Suchergebnisse

Contents: 1. Convergence in the EU: what role for industrial relations? / Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead and Rosalia Vazquez-Alvarez -- 2. Social convergence of the Baltic states within the enlarged EU: is limited social dialogue an impediment? / Jaan Masso, Vladyslav Soloviov, Kerly Espenberg and Inta Mierina -- 3. Belgium: is strong social concertation a driver of upward social convergence? / Ive Marx -- 4. Is France converging or not?: the role of industrial relations / Pierre Courtioux and Christine Erhel -- 5. Does the German social model support the convergence of living conditions in the EU? / Gerhard Bosch -- 6. Ireland after the Great Recession: convergence or divergence? / Philip J. O'Connell -- 7. Italy: how could industrial relations help a return to economic and social convergence? / Annamaria Simonazzi, Valerio Ciampa and Luca Villamaina -- Case study - Italy and Slovenia: two paths to labour market flexibility and social dialogue / Branko Bembič and Annamaria Simonazzi -- 8. The Netherlands: from convergence to divergence in Europe?: social dialogue and industrial relations in the face of household labour supply / Wiemer Salverda -- 9. Social convergence, development failures and industrial relations: the case of Portugal / Pilar González and António Figueiredo -- 10. Slovenia: social dialogue and social convergence between coordinated and dependent capitalism / Branko Bembič -- 11. Economic and social convergence in Spain: the elusive goal of catching up with the EU / Rafael Muñoz de Bustillo -- 12. Convergence towards better working and living conditions: the crucial role of industrial relations in Sweden / Dominique Anxo -- 13. The United Kingdom's record on economic and social convergence with europe: a pre-Brexit appraisal / Damian Grimshaw -- Index.

Contents: 1. Curbing inequalities in Europe: the impact of industrial relations and labour policies / Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead and Rosalia Vazquez-Alvarez -- 2. Labour market inequalities in conditions of limited social dialogue: the case of the Baltic states / Jaan Masso, Maryna Tverdostup, Inta Mierina and Kerly Espenberg -- 3. Belgium: is robust social concertation providing a buffer against growing inequality? / Ive Marx and Lien Van Cant -- 4. Social dialogue in France under pressure: can worker security be achieved in a context of increasing job flexibility? / Pierre Courtioux and Christine Erhel -- 5. Social dialogue in Germany: innovation or erosion? / Gerhard Bosch -- 6. Industrial relations, imposed flexibility and inequality during the Greek Great Depression / Maria Karamessini and Stefanos Giakoumatos -- 7. Social dialogue and inequality: Ireland / Brian Nolan -- 8. Italy: industrial relations and inequality in a recessionary environment / Annamaria Simonazzi and Giuseppe Fiorani -- 9. The Netherlands: Is the polder model behind the curve with regard to growing household income inequality? / Wiemer Salverda -- 10. Changes in inequality outcomes alongside industrial relations transformation in Slovenia / Branko Bembič -- 11. Industrial relations and inequality in the Spanish labour market: resilience and change / Rafael Muñoz de Bustillo and Fernando Pinto Hernández -- 12. Shaping the future of work in Sweden: the crucial role of social partnership / Dominique Anxo -- 13. Inequality at work in the United Kingdom: how perforated industrial relations worsen inequalities and hold back progress on equalities / Damian Grimshaw and Mat Johnson -- Index.

The European Social Model has been an integral part of the construction of the European Community and has been effective in stimulating its economic growth. This social dimension represents the soul of the European Union, and has been envied and adopted by other regions and countries in the world. Under the pressure of the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent introduction of austerity measures across Europe, many countries have reformed basic elements of the model including social protection, pensions, public services, workers' rights, quality of jobs, working conditions and social dialogue, often undermining social cohesion. These trends have raised questions: Is Europe currently losing its legacy? If so, what are the social and economic implications, both in the short and longer term? The European Social Model in Crisis assesses social policy developments in each EU individual member state on the basis of detailed empirical evidence and concrete case studies. This book issues a timely warning about the dismantling of the European Social Model, presenting its possibly devastating future effects and proposing more balanced policy options. Scholars and researchers of labour economics, European studies and social policy will find the experts' contributions offered in this book to be an invaluable reference. Policy-makers in European and international institutions will be inspired by its comparative analysis and alternative policy proposals.

" This is the first book to provide a comprehensive and systematic assessment of the impact of the crisis and austerity policies on all elements of the European Social Model. This book assesses the situation in each individual EU member state on the basis of detailed empirical evidence and concrete case studies."

