3/2005: Sectoral social dialogue

Description

Although core collective negotiations in many Member States take place at the sectoral level, only recently has there been an increase in research into negotiations between the EU-level sectoral social partners. This issue of Transfer aims to consolidate the latest thinking on the sectoral social dialogue, by bringing together quantitative and qualitative research on the process, products and impacts of this nascent form of European industrial relations. The issue publishes the results of a major quantitative analysis of the 353 agreements adopted by the EU-level sectoral social partners since 1978 and 31 sectoral dialogue committees established since 1998. A number of sector-specific reports from a diverse selection of sectors ranging from the manufacturing heartland of industrial relations (e.g. shipbuilding, chemicals) to the different strands of the service economy (e.g. commerce, finance, private security) and public services present qualititative perceptions of the social dialogue which is analysed in turn by its proponents and its critics. In addition, various articles consider the interaction of the sectoral social dialogue with other processes and actors, such as the interprofessional social dialogue, the European Employment Strategy, the coordination of sectoral collective bargaining strategies, relations with civil society and the link with emerging forms of local 'societal' dialogue and territorial social dialogue.

This issue of Transfer provides a stimulating and innovative overview of the development of sectoral social dialogue. The various articles identify the challenges and opportunities faced by trade unions, employers and policy-makers in making it a fully functioning process providing fruit for workers and employment in Europe.

Coordinators

Table of contents

Editorial

Main articles

• Philippe Pochet: Sectoral social dialogue? A quantitative analysis
• Otto Jacobi and Judith Kirton-Darling: Creating perspectives, negotiating social Europe

• Sector reports: sectoral social dialogue in practice

  • Annette Holm Mikkelsen: Social dialogue committee in the banking sector
  • Jan Furstenborg: Social dialogue in retail and commerce
  • Jan Cremers: Social dialogue in the European construction industry
  • Reinhard Reibsch: Social dialogues in the EMCEF industries
  • Sabrina de Marchi: European social dialogue in the private security service sector
  • Richard Pond: Development of social dialogue in the public sector
  • Kathleen Kollewe: The sub-sectoral social dialogue in the European shipbuilding industry
  • Christina Colclough: The sectoral social dialogue - telecommunications

• Berndt Keller: Europeanisation at sectoral level. Empirical results and missing perspectives
• Janine Goetschy: The European social dialogue in the 1990s: institutional innovations and new paradigms
• Paul Marginson and Franz Traxler: After enlargement: preconditions and prospects for bargaining coordination
• Jean-Yves Boulin and Ulrich Mückenberger: Is the societal dialogue at the local level the future of social dialogue?
• Eberhard Schmidt: Coalition building: trade union dialogues with civil society

News and background

• 1985-2005: Celebrating 20 years of EU social dialogue, but what about its future?
  (Stefan Clauwaert)
• The American lesson: problems faced by US trade unionism
  (Savino Pezzotta)

Book reviews

• Youcef Ghellab and Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead (eds.)
  S ectoral Social Dialogue in Future EU Member States: The Weakest Link
  (Hedva Sarfati)
• Anil Verma and Thomas A. Kochan (eds.)
  Unions in the 21st century. An international perspective
  (Otto Jacobi)
• Eckhard Hein, T. Niechoj, T. Schulten und A. Truger (eds.)
  Europas Wirtschaftgestalten. Makroökonomische Koordinierung und die Rolle der Gewerkschaften(Torsten Müller and Stefan Rüb)
• Torsten Müller, Hans-Wolfgang Platzer and Stefan Rüb
  Globale Arbeitsbeziehungen in globalen Konzernen?
  (Marco Hauptmeier)
• Michael Gold (ed.)
  New frontiers ofdemocratic participation at work
  (Otto Jacobi)
• Paul Marginson and Keith Sisson
  European integration and industrial relations. Multi-level governance in the making
  (Otto Jacobi)

Reports

• Transatlantic Social Dialogue, HBS, Cornell, ETUI-REHS, FESThird Annual Meeting, 20-21 May 2005 in Berlin, hosted by IG Metall
  (Ian Greer)