scholarly journals Opening the black box: Actors and interactions shaping European sectoral social dialogue

2021 ◽  
pp. 095968012110000
Author(s):  
Barbara Bechter ◽  
Sabrina Weber ◽  
Manuela Galetto ◽  
Bengt Larsson ◽  
Thomas Prosser

This article highlights the importance of organizational resources and individual capabilities for interactions and relationships among social partners in European sectoral social dialogue committees (SSDCs). We use an actor-centred approach to investigate work programme setting in the hospital and metalworking SSDCs. Our research reveals differences in how European social partner organizations coordinate and integrate members in SSDCs. In hospital, European Union (EU)-social partners build bridges that span otherwise separate actors or groups. The findings suggest that the absence of bridging efforts can lead to the dominance of a few actors. In metalworking, small cohesive groups are more effective in forming close networks and determining work programmes. While work programmes in hospital represent issues which are on national agendas, in metalworking, they focus mainly on EU policy areas.

2021 ◽  
pp. 0143831X2110160
Author(s):  
Thomas Prosser ◽  
Barbara Bechter ◽  
Manuela Galetto ◽  
Sabrina Weber ◽  
Bengt Larsson

In this article the authors analyse social partner engagement in European sectoral social dialogue, testing two prominent theories to disentangle sector and country dynamics: institutional and resources and capabilities theories. While institutional theory accounted for certain social partner preferences, resources and capability theory proved stronger in predicting participation and provided insight into regulatory preferences. The authors conclude that resources and capability theory better explains their case, associating it with weaknesses of transnational governance. Specifically, limited incentives for participation mean that social partners with fewer resources forego participation, entailing pre-eminence of social partners with greater resources and hindering outcomes reflecting national institutional influences.


2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Lado ◽  
Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead

In their negotiations for accession to the EU, candidate countries have made important social policy commitments. These include the promotion of social dialogue up to EU standards and the application of the principles and values that prevail in this area. Accordingly, governments of candidate countries are trying to promote appropriate conditions for such social dialogue to take place, while social partners are reinforcing their structures to play their full role in the social dialogue process. Nevertheless, there has been little debate about the real objectives of social dialogue in the candidate countries. What is social dialogue for, what has it achieved so far, and why is it so important to develop it further? Who are expected to be the ultimate beneficiaries of social dialogue mechanisms and practices? What implications might current features of social dialogue in candidate countries have in the enlarged European Union? This article provides a first tentative assessment of the coverage of social dialogue - and thus of the effectiveness of social dialogue mechanisms - in the candidate countries.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 305
Author(s):  
Barbara Surdykowska

European Autonomous Social Dialogue – Chances and ThreatsSummaryThe article is about development of European social dialogue under 138 and 139 of EC Treaty. One can see clearly, that European social partners (ETUC, BusinessEurope, UEAPME, CEEP) want to achieve more independency from European Commission. This aim at development independency manifest oneself in sign of autonomous agreements which shall be implemented by national social partners in accordance with the procedures and practices specific to management and the labour in member states. So far was sung 3 cross sector autonomous agreements –Framework Agreement on Telework, Framework Agreement on the WorkRelated Stress and Framework Agreement on Harassment and Violence at Work. The article is also about first multi sector autonomous agreement on Workers’ Health Protection Through the Good Handling and Use of Crystalline Silica and Products Containing it.In Poland implementation of autonomous agreements can be seen as misgiving. In Poland intensification of social dialogue is low. Number of sectoral employer organizations is unsatisfactory. Implementation of autonomous agreements animates bilateral dialogue among employer organizations and trade unions in Poland. However if one thinks about weakness of social partner in new members states can see that it can bring to different level of protection between workers from old and new members states.


2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Etienne Arcq ◽  
Anne Dufresne ◽  
Philippe Pochet

The first section of this article recalls the most important organisational features of the cross-industry players in the European social dialogue (UNICE, UEAPME, CEEP). Four sectoral employer federations (WEM, Euratex, FIEC, EuroCommerce), selected on grounds of the specific nature of their profile, are also analysed here in view of the increasing importance currently taken on by the sectoral social dialogue. The second part of the article reports on the achievements of the social dialogue as seen by the employers. This dialogue has seen at least two salient events: in 1991, when the cross-industry social partners signed an agreement laying down collective bargaining practices; and more recently when a first voluntary agreement on telework was concluded. This agreement represents for the European employers, as for the trade unions, a radical change in terms of affirming their autonomy in drawing up their work programme and in the way that negotiated solutions are implemented. This has also been a period of consolidation for UNICE as a body representing Europe's employers, while CEEP has embarked on new – territorial – forms of representation. As for UEAPME, a peripheral body in the early 1990s, it has gradually asserted itself as a fully-fledged protagonist in the social dialogue.


