The representation of the labour world in national and European institutions. The role of the national and European economic and social committees and of other dialogue structures : study

The role, representative function and representativeness in practice of what are referred to as "intermediate bodies" are central to the current debate, at European and national level, on labour law and industrial relations. These subjects are also of general interest, however, shaped as they are by the underlying framework of "social" constitutional democracies and legal-regulatory systems that have given rise to a model that is consistent with them and, for present purposes, prioritises a cooperative approach to social conflict, including by means of consultation and/or worker participation in the management of the firm (Rhine capitalism).

The austerity measures imposed by the European Union's troika to tackle the crisis bring into question not only the standards of protection under regulations on labour relations, but also internal systems of collective bargaining, which have undergone a trend towards decentralisation within companies and a decline in the representativeness of existing fora and organisations because of the convergence of models, with the Rhine model of capitalism now resembling the US model.