European Works Councils: experiences and perspectives in European Union – European industrial relations, p234-51

European Union - European industrial relations? Global challenges, national developments and transnational dynamics:
Industrial relations have traditionally been a national affair, characterised by distinct local laws, practices and cultures. The process of European integration, exemplified by the Single Market Programme, the Maastricht Treaty and the imminent prospect of Economic and Monetary Union, has created a framework within which national practices have been exposed to growing cross-border influences - including EU legislation requiring European Works Councils to be set up in large transnational firms. Might European integration create the basis for a new distinctly European-level of industrial relations? And what impact would this have on existing national systems?

'European Union - European industrial relations?' explores the prospects for the emergence of a distinctly European pattern of industrial relations, in which the European-level organisations representing employers and trade unions gain in importance vis-à-vis their national organisations. In particular, individual contributions analyse the impact of the 'Social Chapter' to the Maastricht Treaty, which created a new institutional framework within which European-level employers and trade unions can negotiate and agree European social policy. The study also considers the likelihood of European-level collective bargaining, and what effect mandatory European Works Councils might have on existing national systems of employee representation. A final section offers a trilateral comparison between industrial relations in Europe, North America and Japan.

Lecher, Wolfgang E./ Platzer, Hans-Wolfgang (eds)
European Union - European industrial relations? Global challenges, national developments and transnational dynamics
Routledge Studies in the European Economy

Routledge, 1998
ISBN: 0-415-15872-9
Price: £50.00