The Economic and Financial Crisis and Collective Labour Law in Europe
The Economic and Financial Crisis and Collective Labour Law in Europe

Author: Niklas Bruun

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-09-18

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 1782254447

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The current economic and financial crisis erupted several years ago. Its effects impacted deeply upon society, in which legal rules and social patterns have developed to enable the establishment of civilisation, justice and peace. Over time it has become more and more obvious that policy, financial and economic actors have adopted austerity measures as a main tool to solve the ensuing problems, and that these measures have hit social policy standards sometimes dramatically. Recent analyses have dealt with several aspects of this issue. This book focuses on one important element: the impact on collective labour law. It seeks to add to the debate by presenting mainly legal arguments derived from different sources and backgrounds, examining the EU and 'Troika' measures, the economic and political background and the sometimes dramatic consequences of austerity measures on democracy, collective bargaining and the right to strike. Against the framework of EU law, the relevant ILO Conventions, (Revised) European Social Charter and European Convention on Human Rights provisions, the non-compliance of these measures is analysed and demonstrated. The book is also dedicated to procedural questions, and in particular, how legal approaches may be used to challenge austerity measures.

The Legal and Institutional Framing of Collective Bargaining in CEE Countries
The Legal and Institutional Framing of Collective Bargaining in CEE Countries

Author: Ivana Palinkaš

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2018-04-09

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 904119200X

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The formerly communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have witnessed a profound transformation of their labour laws since the 1990s and, especially, after their accession to the European Union. Today, in comparison to the other Member States, they continue to have weak trade unions and employers’ associations and an underdeveloped system of collective bargaining. Moreover, the recent economic and financial crisis highlighted the need to invest further efforts in bringing the CEE industrial relations closer to the ‘old’ Member States, in order to facilitate a more meaningful enforcement of the EU-wide economic and social policies. This is the first book to scrutinise this important matter in depth. Focusing on four current CEE labour law regimes – in Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland – that also have different collective bargaining trends and can be said to exemplify some of the main legal and institutional frameworks for collective bargaining that the CEE countries have developed, the author addresses the following major issues: – the transition from a centralised to an open market economy and the degree of continuing residual characteristics; – the extent to which labour laws since the 1990s have enabled an adequate institutionalisation of industrial relations to allow free and voluntary collective bargaining at the national, sectoral, and company levels; and – the effectiveness of the standard-setting role of trade unions and employers’ associations insofar as they have persisted or come into play. The analysis always keeps in focus the development of labour laws in relation to a number of such interlinked elements as market transformation, type of privatisation of state ownership, and attitudes towards welfare. It draws on both the relevant literature and on twenty-five interviews with legal and policy experts from social partners’ organisations and staff within the ministries for social affairs in the selected countries. In support of the study’s general finding that the laws in CEE countries could provide more stimulus for sectoral and cross-sectoral collective bargaining, the author offers deeply informed recommendations and insights into legal shortcomings and pinpoints how the existing legal frameworks can be enhanced. Any professional or academic in the field of industrial relations, and particularly those concerned with complex transitions such as those occurring in the CEE countries and elsewhere in the world, will find this book of great value.

Before and After the Economic Crisis
Before and After the Economic Crisis

Author: M. -A. Moreau

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 184980995X

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This timely book casts new light on the key issues arising from the contentious debate around the future of the European Social Model. Marie-Ange Moreau brings together leading experts to provide a thorough and well-informed response to the recent developments in European social and labour law and policy, in the light of institutional changes. The contributing authors provide unique insights as they evaluate the impact of the enlargement processes, the implications of the Lisbon Treaty, the integration of the Charter into EU law and, crucially, the evaluation of the European evolutions in the context of the economic crisis. Before and After the Economic Crisis will appeal to academics, researchers and graduate students working on European labour law, industry relations, social policy and gender issues and related topics in economics and political sciences.

Resocialising Europe in a Time of Crisis
Resocialising Europe in a Time of Crisis

Author: Nicola Countouris

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-10-10

Total Pages: 543

ISBN-13: 110751309X

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Terms such as 'Social Europe' and 'European Social Model' have long resided in the political and regulatory lexicon of European integration. But in recent years, and in spite of the adoption of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the EU social profile has entered a profound period of crisis. The ECJ judgments of Viking and Laval exemplify the unresolved tension between the EU's strong market imperatives and its fragile social aspirations while the ongoing economic crisis, while the various 'bail out' packages are producing a constant retrenchment of social rights. The status quo is one in which workers appear to shoulder most of the risks attendant on making and executing arrangements for the doing of work. Chapters in this book advocate a reversal of this trend in favour of fair mutualization, so as to disperse these risks and share them more equitably between employers, the state, and society at large.

EU Collective Labour Law
EU Collective Labour Law

Author: ter Haar, Beryl

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2021-12-09

Total Pages: 488

ISBN-13: 1788116399

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This unique book offers a comprehensive systematization and overview of the EU´s emerging ‘acquis’ and practice of Collective Labour Law. Although the core aspects of Collective Labour Law lie outside the EU’s competence to regulate, the laws and industrial relations systems of Member States are undoubtedly influenced by the EU, and the involvement of Social Partners, i.e. representatives of employers and workers, is essential for many aspects of EU law and policy.

