Monday, May 16, 2005
Conference Papers on Labour and the European Union
Organised labour - an agent of EU democracy?
Trade union strategies and the EU integration process
30 October 2004
http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/news.htm#intro)
Quinn School of Business, University College Dublin (UCD),
Belfield, Dublin 4
funded under the IRCHSS Government of Ireland Projects Grant Scheme
Trade Unions and the Politics of the European Social Model
Richard HYMAN , London School of Economics
http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/Hyman.pdf[full-text, 38 pages]
[excerpt]There is a consensus among European trade unions that economic integration should be complemented by a strong .social dimension.. What is far less clearly agreed is what .Social Europe. means, and how it should be defended against the challenges inherent in a neoliberal approach to economic integration, the dominant logic of .competitiveness., and the pressures for .modernization. of social welfare. Unions. ability to resist these challenges is weakened by their integration into an elitist system of EU governance in which mobilization and contention are inhibited. The article concludes that a new mode of trade union action is required if the .social model. is to be sustained.Wage bargaining, National Competitiveness and European coordination
Dr. Philippe Pochet, Observatoire Social Européen, Brussels
http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/papierdublin.pdf[full-text, 29 pages - in FRENCH)
Pochet Diagrams
http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/schema4.pdf
The Role of Labour in an Enlarged EuropeWorker Responses to Multinational Companies in Central Europe
Guglielmo MEARDI, University of Warwick
http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/Meardi.pdf[full-text, 13 pages]
ABSTRACT: The new central European EU member states have emerged as one of the mostattractive regions in the world for foreign investors, according to both FDI data andconsultancy surveys. Low labour costs, high productivity and relatively weak tradeunions at very short geographic distance are certainly an efficiency factor, asexemplified by the dozens of investors in the automotive sector which re-export toWestern Europe more than 90% of their production.The region is often portrayed as a relatively homogeneous permissive environment andpassive receiver of external influences. The paper, by presenting research in progresson case studies of North American and German investors in the automotive componentsector in Poland, Hungary, and Slovenia critically assesses this view. It will bediscussed whether the differences between host countries are a more importantpredictor of MNC employment practices than the notorious distinction betweenGerman and US HRM models. The informal as well as the formal forms of resistance,and the capacity to develop international links are put in evidence.To conclude, considerations will be drawn for the politically sensitive issue ofrelocations and social dumping within the European single market.Connecting employee representatives response across-borders: A comparative study of American-based multinational subsidiaries inEurope in two sectors
Valeria PULIGNANO,
University of Warwick
http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/Pulignano.pdf[full-text, 33 pages]
Abstract: Discussion regarding the extent to which European Works Councils (EWCs) can be considered aspotential mechanisms to foster a progress towards European trade union co-operation has been atthe forefront of the industrial relations research agenda since mid-1990s. The paper argues that inorder to explore prospects and constraints underlining cross-national union representatives co-operation within the context of European regional integration, co-ordination at both horizontal(across-borders) and vertical (articulation between central and local union representatives) levels,need to be examined. Comparative research in three European Works Councils (EWCs), across-twosectors (i.e. metalworking and chemical), within three business divisions of the same Americanmultinational company, reveal divergence in the nature and the mode of co-ordination withinEWCs. This is because of the diverse European Industry Federations. engagement to monitor thesetting up of EWCs agreements within each sector. However, convergence is also highlighted as theresult of the diverse union attitudes and orientations across (and within) countries towards theEuropean union initiatives at sector level.The unions, the movements, Europe, and democracy.
--Source: Institute for Workplace Studies, Cornell University
Trade union strategies and the EU integration process
30 October 2004
http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/news.htm#intro)
Quinn School of Business, University College Dublin (UCD),
Belfield, Dublin 4
funded under the IRCHSS Government of Ireland Projects Grant Scheme
Trade Unions and the Politics of the European Social Model
Richard HYMAN , London School of Economics
http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/Hyman.pdf[full-text, 38 pages]
[excerpt]There is a consensus among European trade unions that economic integration should be complemented by a strong .social dimension.. What is far less clearly agreed is what .Social Europe. means, and how it should be defended against the challenges inherent in a neoliberal approach to economic integration, the dominant logic of .competitiveness., and the pressures for .modernization. of social welfare. Unions. ability to resist these challenges is weakened by their integration into an elitist system of EU governance in which mobilization and contention are inhibited. The article concludes that a new mode of trade union action is required if the .social model. is to be sustained.Wage bargaining, National Competitiveness and European coordination
Dr. Philippe Pochet, Observatoire Social Européen, Brussels
http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/papierdublin.pdf[full-text, 29 pages - in FRENCH)
Pochet Diagrams
http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/schema4.pdf
The Role of Labour in an Enlarged EuropeWorker Responses to Multinational Companies in Central Europe
Guglielmo MEARDI, University of Warwick
http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/Meardi.pdf[full-text, 13 pages]
ABSTRACT: The new central European EU member states have emerged as one of the mostattractive regions in the world for foreign investors, according to both FDI data andconsultancy surveys. Low labour costs, high productivity and relatively weak tradeunions at very short geographic distance are certainly an efficiency factor, asexemplified by the dozens of investors in the automotive sector which re-export toWestern Europe more than 90% of their production.The region is often portrayed as a relatively homogeneous permissive environment andpassive receiver of external influences. The paper, by presenting research in progresson case studies of North American and German investors in the automotive componentsector in Poland, Hungary, and Slovenia critically assesses this view. It will bediscussed whether the differences between host countries are a more importantpredictor of MNC employment practices than the notorious distinction betweenGerman and US HRM models. The informal as well as the formal forms of resistance,and the capacity to develop international links are put in evidence.To conclude, considerations will be drawn for the politically sensitive issue ofrelocations and social dumping within the European single market.Connecting employee representatives response across-borders: A comparative study of American-based multinational subsidiaries inEurope in two sectors
Valeria PULIGNANO,
University of Warwick
http://www.ucd.ie/indrel/Pulignano.pdf[full-text, 33 pages]
Abstract: Discussion regarding the extent to which European Works Councils (EWCs) can be considered aspotential mechanisms to foster a progress towards European trade union co-operation has been atthe forefront of the industrial relations research agenda since mid-1990s. The paper argues that inorder to explore prospects and constraints underlining cross-national union representatives co-operation within the context of European regional integration, co-ordination at both horizontal(across-borders) and vertical (articulation between central and local union representatives) levels,need to be examined. Comparative research in three European Works Councils (EWCs), across-twosectors (i.e. metalworking and chemical), within three business divisions of the same Americanmultinational company, reveal divergence in the nature and the mode of co-ordination withinEWCs. This is because of the diverse European Industry Federations. engagement to monitor thesetting up of EWCs agreements within each sector. However, convergence is also highlighted as theresult of the diverse union attitudes and orientations across (and within) countries towards theEuropean union initiatives at sector level.The unions, the movements, Europe, and democracy.
--Source: Institute for Workplace Studies, Cornell University
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