Fresh concern over social dialogue

Date: 18/06/1998

By Simon Coss

EUROPE's bosses insist they are still committed to the EU's social dialogue system despite conspicuously failing to sign up to a key pre-Cardiff summit statement on unemployment.

Shortly before this week's meeting of Union leaders in the Welsh capital, two of the EU's three 'social partners' - the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the CEEP, representing public sector employees - issued a joint statement supporting the 'European employment strategy' agreed by EU leaders at last November's jobs summit in Luxembourg.

But in a departure from normal practice, the Union's third social partner, the private sector employers' federation UNICE, did not add its name.

Critics argue this is yet another indication of the organisation's growing scepticism about the usefulness of the social dialogue at Union level. The social dialogue procedure was incorporated into EU legislation as part of the Maastricht Treaty's social chapter, allowing trade union and employers' organisations to draft many of the Union's labour laws. But some claim that UNICE has begun using the process to delay rather than frame legislation.

Following a recent crisis meeting between the social partners sparked by UNICE's refusal to enter into negotiations on workers' rights in national companies, secretary-general Dirk Hudig argued that most really useful worker-employer talks had to be conducted in individual member states as labour market conditions varied so greatly between countries.

Asked whether the recent joint statement might give the impression that the social dialogue was going through a difficult patch, an ETUC official replied: "I hope that UNICE will get the same message that you get."

The employers' federation seems unperturbed, claiming it was not asked to sign up to the joint statement. "I wouldn't read too much into this," said Hudig. "The parties in the social dialogue are free agents and I think it is important that we have that feeling."