Challenges in European employment relations. Employment regulation, trade union organization, equality, flexicurity, training and new approaches to pay

Contents:

1. Challenges of European Employment Relations - Linda Dickens
2. Labour Law and Economic Development: Calibrating and Comparing Regulatory Regimes - John Armour (et al.)
3. UK Trade Unions and the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations - Mark Hall (et al.)
4. The Role of European Works Councils in the Internationalization of the Labour Movement - Valeria Pulignano
5. Flexicurity and HRM for Older Workers in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Belgium - Thomas Bredgaard and Frank Tros
6. Strong Trade Unions Meet EEC Workers: Locating, Monitoring and Organizing EEC Workers in the Danish Construction Sector - Søren Andersen and Jens Hansen
7. Gender: A Relevant Element of Management Culture? Equal Opportunities between Diversity Management, Regulation and ‘Good Will’ - Alexandra Scheele
8. Union Mergers and Gender Democracy - Anne McBride and Jeremy Waddington
9. Leadership for Change: Making Gender Equality in the Newly Merged Danish Union 3F - Lise Hansen
10. How Far Can a Minimum Wage Compensate for the Decline in Collective Bargaining? The Challenges Facing Germany and Britain - Anna Skarpelis and William Brown
11. The Management of Variable Pay in Banking: Forms and Rationale in Four European Countries - James Arrowsmith (et al.)
12. Vocational Training and its Links with Education and the Labour Market in Five Countries - Gerhard Bosch and Jean CharestAbstract:

Has European economic and market integration curtailed the autonomy of national industrial relations actors and institutions? Or has it reinforced their roles in securing much-needed economic adjustment? This book offers a comparative perspective on these questions, drawing on empirical research on changing conditions within and beyond the EU.

The book builds on papers presented at the 8th European Regional Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association, held in the UK in September 2007.

With detailed attention to such pervasive factors as the consequences of EU enlargement, the shift from manufacturing to services, changes in the gender composition and demographic profile of the labour force, and the growing influence of multinational companies, the authors address such issues as the following:

• response of national employment regulatory traditions to globalization, privatization, outsourcing and budgetary pressures
• emergence of new forms of competitive advantage for both employers and employees
• impact of EU-mandated information and consultation mechanisms
• possibility of international union action and transnational solidarity
• ‘flexicurity’ and the changing demographics of the labour force
• gender democracy in trade unions
• trade union mergers
• statutory minimum conditions as an alternative to collective bargaining
• regulation or culture change to promote equality;
• treatment of posted and migrant workers within increasingly transnational labour markets
• growth in variable pay systems
• possible rebirth of vocational training systems and apprenticeships.