The European Trade Union Federations within the European polity: ETUFs and international trade union activity

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-305
Author(s):  
Torsten Müller ◽  
Hans-Wolfgang Platzer
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
National Level ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
European Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
European Trade ◽  
National Trade

This article examines the European Trade Union Federations’ (ETUFs) role within the European polity in representing the interests of their affiliates vis-à-vis decision-makers at European level. In order to influence processes at European level, however, ETUFs need to aggregate and coordinate the often heterogeneous interests of their affiliates. This dual focus of the ETUFs’ activities is captured in the article by using the concept of the ‘logic of membership’ and ‘logic of influence’ to investigate how changes in their internal and external environment have affected the ETUFs’ capacity to act within the institutional structures and decision-making processes that constitute the European polity. A key finding of the article is that the European Commission’s renewed focus on strengthening the social dimension in principle opens up new opportunities for ETUFs to increase their influence at European level. The analysis, however, also shows that this is only possible if the ETUFs manage to mobilise the support of their affiliates for joint European strategies. This in turn requires national trade unions to overcome their tendency to retreat to the national level to cope with transnational challenges.

scholarly journals The Issue of Representativeness in the Lights of the Amended Trade Unions Act

2021 ◽  
Vol 95 ◽  
pp. 39-50
Author(s):  
Iwona Sierocka
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Specific Work ◽  
Collective Rights ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Given ◽  
National Trade ◽  
Work Contract ◽  
Joint Representation

The subject of the deliberations are issues regarding the representativeness and size of workplace trade union organisations after the changes introduced in the Trade Unions Act in 2018. According to the obligatory provisions, the “representativeness” of a trade union organisation is traditionally conditional on its size, but not only the employees, but also other categories of the employed are taken into account. It is, inter alia, about persons providing work under a contract of mandate or a specific work contract and sole proprietors. By expanding the full rights of coalition onto persons performing work on the basis other than employment relationship, the legislator increased the percentage limits decisive in the matter of representativeness. At present, the representative trade union organisation above the workplace level is also an organisation uniting at least 15% of all people performing gainful work under the articles of association, not fewer, however, than 10,000 persons performing gainful work. It works similarly at the workplace level. With reference to workplace trade union organisations which belong to organisations above the workplace level which meet the criteria for representativeness as specified in the Social Dialogue Council Act, at least 8% of the staff of the given employer is required. In the case of workplace trade union organisations which do not participate in such structures, the representativeness is conditional on uniting of at least 15% of persons performing gainful work for the given employer (7% and 10%, respectively, were required earlier). Determining the number of the staff, the employees and persons providing gainful work under other bases being employed for at least 6 months before the commencement of negotiations or arrangements must be included. A significant novelty is the necessity to select a joint representation of the representative organisations at the workplace level that belong to the same Trade Union Federation or National Trade Union Confederation in matters regarding collective rights and interests of the persons performing gainful work.

The focus of the new trade union. Opinions of members and non-members regarding social differences and trade union priorities in the Netherlands

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 439-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Van Der Meer ◽  
Roos Van Os Van Den Abeelen ◽  
Jelle Visser
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
National Level ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Union Democracy ◽  
The Social

Trade union legitimacy at national level is increasingly coming under pressure due to the new social challenges arising from the shifting of decision making from national to both international and decentralised levels. In this article we discuss representative opinion research on the social differences perceived by Dutch citizens and the priorities on which trade unions should focus. This allows us to relate the emerging criticisms of the unbalanced composition of Dutch trade union membership to issues of ‘positive’ coordination and policy-making legitimacy in light of internal trade union democracy and the representation of younger labour market cohorts.

Trade Union Responses to Immigration in Europe

2019 ◽  
pp. 134-155
Author(s):  
Heather Connolly ◽  
Stefania Marino ◽  
Miguel Martínez Lucio
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
European Level ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
European Trade ◽  
Union Policy ◽  
The Way

This chapter explores the challenges of developing trade union responses to immigration at the European level. The issue of immigration is exacerbated at the European level by the search for a common framework of meaning and initiatives in the context of different national experiences and responses. This chapter draws on interviews with trade union officials at the European level and participant observation of initiatives around immigration to consider the way in which trade union policy on immigration has developed. Our research demonstrated that initiatives in European trade unionism were mainly aimed at increasing awareness of the issues surrounding immigration and to share and develop 'good practice' responses in trade unions and to benchmark these responses. One initiative that we document, ETUC's Workplace Europe project.

La CES entre l’acte unique et le Traité de Maastricht (1985-1993): nécessités et limites d’une conversion transnationale

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-94
Author(s):  
Pierre TILLY
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Internal Market ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Main Trend ◽  
Market Strategy ◽  
Balanced Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
European Trade ◽  
Internal Change

When the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in the late 1980s said yes to the internal market as the EU’s pivotal project, it was accepted in consideration with the Commission's promises to deliver a strong social dimension. For the ETUC, it meant an ambitious Social Policy Agenda, legislative initiatives in the social field as well as promotion of social dialogue. In this sense, a balanced approach between competition and social progress had to be on the core of the internal market strategy. A decade later, on the mid 1990s, promoting liberalisation had become the main trend with a lesser importance attached to the social dimension. A deep disappointment for the trade unions forces in Europe and a real failure for the ETUC in full internal change.

