European Trade Union Institute (ETUI)

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has instituted an award in order to honour the outstanding and most dynamic scientific work and its high relevance for the European trade union movement of the late Labour Law Professor Brian Bercusson: the ETUC – Brian Bercusson Award. With this Award, the ETUC and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) support academic research that deepen understanding of and promote transnational workers’ rights in Europe. The focus on European Labour Law shall raise awareness about new scientific research in academia as well as among practitioners in the European Union in order to encourage scientific, legal and political actions towards the further development, full recognition and better implementation of trade union- and workers’ rights.
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(August 2010)

ETUI has 1 new job vacancy. Please apply before 25 August 2010.
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(July 2010)

This year’s European Panel conference, organized by the Hans-Böckler and Friedrich-Ebert Foundations and the ETUI in cooperation with the German and European Trade Union Confederations will take place on 14 and 15 September in Hotel Radisson Blu Royal in Brussels. Distinguished speakers will focus on the EU2020 strategy of the European Commission and subsequent panels will look into questions such as: Is the EU’s Europe 2020 strategy laying the foundations not only for an economic recovery, but also for adequate employee participation? How credible are the sustainability policies and what impacts are they expected to have on employment? Are initiatives to reduce youth unemployment and precarious employment relationships likely to succeed despite the recession? European Panel 2010 presents topics for future European debate and provides a forum for exchanging ideas with other participants from all over Europe.
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(August 2010)

The impact of the Lisbon Treaty on Social Europe will very much depend on the political processes of the European and national institutions but also on the commitment of trade unions, workers’ representatives and citizens to influence such processes in order to defend their rights. In this respect the ETUI organised a course for trade union representatives on ‘The Lisbon Treaty and its impact on trade unions and workers’ rights” which was held in Brussels on 8-9 July 2010. 25 participants representing 13 trade union confederations from 8 EU countries and the European Transport Workers’ Federation were offered the possibility to gain a better understanding of the Treaty and its impact on trade unions and workers’ rights, to become aware of the ETUC views on the Treaty, to exchange information about national trade union activities and to consider trade union strategies for multiplying national and sectoral activities on the Treaty.
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(July 2010)

This article, published in the current issue of Social Europe Journal, briefly describes union initiatives aiming at the transnational coordination of wage-setting and the problems they encounter, and looks at the macroeconomic imbalances within the euro area and how they are linked to wage policies. The authors – ETUI researchers Vera Glassner and Andrew Watt –also present possible new orientations for the Europe-wide coordination of collective bargaining – in particular wage-setting – against the background of the economic crisis.
(July 2010)

In the aftermath of the most serious economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression, governments of most EU countries are confronted with both substantial fiscal deficits and high and rising public debt levels. A key policy concern in the coming years is therefore how to reduce both deficits and debt levels in such a way as not to endanger (but rather as far as possible to contribute to) the achievement of other important policy goals, notably: economic growth, employment, and correcting current account imbalances. This ETUI Policy Brief European Economic and Employment Policy, written by Franz Nauschnigg, draws on both theoretical and empirical considerations to propose growth friendly fiscal consolidation strategies in Europe.
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(July 2010)

The economic crisis which began in most European countries in mid-2008 has had severe effects on labour markets. Although no country has escaped the crisis, the extent of output losses and the number of jobs lost, as well as the resulting rise in unemployment, vary considerably between countries. In order to shed light on this issue, this paper examines empirically how the current economic crisis has affected the different European economies in terms of the impact on output, and the knock-on effects, influenced by the specific institutional frameworks, on employment and unemployment.
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(July 2010)