The social partners and the NESC: from tripartite dialogue via common knowledge events to network knowledge

2021 ◽  
pp. 141-156
Author(s):  
Rory O’Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
Social Council ◽  
The Social ◽  
National Economic ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Voluntary Community

Chapter Ten examines policy analysis in the institutional arrangements created by the state to involve the social partners – employers, unions, framers and voluntary/community organisations – in the policy process, particularly the National Economic and Social Council (NESC). This method of policy analysis was developed in response to interest group dialogue which in Ireland took the shape of social partnership (1987-2008). The NESC’s early work is examined, followed by a discussion on the significant changes in its role after 1986. Its analysis of the economic crisis of the 1980s in A Strategy for Development 1986-1990 (NESC, 1986), played a central role in the resolution of that crisis. The NESC sees its role as a ‘boundary organisation’, managing the relationship between policy analysis and diverse actors.

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.

Stability and Change in Everyday Knowledge: From Taken for Granted to Social Representation

2021 ◽  
pp. 59-78
Author(s):  
Francesca Emiliani
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Stability And Change ◽  
Ordinary Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Everyday Knowledge

What do we talk about when we talk about everyday life? This chapter considers everyday life as a “metasystem” in Moscovici’s terms, a normative system that checks and organizes knowledge and thought. Looking at social representations theory, the chapter considers the structuring power of this metasystem, referring to two kinds of research where the absence (for deprived children) or suspension (in the first COVID-19 lockdown in Italy) of everyday life causes delays in children’s development and dismay in adults. The suspension of ordinary life highlights the social representation of “normality.” The structure of the “everyday life” metasystem is largely taken for granted, and this calls into question the relationship between the taken-for-granted and the knowledge that constructs social representations or, in other words, between stability and change in common knowledge.

Collective working conditions for everyone?! – Collective provisions with erga omnes effect and statutory extension of collective agreements from a German law perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-174
Author(s):  
Claudia Schubert ◽  
Laura Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners

Not only in Germany but in many European states the level of coverage by collective agreements is declining. Since collective bargaining autonomy is based on the principle of voluntary membership, one of its weaknesses lies in the declining degree of organisation on both the employers’ and the employees’ side. In the long term, weak unions cannot ensure fair working conditions. As a result, collective bargaining agreements lose their inherent warranty of correctness. In the legal policy discussion, this has led to calls for the legislator. In response, in 2014 the German legislature passed the ‘Act to Strengthen the Autonomy of Collective Bargaining’ ( Tarifautonomiestärkungsgesetz) to lower the requirements for the extension of collective agreements and to introduce a national minimum wage. As this has not led to significant improvements, there are further-reaching proposals for the statutory extension of collective agreements. The extension of collective bargaining agreements to non-members does not strengthen the social partnership on the employee side. However, it is a legitimate means to avoid a race to the bottom in competing for the lowest social standard; extensions help in creating common labour standards as long as a sufficient margin is maintained for the social partners to negotiate sector-specific regulations and to shape working conditions. A legal system, which is based on rights of freedom and does not consider the freedom of association to be a solely goal-orientated right, offers limited options to strengthen the social partners through legislation. Extensions become increasingly difficult to justify, the higher the existing level of legal protection. Especially in countries with minimum wage legislation and a large amount of employee protection legislation the justification requirements increase. However, at least in Germany, to date the judiciary has not sufficiently considered these aspects. Even though international laws leave substantial freedoms to the states, all legal systems that are based on a strong and vital social partnership should be interested in obtaining and protecting the plurality of collective bargaining agreements. They should only lay down limits, where there are tendencies of eroding solidarity among workforces due to the parallel existence of several collective bargaining agreements. The associations themselves possess limited resources for extending their member base. Still, the more the individual can gain from association membership, the more likely employees and employers are to join their respective associations. Therefore, the state should demonstrate restraint regarding the regulation of labour conditions. However, such restraint will prove difficult for welfare states. Their governments will most likely opt to eliminate deficiencies through legislation, even at the price of further weakening collective bargaining autonomy. Compared to extensions, legal provisions have the disadvantage of being too general and less flexible because of the much slower adaptation process. Therefore, the main argument in favour of extensions is that they facilitate the differentiation of mandatory working conditions. To ensure their legitimation, a number of design options can be considered. Regarding this, neither European nor international law impose high requirements but existing differences between national legal systems demand custom-fit solutions.

German pacts for employment and competitiveness Concessionary bargaining as a reaction to globalisation and European integration?

2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 026-044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heiko Massa-Wirth ◽  
Hartmut Seifert
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Collective Agreement ◽  
Work Organisation ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Works Council

This contribution deals with company-level pacts for employment and competitiveness (PECs) under the German collective bargaining system. Due to the introduction of collectively agreed opening clauses and the associated decentralisation of the collective bargaining system, the social partners at the company level now have greater opportunities to negotiate company-specific adjustments in the areas of compensation and working conditions. Currently, in return for – generally fixed-term – employer guarantees concerning location and job preservation, PECs have been negotiated in about one in four companies with a works council. The new ‘pacts’ increase internal flexibility in the firm by extending the leeway for a flexible adjustment of working time, work organisation and remuneration. A survey of works councils, conducted by the WSI, provides understanding of the economic and institutional factors which influence the spread and composition of these concessionary agreements. Alongside a commitment to social partnership on the management side, the presence of a sectoral collective agreement is an important prerequisite for ensuring, first of all, that the employer agrees to employment guarantees in exchange for the employee concessions and, secondly, that these management pledges are actually observed in practice.