Work Inequalities in the Crisis provides an in-depth overview of the effects of the crisis on inequalities in the world of work. It examines these inequalities multi-dimensionally, looking at employment, wages and incomes, working conditions and social dialogue. At the same time, it investigates whether the crisis may halt the progress made in Europe towards better quality jobs and working conditions. -- This book offers a unique combination of research, case studies and policy discussions. An assessment of national trends in 30 European countries precedes case studies of 14 of them, in which noted European specialists report on individual enterprises or sectors. The volume's survey of national- and local-level policy solutions contributes to identifying those responses that strengthen economic competitiveness, preserve social cohesion and do not deepen inequalities.

The years of transition in Central and Eastern Europe brought with them the unprecedented - in these societies - phenomenon of restructuring with dismissals and growing unemployment. Moreover with the emergence and development of the private sector, new enterprises started to leave former corporate models behind to adopt new forms of employment and working conditions arrangements to better adapt to the newly competitive environment. Further many of these countries have now joined the European Union and have started to progressively harmonize their labour laws to community legislation, something that should accelerate their economic and social catching-up process while profoundly influencing their World of work. However there is no much evidence collected so far an these countries' enterprise practices in terms of labour contracts, working time, and other working conditions something that this articles proposes to investigate more in depth. At enterprise level are the conditions at work following similar patterns in new EU member states? Have they started converging in a significant way towards EU standards? Or are they already following diverging trends in certain areas? What could be said about the general direction of the World of work in the EU 25?

On savait les conséquences sociales de plus de douze années de transition dans les pays de l'Europe centrale et orientale, dramatiques. Mais le constat que dresse ici l'auteur d'un ouvrage remarqué sur l'Union européenne, sur le démantèlement des dépenses sociales opéré au nom de la rigueur budgétaire et les restrictions drastiques imposées à la couverture sociale de populations durement frappées par le chômage, au travers d'une privatisation généralisée des systèmes de protection sociale, est particulièrement dur. Aucun des futurs pays membres n'y échappe même si, à certains égards, la Slovénie ou l'Estonie présentent, sur des points mineurs, une réalité un peu moins sombre. Ecartée de l'objectif de convergence vigoureusement prôné par ailleurs en matière économique, la protection sociale a connu dans ces pays une dégradation d'autant plus alarmante que celle-ci apparaît désormais, à bien des égards, irréversible. Le cas de la réforme du système des retraites, désormais basé dans plusieurs pays sur le principe «des trois piliers», offre un exemple édifiant de ce que la transposition de réformes à des économies aux systèmes bancaire et financier encore mal assis, augure d'un nouvel appauvrissement de la situation des retraités. La responsabilité est pour le moins partagée. Qu'il s'agisse de celle des gouvernements de ces pays qui, quelle que soit leur couleur politique, ont sacrifié le sort d'une grande majorité de leur population sur l'autel d'un néo-libéralisme sans nuances, marginalisant d'entrée de jeu l'ensemble des partenaires sociaux ; de celle des institutions internationales à commencer par la Banque mondiale dont la politique de ciblage en faveur des catégories les plus défavorisées a fait long feu ; de celle enfin de l'Union européenne qui, dans sa démarche d'intégration de ces pays, n'a que trop tardé à étendre sa «méthode de coordination ouverte» au domaine de la protection sociale.

The article presents the different reasons why social dialogue is important in the current EU enlargement process. First because of developments of social dialogue at the Community level, described in the first section, from its establishment in the Treaty of Rome, to Delors' Val Duchesse initiative in the mid-1980s to the new rights for the social partners under the Amsterdam treaty and the new 'macroeconomic dialogue'initiated at the Cologne Economic Summit in 1999. Second, because social dialogue is clearly part of the current legal and institutional acquis, implying important responsibilities for the social partners. The third section discusses the implications for the social partners in the candidate countries. In particular they are called upon to play a more active role in their respective country's accession negotiations, to support implementation of the acquis 'on the ground', and to prepare themselves for participation in European social dialogue. Currently, collective bargaining institutions at both enterprise and supra-enterprise level remain underdeveloped in the CEECs, placing a question mark over implementation of some aspects of the acquis. Social dialogue is an important part of the acquis communautaire, and substantial efforts on the part of governments and the social partners in the candidate countries will be required prior to accession.