Greek Employment Relations in Crisis
Greek Employment Relations in Crisis

Author: Horen Voskeritsian

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-14

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1315462478

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Greece’s economy and society have undergone important structural changes in recent years as a result of the financial crisis and consequent austerity policies that have been implemented. The Greek labour market and employment relations system have been subject to immense pressures, leading to fundamental changes both in the structure of institutions and in the behaviour of the main employment relations actors. The present volume constitutes a first attempt to appreciate the consequences of a decade of austerity politics on the Greek labour market. Offering a multidisciplinary perspective and building on original research by leading Greek scholars in the fields of labour economics, employment relations and the sociology of work, it will discuss the impact of the crisis and the resulting policies on the Greek labour market and employment relations. This volume will be of interest to policy makers, researchers and students interested in the past, present and future of Greek employment relations and the impact of austerity on Greece.

European Social Models from Crisis to Crisis
European Social Models from Crisis to Crisis

Author: Jon Erik Dølvik

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 0198717962

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This book analyzes the interaction of European social models, the institutions structuring labor markets' supply side, and their turbulent macroeconomic environment from the deep Europe-wide recession, ending Germanys post-unification boom, through monetary union's establishment, to the Great Recession following the recent financial crisis. The analysis reaches two conclusions challenging the dominant view that the social models caused unemployment by impairing labor markets' efficiency in the name of equity. First, the social models' employment and distributive effects are far outweighed by their macroeconomic environment, especially in the Eurozone, where its truncated structure of economic governance transformed the Great Recession into a sovereign debt crisis. Second, instead of a trade-off between efficiency and equity, the employment effects of counteracting markets tendency to generate inequality depends on the macroeconomic conditions under which it occurs and how it is done.

The Changing Face of European Labour Law and Social Policy
The Changing Face of European Labour Law and Social Policy

Author: Alan C. Neal

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2004-01-01

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 9041123121

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In the realm of European employment law, tension exists between the concepts of 'economic policy' and 'social policy.' During recent years, a growing tendency to emphasize the 'economic' at the expense of the 'social' can be discerned. What this trend gives us'in the views of the leading figures in the field of European labour law and social policy whose considered analyses are presented in this volume'is a regime of 'grand declarations' about workers' rights, but with extremely limited enforcement potential. ,i>The Changing Face of European Labour Law and Social Policy presents some of the papers given at a series of colloquia sponsored by the Employment Law Research Unit at the University of Warwick in early 2002. In its assessment of the forces at work in European employment law today, these commentaries examine significant initiatives and issues, including:problems arising in the context of the Nice Charter;delivering 'equality' at the workplace under the new EU legal framework;the crisis facing workers' participation in practice;the prospects for trans-national collective bargaining;employment-related aspects of human rights under the ECHR; and,attempts to establish effective protections in relation to the working environment. Invaluable appendices include a report, as presented by the late Marco Biagi, of a high level group on reform of the European labour market; the text of the Social Policy Agenda, as approved at the Nice Summit of 2000; and the Commission's 'scoreboard' on the implementation of the Social Agenda as of 2002.With its down-to-earth analysis of the current status of the 'floor of rights' in the European work environment, The Changing Face of European Labour Law and Social Policy will be of inestimable value to all practitioners and scholars seeking to improve the quality of life for Europe's working population and the quality of regulation at the disposal of those charged with confronting the new challenges to social policy resulting from the radical transformation of Europe's economy and society.

Employment, Trade Unionism, and Class
Employment, Trade Unionism, and Class

Author: Gregoris Ioannou

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-07-18

Total Pages: 138

ISBN-13: 0429632126

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The economic crisis has brought about a watershed in institutional, political, and social relations, reshaping the labour market and the class structure in southern Europe. This book provides a critical comparative assessment of the dynamics of change in the employment field, focusing on Spain, Greece, and Cyprus. The book assesses how the liberalization and deregulation processes and the promotion of market-enhancing reforms progressed in three different national settings, identifying the forces, agents, contexts, and mechanisms shaping the employment and industrial relations systems. The comparative perspective used deciphers the interplay of external and internal dynamics in the restructuring of the labour field in Southern Europe, examining austerity and its contestation in connection with prevailing societal ideologies and class shifts. The first part of the book sets the theoretical and historical context, the second is comprised of three empirical national case studies, and the third discusses comparatively the handling of the crisis, its impact, and its legacy from the standpoint of a decade later. The book presents differences in industrial relations systems, trade union forms, and class composition dynamics, accounting for the development of the crisis and the reshaping of the employment field after one decade of crisis. It will be of value to researchers, academics, professionals, and students working on issues of employment and industrial relations, labour market and labour law, political economy and class structure, as well as those interested in the contemporary society and economy of southern Europe in general, and Spain, Greece, and Cyprus in particular.

Trade unions for a change of course in Europe
Trade unions for a change of course in Europe

Author: Kowalsky W. and Scherrer P.

Publisher: ETUI

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 2874522295

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In the wake of the financial and economic crisis, the trade unions face unprecedented challenges. While the European powers that be are blatantly coordinating the advent of national and European austerity policies, entailing drastic consequences for workers and the weaker members of society, the trade unions are set to mobilize their forces. The authors describe and illustrate various facets of this new situation. What role is played by economic governance? Does co-determination still have a chance? Is belief in market forces already firmly entrenched or can ways still be found of strengthening social rights? Do the European umbrella organisations pay obeisance to the official European bodies or are they mobilizing to bring about a serious change of course, to find the road to an alternative Europe?