Building social partnership? Strengths and shortcomings of the European Employment Strategy

2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 045-063 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard H. Casey
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
Employment Policy ◽  
European Level ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
Imple Mentation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Partner Participation

The European Employment Strategy is now seven years old. Whilst its contribution to improving labour market performance has been evaluated, less attention has been paid to the manner in which the EES has worked, in particular the ways in which policy has been formulated and implemented. In particular, there has been little investigation of the extent to which one of the stated objectives of the strategy – the improved involvement of the social partners in the formulation and imple-mentation of policy – has been achieved. This paper argues that in many respects this objective has not been met. Even in countries where social partnership structures appear relatively well developed, the Luxembourg process has added little – in part because it is seen to be concerned with technical matters. Employment policy is ‘settled’ elsewhere. In addition, realisation of those elements of the strategy where social partner participation is most critical has often been frustrated by the lack of mechanisms to implement commitments made at the centre at places of work. Moreover, by subscribing to the strategy, social partners were also subscribing to a wider approach to economic policy – an approach that was scarcely compatible with the approach advocated by trade unions. Accordingly, the conclusion has to be that the Luxembourg process failed to develop social partnership. An exception might be the closer working together of the European-level social partner associations. However, their involvement in the strategy has been little noticed by their constituents, and it might even be argued to have encouraged elitism rather than to have promoted greater participation in policy-making.

Social dialogue in Hungary and its influence on EU accession

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorottya Boda ◽  
László Neumann
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Candidate Country ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
East European ◽  
Social Dialogue ◽  
Social Council ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
The One ◽  
High Level

The paper reviews the positions of the Hungarian social partners on the labour issues relating to EU accession. In addition to the topics dealt with in the 'Social Policy and Employment' chapter in the accession negotiations, the paper also discusses unions' and employers'views on labour migration, as well as how the adaptation of EU regulations in various sectors is likely to affect employment prospects. The paper argues that, on the one hand, social dialogue on EU accession can become more meaningful if employers and unions develop a co-ordinated strategy. On the other hand, appropriate back-up by experts is also required, because social partners ought to influence the complex system of negotiations being conducted, by experts of both the EU Commission and the Hungarian government, behind the scenes of high-level political negotiations. The authors also analyse the operation of social dialogue fora dedicated to EU accession issues. Hungary was the first East European candidate country to establish a joint committee with the Economic and Social Council (ESC), and within the country labour-related issues of accession have been delegated to the newly founded European Integration Council. In these fora the behaviour of trade unions is largely a consequence of the frustration over the fact that the current right-wing coalition government does not wish to go any further than formally observe the unions' consulting rights on major issues. At the same time organisational weakness and internal divisions still exist on the trade union side.

Civil society organisations and policy analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 171-186
Author(s):  
Mary P. Murphy ◽  
Orla O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
New Politics ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
System P ◽  
The Relationship

Chapter Twelve assess the relationship between civil society organisations (CSOs) and policy analysis in contemporary Ireland. Since the 1980s CSOs have assumed an increasingly important role in social, economic and environmental policy and have been resilient and versatile in their approach to engaging with policy formation. There are two themes examined here. Firstly, the variety of CSOs is reflected in their diverse range of models of change. The engagement of CSOs with public policy has not evolve linearly. CSOs adapt their models of change to meet their immediate political environment, in some cases requiring changes in their form of policy analysis capacity. Secondly, while during social partnership (1987-2008) the CSOs’ space for policy analysis was expansive, it has subsequently downsized. Simultaneously, a ‘new politics’ has emerged that is characterized by new parliamentary and public forms of policy making that require new forms of policy analytical capacity with different implications for CSOs, and bringing them closer to the political system.

Communities of Disagreement

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-353
Author(s):  
Lars Laird Iversen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Shared Values ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Democratic Communities ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This guest column in Common Knowledge presents the concept of “communities of disagreement” to an international and interdisciplinary audience, perhaps for the first time. It takes as its starting point the contrast between agonistic and deliberative democratic theories, and it attempts to outline how democratic groups may live well with unresolved disagreement yet not give on up developing truth-sensitive decision-making processes. It argues against the widespread idea that shared values are the social glue of democratic communities. By developing arguments of Manfred Frank, the article outlines a model of the relationship between social context, interpretation, and information.

scholarly journals Three Voices of Socio-Legal Studies

2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 175-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm M. Feeley
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Social Reform ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Distinct Form ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Traditional Language ◽  
The Relationship

The connection between law and contemporary social science emerged as a consequence of the quest for social reform. As law became more instrumental, it also became more empirical, more concerned with policy. For this process, it turned to social science. Social science complied and has become an adjunct to law in the quest for solving social problems. As this partnership has developed, the relationship between law and social science has matured. Not only has social science sought to educate and influence law, it has also incorporated law into its own disciplinary concerns. Furthermore, the field of socio-legal studies may be on the verge of establishing itself as a separate and distinct discipline, independent of the practical concerns of law.The scholarly intersection of law and social science — or socio-legal studies, as I shall call it — now speaks with at least three voices addressed to at least three audiences. It speaks as policy analysis, a handmaiden to law. It also speaks in the traditional language of the social sciences. Thirdly, it may be gaining a voice of its own, reflecting a belief that law is a distinct form of ordering that merits its own position among the scholarly disciplines, separate from both scholarly fields and the professional concerns of law. At their core, each of these enterprises entails a distinct voice, a distinct audience, and a distinct agenda.

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