This article compares the recent developments of financial participation schemes in the West and in Central and Eastern Europe. Its first aim is to identify the different legislative experiences, forms and extent of financial participation. The promotion of financial participation intervenes in a totally different context in these two groups of countries. In the West, its main objective is to enhance workers' motivation whilst in Eastern European countries, it appears as a form of privatization. Since financial participation also varies according to the features of the national system of industrial relations, the attitudes of social partners are particularly analysed in a cross-country perspective. Finally, from company examples and a brief survey of empirical research, the author studies the economic and social potentials of these schemes.

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.

1. Is the world of work behind middle class reshuffling? / Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead, Rosalie Vazquez-Alvarez and Nicolas Maitre -- 2. Is the world of work stimulating middle class growth in the Baltic states? / Jaan Masso, Inta Mierina and Kerly Espenberg -- 3. Social concertation and middle class stability in Belgium / Sarah Kuypers and Ive Marx -- 4. Transformation in the world of work and the middle class: the French experience / Pierre Courtioux and Christine Erhel -- 5. The erosion of the German middle class: the end of the 'levelled-out, middle class society'? / Gerhard Bosch and Thorsten Kalina -- 6. The Greek middle classes facing an uncertain future / Maria Karamessini and Stefanos Giakoumatos -- 7. Is Hungary still in search of its middle class? / István György Tóth -- 8. Middle incomes in boom and bust: the Irish experience / Bertrand Maître and Brian Nolan -- 9. The middle class in Italy: reshuffling, erosion, polarization / Annamaria Simonazzi and Teresa Barbieri -- 10. Stagnating incomes and the middle class in the Netherlands: running to stand still? / Wiemer Salverda -- 11. Still holding on? inequality, labour market and middle income groups in Portugal / Pilar González, António Figueiredo, Hugo Figueiredo and Luis Delfim Santos -- 12. Knocking on heaven's door: changes in the world of work and the middle class in Spain / Rafael Muñoz-De-Bustillo and José-Ignacio Antón -- 13. The rise and fall of the Swedish middle class? / Dominique Anxo -- 14. How have middle-income households fared in unequal Britain? a focus on work and employment trends / Damian Grimshaw and Anthony Rafferty.

1. Public sector shock in Europe : between structural reforms and quantitative adjustment / Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead -- 2. Public sector adjustment and the threat to gender equality / Jill Rubery -- 3. Early application of fiscal austerity measures in the Baltic states / Jaan Masso and Kerly Espenberg -- 4. Croatia : public sector adaptation and its impact on working conditions / Vojmir Franičević and Teo Matković -- 5. France : the public service under pressure / Jérôme Gautié -- 6. Public sector adjustments in Germany : from cooperative to competitive federalism / Gerhard Bosch -- 7. Public sector adjustment amidst structural adjustment in Greece : subordinate, spasmodic and sporadic / Zafiris Tzannatos and Yannis Monogios -- 8. Hungary : public sector labour market from crisis to crisis / Szilvia Altwicker-Hámori and János Köllő -- 9. Cautious adjustment in a context of economic collapse : the public sector in the Irish crises / Philip O'Connell -- 10. The Netherlands : wage cuts no longer a constructive option / Wiemer Salverda -- 11. Portugal : structural reforms interrupted by austerity / Helena Rato -- 12. Romania : a country under permanent public sector reform / Valentina Vasile -- 13. Those were the days, my friend : the public sector and the economic crisis in Spain / Rafael Muñoz de Bustillo and José-Ignacio Antón -- 14. Early fiscal consolidation and negotiated flexibility in Sweden : a fair way out of the crisis? / Dominique Anxo -- 15. Austerity, privatization and levelling down : public sector reforms in the United Kingdom / Damian Grimshaw.

"The goal of this volume is to study this 'public sector shock'. While budgetary reforms seek to ensure a more balanced and sound economic policy, they may generate new work inequalities among public sector employees, most particularly among women, who account for a considerable proportion of public sector employment. Cuts in education and training may also have an impact on the quality of human capital in both the public and private sectors, despite the fact that the recent crisis has shown the value of education as employees with better skills and training are more likely to maintain their jobs and incomes."

Over the last decade the emergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has contributed towards better corporate governance by tackling such burning issues as child labour and basic human rights violations. However, as the author argues in this important new book, the time has now come to incorporate wage issues into CSR. Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead proposes a new methodology, the 'Fair Wage' approach, which should allow all CSR actors to make progress in this field through a coherent and comprehensive set of fair wage dimensions and indicators