The European Trade Union Institute

The central questions and main contextual background explored by this year’s issue of Benchmarking are, at their core, fairly straightforward. Europe is at a crossroads, painfully navigating four transitions at once: a (perhaps less than obvious) economic policy transition best exemplified by the debates surrounding the EU economic governance framework (COM(2022) 583 final); a geopolitical transition, increasingly shaped by the ‘open strategic autonomy’ debate (Akgüç 2021) and, of course, by the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine; and the two more readily acknowledged green and digital transitions. It is, however, becoming increasingly clear, as explored in greater detail in the following chapters, that these four transitions imply important trade-offs and have significant ramifications for the social dimension of the European project and for the livelihoods of European workers. These consequences are currently being ignored by the principal institutional actors that are shaping them and that, at times, have conflicting priorities. 

This policy brief analyses the willingness among union members in 14 European countries – irrespective of whether they are new members or not – to carry out small tasks for their union. The main argument running through is that there is indeed a critical mass of members willing to do so. This implies that unions could reckon on a larger pool of members than activists alone in supporting union work and building more vibrant organisations.

Belgium is one of the few EU-15 countries with no system of involving employee representatives in the strategic management of a company. The post-second World War social pact created extensive institutions for information, consultation and collective bargaining at the company, sector and country level but did not envisage, for example, employees on company boards. At the same time, one of the two large trade union confederations (the ACV-CSC), with its historical links to the long-time dominant Christian democratic party, has been in favour of such a system for a long time. 

In this working paper, the post-war views of the ACV-CSC on workers on the board and economic democracy are presented and discussed. 

This paper presents the results of a mapping of social dialogue and collective bargaining experiences in the European platform economy. Building on a descriptive analysis of the initiatives, the report provides insights into collective bargaining strategies and factors that have led platforms to negotiate. 

The Education Department of the European Trade Union Institute is organising an online course entitled “Digital facilitation in synchronous events”. This training will take place from 8 May to 2 June, with a pre-engagement phase starting on April 17.

Target participants:

Trainers, facilitators of online events and courses, Eurotrainers and other colleagues working on training development within their European Trade Union organisations.

Until recently, the discussion of social welfare systems in Europe was disconnected from ecological concerns and policies. The relevant objectives, instruments and actors were largely different. Environmental and climate science, on the one hand, and the analysis and theoretical foundations of welfare systems, on the other, emerged and developed in disparate silos. While the welfare state was designed to reduce social risks and ensure (relative) stability of income and societies, it was also created as an institution that favours economic growth and the maintenance of income and consumption. Its aim was not to change behaviour but to maintain it, with a focus on redistribution. With environmental inequalities increasingly embedded in social ones, environmental policies are becoming social policies, and vice-versa.

The labour market position of the lower skilled is increasingly under pressure in most high income countries. Their bargaining position is declining under the twin pressures of globalisation and technological change; and they are at risk of losing access to better positions as firms’ pay and conditions arrangements increasingly drift apart. These rising between-firm differences partly come about through the increasing separation of lower skilled workers into lower-paying firms with worse conditions, thereby reducing their opportunities further. One mechanism driving this is the process of (domestic) outsourcing where main firms take certain tasks that are seen as non-core out of their payroll, instead purchasing those same tasks from another official employer while being able to retain control. Workers who see their jobs outsourced generally have to work under worse conditions and for lower pay.

Online labour platforms are redefining the world of work, but little is known even now about the drivers of worker engagement in this type of activity. Earlier studies focused on individual preferences and job characteristics such as flexibility or low entry barriers, but the relative role of such pull factors is limited given widespread worker discontent and generally precarious and unstable conditions, in many respects similar to the low-wage and informal sector.