The role of the social partners in the European employment strategy

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 522-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Foden
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
European Council ◽  
Employment Policy ◽  
European Level ◽  
The Core ◽  
Amsterdam Treaty ◽  
The Social ◽  
National Implementation ◽  
Social Partners

This article considers the part played by the social partners in the development of the European employment strategy over recent months, and in particular their role with reference to the European employment policy guidelines for 1999. The guidelines and national implementation reports are central to the "Luxembourg process" defined in the Employment Title of the Amsterdam Treaty (which has been in force since May 1999, though the Employment Title was largely implemented by political agreement from 1997 onwards). Much of the European-level debate on employment during 1999 has concerned the "European pact for employment", which was heralded by the Vienna European Council of December 1998, and which all the relevant actors were urged to support. Agreement on the pact was reached at the June 1999 European Council in Cologne. This article begins, therefore, by describing the different elements which constitute the pact. The role of the social partners in relation to these components, including the Luxembourg process where it is most developed, is set out in the core of the article, with greater emphasis on trade union than employer involvement. The concluding section provides an overview.

Social partnership as an approach to CSR: ‘traditional’ and ‘new’ actors, their roles and relations

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikkel Mailand
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
National Level ◽  
Policy Transfer ◽  
Business Networks ◽  
Active Labour Market Policy ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners

This article reports on research into social partnerships aiming at labour market inclusion that developed during the 1990s in Denmark, the UK and Spain. Some of these partnerships are directly related to corporate social responsibility (CSR initiatives in individual firms), whereas others are only indirectly related (for instance, active labour market policy initiatives at local, regional and national level). Developments such as new target groups for such policies, the weakening of the social partners, ideological change, policy transfer and budget constraints of the state have led to more partnerships taking a multipartite form, meaning that not only the public authorities and the social partners, but also new actors such as business networks, commercial operators and NGOs, participate. The involvement of new actors poses a challenge for the traditional actors – among them the trade unions. Whether the relations between traditional and new actors are best described by conflict or by cooperation cannot be explained by regime theories. The decisive factor seems to be the extent to which the new actors challenge the privileged positions of the traditional actors.

The politics of European integration: A European labour movement in the making?

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Taylor ◽  
Andy Mathers
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
National Level ◽  
European Level ◽  
Member States ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
The Social ◽  
National Boundaries

This paper explores the logical and historical determinants of European integration and reflects on the potential and dangers this presents for labour movement renewal. Through the principle of ‘subsidiarity’ a regulatory gap has been established between political mobilisation at the national level and neo-liberal regulation at the European level. The historical determination of this form is traced through an exploration of the social struggles against neo-liberalism that have developed within member states and transnational mobilizations that bridge this regulatory gap by linking resistance across national boundaries.

Economic union without social union: The strange case of the European social dialogue

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 460-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Prosser
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Economic Governance ◽  
Current Form ◽  
Social Dialogue ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
The Social ◽  
European Social Policy ◽  
The Status ◽  
European Trade ◽  
Economic Union

The recent centralization of European economic governance raises the question of parallel developments in European social policy. On the basis of an examination of the case of the European social dialogue, the propensity of ‘spill-over’ theories to explain developments in the social sphere is considered. The following three potential future trajectories for the dialogue are reviewed: the possibility of the dialogue (1) becoming broader and more redistributive, (2) becoming a means of European Union (EU)-level wage control or (3) remaining in its current form. It is concluded that the status quo is likely to endure and that such a development threatens the integrity of spill-over theories and raises the issue of the dialogue’s utility to European trade unions.

European trade union cooperation, union density and employee attitudes to unions

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-358
Author(s):  
Bengt Furåker
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Union Density ◽  
Employee Attitudes ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
International Social Survey Programme ◽  
European Trade ◽  
Using Data ◽  
International Social

European trade unions have much to gain from cooperating with each other. Such cooperation does exist, but it is still fairly limited and many obstacles need to be overcome if cooperation is to be improved. According to our survey data, higher-level union officials regard differences concerning financial resources and national labour market regulations to be particularly substantial barriers to cooperation. The enormously varying union density across Europe, and its general decrease, also creates barriers. Therefore, employee attitudes to unions are examined using data from the International Social Survey Programme. As expected, union members tend to be more positive about trade unions than non-members. The most interesting finding, however, is that employees in some countries with low union density exhibit fairly positive views or at least views that are not less positive than what we find among employees in many countries with higher density rates. This suggests that there is potential for recruiting members.

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