Author(s):  
Ifeanyi P. Onyeonoru ◽  
Kehinde Kester

Social dialogue as an aspect of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is aimed at promoting industrial democracy by encouraging consensus building among social partners in the work place. The significance lies, among others, in minimising conflicts to enable harmonious industrial relations. This study utilized specific case illustrations to examine the inclination of the Nigerian government towards social dialogue in government-labour relations, with particular reference to the Obasanjo era 1999-2007— a period associated with the globalization of democracy. The cases included the minimum wage award 2000, University Autonomy Bill, the price deregulation of the downstream oil sector and the Trade Union Amendment Bill 2004. It was found that the government exhibited a penchant for authoritarianism in spite of the globalization of democracy. This was evident in the incapacity of the Obasanjo government to engage the social partners in social dialogue as indicated by the cases reviewed. The study, however, highlighted the modest contribution to social dialogue made by the wider democratic structure. It was concluded that the government had limited capacity for consensus building, accommodation of opposition and negotiated outcomes in government-labour relations


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
Mentor Lecaj ◽  

This paper aims to explain the legal, political and moral obligation of the European Union institutions in the promotion, advancement, respect, and implementation of human rights and freedoms as a universal value, and above all as binding legal- political principles during their efforts in relations with actors both inside and outside the EU. This research work simultaneously analyzes and interprets international legal rules that regulate human rights. Moreover, the cases and means in promoting the human rights used by the European Union in different cultural regions have been compared and analyzed as well as the possibility of changing the approach of EU policy towards countries where the highest level of resistance exist in the accepting of such values.


2019 ◽  
pp. 43-46
Author(s):  
O. M. Rym

The article deals with certain aspects of collective labour rights in the European Union. Prerequisites and procedure of this rights guaranting as general principles of EU law are analyzed and their content is characterized. It is emphasized that such legal establishing took place somewhat haphazardly, both at the level of the acts of primary and secondary law of the European Union and in the case law. As a result, there is no single position on the spectrum of collective labour rights as principles of EU labor law. The author focuses on significant changes in the understanding of the necessity of cooperation of social partners and the extension of their interaction at the supranational level. It is under the responsibility of the European Commission to promote cooperation between Member States and to facilitate coordination of their activities in the field of the right of association and collective bargaining between employers and employees. The article clarifies the content of collective labour rights as general principles of EU law on the basis of EU legal acts, the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as the scientific works of domestic and foreign scholars. It is noted that the system of collective labour rights, as general principles of EU labour law, consists of the right of collective bargaining and collective action, the right of employees to information and consultation within the enterprise, as well as the freedom of assembly and association. It is concluded that the necessity of cooperation between the social partners is recognized as one of the foundations of EU labour law. Herewith appropriate interaction is ensured through the normative-legal consolidation of collective labour rights and procedures for their implementation. After all, European Union legal acts allow employees and employers’ representatives to play an active role in regulating labour legal relations. For example, Member States may instruct employers and employees, upon their joint request, to implement Council directives or decisions. In addition, many directives contain warnings about the possibility of derogating from their provisions through the adoption of a collective agreement.


Policy-Making in the European Union explores the link between the modes and mechanisms of EU policy-making and its implementation at the national level. From defining the processes, institutions and modes through which policy-making operates, the text moves on to situate individual policies within these modes, detail their content, and analyse how they are implemented, navigating policy in all its complexities. The first part of the text examines processes, institutions, and the theoretical and analytical underpinnings of policy-making, while the second part considers a wide range of policy areas, from economics to the environment, and security to the single market. Throughout the text, theoretical approaches sit side by side with the reality of key events in the EU, including enlargement, the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, and the financial crisis and resulting Eurozone crisis, focusing on what determines how policies are made and implemented. This includes major developments such as the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, the reform of the common agricultural policy, and new initiatives to promote EU energy security. In the final part, the chapters consider trends in EU policy-making and the challenges facing the EU.


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