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...

This article considers the impact of European integration on industrial relations. An industrial relations regime can be understood as a tension between employment structured by market dynamics and broader social regulation, between the principles of contract and status. Economic Europeanisation...

In most countries of western Europe it makes little sense to speak of non-union employee representation, as this is understood in the Anglo-American world, for the principle of collective representation independent of the employer is strongly institutionalised. In this article we examine...

On 24 November 2009 the European Commission published its consultation paper on the EU 2020 strategy. This paper analyses European trade union responses, and contrasts the very limited participation in the exercise with the greater response to the Green Paper Modernising Labour Law three years...

Can industrial relations be successfully transferred between countries. Thispaper reviews experience in eastern Germany since unification in 1990. Theevidence is that the close integration in western Germany between the twoelements of the dual system of interest representation trade unions...