trade unions, employment regulation and collective bargaining in improving distributional outcomes, raising firm-level productivity and achieving real productivity growth at an aggregate level.

Rejection of Complaints:

Citizens and undertakings can write to the European Commission to inform about suspected infringements of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. Complaints are crucial for an effective antitrust enforcement. However, not all complaints give rise to serious anticompetitive concerns and given its limited resources, the Commission is entitled to give different degrees of priority to them. The present article gives an overview on the common grounds for the rejection of complaints in Antitrust and the recent relevant case law. Keywords: Antitrust, Complaint, Rejection, Priorities, Union Interest

Anti-Dumping in Europe: What About Us(ers)?

As Anti-Dumping law in the European Union turned fifty years old, it got a rejuvenating cure: the European Union published in December 2017 and June 2018 two regulations providing a stronger policy tool to protect European producers and workers. This article focuses on users, including both intermediate industries and consumers. First, it recalls the European approach of considering users in trade defence policy, as a moderate user of trade defence tools. Second, it reviews the three ways in which the European Union takes into account users’ interests, and the impact of the June 2018 modernization. Notably, this article looks at the new flexibility of the ‘lesser duty rule’ and at the two new ‘Union interest tests’. It also gives practical insights for users. Third, the article raises some open questions. As the lesser duty rule and the Union interest test evolve, this article argues that users’ interests remain an important feature in Europe’s anti-dumping law.

Worker Voice in America: Is There a Gap between What Workers Expect and What They Experience?

This article is the fifth in a series to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the ILR Review. The series features articles that analyze the state of research and future directions for important themes this journal has featured over many years of publication. The decline in unionization experienced in the United States over the past 40 years raises a question of fundamental importance to workers, society, and the field of industrial relations: Have workers lost interest in having a voice at work, or is there a gap between workers’ expectations for a voice and what they actually experience? And if a “voice gap” exists, what options are available to workers to close that gap? The authors draw on a nationally representative survey of workers that both updates previous surveys conducted in 1977 and 1995 and goes beyond the scope of these previous efforts to consider a wider array of workplace issues and voice options. Results indicate that workers believe they should have a voice on a broad set of workplace issues, but substantial gaps exist between their expected and their actual level of voice at work. Nearly 50% of non-union workers say they would vote for a union, compared to approximately one-third in the two prior national surveys, which points to continued interest in unions as a voice mechanism. Additionally, the authors find significant variation in the rates of use of different voice options and workers’ satisfaction with those options. The results suggest that a sizable voice gap exists in American workplaces today, but at the same time, no one voice option fits all workers or all issues.

After the Great Recession: Unions’ Views on Transnational Interests and Cooperation

The aim is to describe and explain the similarities and differences between European trade unions concerning their views on transnational union interests and cooperation in the wake of the Great Recession. We do this by analyzing 221 responses from a European-wide web/postal survey distributed in 2015–2016 to union officials representing staff in employment sectors such as transport, metal and mining, construction, health care, and banking and finance. We find only limited sectoral differences, despite the varied impact of the Great Recession. The main findings are that unions in crisis-ridden southern European countries express a stronger orientation toward transnational union interests and cooperation. Unions in the northern and western European center express a weaker transnational orientation, in line with a renationalization strategy typically expressed in the form of national competitive corporative arrangements. This shows the importance of different institutional resources for unions across the various European industrial relations regimes.

Managing workers’ capital? Limits and contradictions of labour investment funds

Labour-controlled investment is often touted as an alternative, pro-worker form of finance. Since 1983, the province of Quebec in Canada has experimented with workers’ participation in the form of workers’ funds controlled by the two major trade union federations. Drawing on research from secondary sources, archival material and semi-structured interviews, this article offers a comprehensive portrait of one of Quebec main workers’ funds, the FTQ Solidarity Fund. To date very little has been said about the impact of workers’ funds on firm governance, employment quality and labour relations. The article argues that any attempt to use investment to shape firm behaviour in the interests of workers and local unions is a limited and contradictory project. The argument is sustained through a discussion of the historical formation and institutional practices of the Solidarity Fund. The presence of large union-controlled investment funds offers local firms an alternative source of capital investment, protecting small and medium-sized firms from more aggressive financial actors. However, the main results show persistent tensions and contradictions between the Fund’s social goals and financial logics, as well as unintended effects on workplace union practices and power.

More business as usual? Explaining business bias across issues and institutions in the European Union

ABSTRACTBusiness interest groups numerically dominate the European Union (EU) interest group communities. However, scholars note that the relative proportion of business interests varies by either the institutional venue or the policy issue. Exchange-theoretical approaches emphasize the distinct informational needs of policy-makers at different venues, hereby favoring business actors to a varying degree. Other scholars emphasize the importance of conflict and argue that containment or expansion of conflict on concrete policy issues shapes the relative presence of business interest representatives. We simultaneously test both hypotheses comparing interest group activities on seventy issues observed in the European Parliament, the European Commission and in the EU media. We find little differences between the EU venues in terms of the interests represented. Rather, the salience and scope of issues seem more important denominators for variation in business lobby activity.

THE RIGHT OF TRADE UNIONS TO DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION UNDER THE LRA: BALANCING THE INTERESTS OF TRADE UNIONS AND EMPLOYERS

Access to information promotes values of transparency, openness, and accountability that are important for a progressive constitutional democracy. Section 32(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (hereinafter “the Constitution”) provides that “everyone has the right of access to information held by the state or by another person that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights”. It is submitted that the word “everyone” in this provision, includes trade unions and employees and that the words “another person” in the provision include employers. Employees and their trade unions, therefore, have the right of access to information that the employer has, which may be required for the exercise or protection of their rights. Section 32(2) of the Constitution, further provides that “legislation may be enacted to give effect to this right”. The Promotion of Access to Information Act (2 of 2000 (PAIA)) gives effect to the right of access to information in general, however, for purposes of this discussion, the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995 (LRA)) gives effect to the right through a number of provisions; including its sections 16 and 189. While section 16 requires the employer to disclose to a representative trade union all relevant information that will enable trade union representatives to effectively perform functions, which are listed in section 14(4); section 189 regulates the disclosure of information in the context of dismissals based on operational reasons of the employer.The above is in line with the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Collective Bargaining Standards Recommendation 163 (1981) which provides that “measures adapted to national conditions should be taken, if necessary so that parties have access to the information required by meaningful negotiation”. Section 23(5) of the Constitution grants every trade union a right to engage in collective bargaining. This right is protected and supported through provisions mentioned above which permit trade unions to request relevant information, which is important for the effective exercise of the right. This, however, has often proved to be problematic; largely due to the fact that on the one hand, trade unions need information, while on the other hand, employers sometimes regard this as an invasion of privacy. Employers often refuse to divulge information requested by trade unions as they think that the disclosure of information will also negatively affect their bargaining power or that sensitive information may get to competitors and jeopardize their business. Business South Africa (BUSA) raised concerns regarding the right to disclosure of information in its submissions to the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) during the drafting of the LRA as it regarded the obligation to disclose information to trade unions as a threat and an encroachment into management prerogatives. This argument was largely based on commercial secrecy; confidentiality and that disclosure of information would impede effective decision-making.In view thereof, it is important that there be a balance between the right of trade unions to information and the employer’s duty to disclose the information. This analysis will consider the relevant provisions of the LRA that grant trade unions the right to information and employers’ duty to disclose the information, to determine the balance between the interests of trade unions and employers regarding disclosure of information. It will also look at the position in the United Kingdom (UK) in order to determine whether there are lessons to be learned for South Africa.

Humiliation at Work and Union Interest: An Empirical Analysis of Community Union Satisfaction as Related to Status Enhancement

How noneconomic benefits claimed by labor unions relate to union interest is not well articulated. Based on Torres and Bergner’s (Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38, 195–204, 2010; Psychotherapy, 49, 492–501, 2012) analysis of severe public humiliation, in which status enhancement underlies recovery, we examined an augmented relationship between humiliation at work (the underside of dignity at work) and willingness to join a union. As hypothesized, nonunion employees who were less detached from work showed more willingness to join when presented with evidence that members of a union were satisfied with community aspects of membership related to status enhancement above and beyond their satisfaction with economic aspects. Implications for union interest research and applications are discussed.

Unions, Parties, and the Politics of State Government Legacy Cost

AbstractMany American state governments have made extensive promises to pay for employees’ health care and other benefits in retirement. Currently estimated at over $1 trillion in unfunded liabilities, these other postemployment benefits (OPEB) are creating a major fiscal problem for state governments. In this article, we examine the politics of OPEB. We seek to explain the variation in the generosity of OPEB across U.S. states. We argue that party competition theories do not adequately explain the outcomes we observe. Instead, we draw on the emerging Schattschneiderian approach to the politics of public policy to show that public union strength conditions a party's incentives to represent unions’ interests. In states where public sector unions are strong, unions can find their way into either party's coalition. We find that Republicans are more responsive to public union interests than either their ideological brand or prior research would suggest. It is only in states where public employees are weak that Republicans can act unilaterally and enact their preference for less government spending. To test our theories, we carry out an empirical analysis using a newly assembled data set of per capita OPEB liabilities across 49 states.

Exploring the European Union Renewable Energy Directive and its Implications for Indonesias Palm Oil Industry

The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) is a vehicle for environmental NGOs concerned about biodiversity destruction in Indonesia, for European biodiesel producers to admit new competitors, and for European Union (EU) interests to build a secure and sustainable economy for their region. In other words, it is a manifestation of the di?erent interests of many agencies that share grace and favour over palm oil development in the EU. By observing the RED as the vehicle and the EU system of governance as its course, this paper records the interactions between those agencies in shaping the policy. The observations allow for agencies contributions to the images of palm oil. It depicts that biodiversity destruction is the basis for the sustainability criteria in the RED but it was not the only cause of the slowing down in the pace of the Indonesian palm oil market penetration in the region. To some extent, the RED is considered a trade barrier for Indonesian palm oil. However, the RED is an incentive to strengthen the image of the palm oil industry in a more constructive way and ensure the longevity of the industry.

Between discretion and control: Reflections on the institutional position of the Commission within the European citizens' initiative process

AbstractThis article considers the institutional position of the Commission within the European citizens' initiative (ECI) process, with particular emphasis on its decision regarding the admissibility/registration of a proposed ECI, and its final decision on the outcome of an ECI which has met the necessary levels of support. The purpose of this contribution is to juxtapose the case‐law of the Court on the Commission's discretion and the relevant provisions of the Treaties with the evolution of European integration and, more specifically, the evolution of the Commission's role therein. Viewed under this prism, the Commission's powers at the registration stage (which in any event clearly fall under the scope of judicial review) are compatible with the constitutionalisation of the Union, whereas the Commission's width of discretion at the follow‐up stage, while compatible with the Commission's prerogatives, cannot easily be reconciled, nonetheless, with the Commission's limited legitimacy when compared to that of the co‐legislators, the fact that it may not always represent the Union interest, and the latter's pragmatic losses within the EU institutional balance.