For many years, in most European countries, the public sector has been under pressure to reduce expenditure and increase efficiency. Long-term pressures on the public sector, and especially the recent austerity drives following from the crisis, have led to reforms and cuts in public budgets with... Find out more

The participation of social partners in the management of socio-economic policies has been a stable feature of European politics in recent decades, having been defined as one of the key aspects of the European Social Model. Yet the role of concertation has changed during different cycles. This book... Find out more

This volume presents an analysis of wage developments and wage bargaining practices since the mid-1990s in 17 European countries. The introductory chapter provides an overview of some of the main trends across Europe with a focus on wage moderation, the minimum wage and the decentralisation of... Find out more

The liberalisation and privatisation of public sector activities have been the subject of heated debate since the 1970s. The chapters in this volume contribute to this debate by analysing the effects of liberalisation and privatisation on productivity and service provision, employment, wages and... Find out more

In recent years, throughout Europe, increasing concerns have been raised about the relocation of production and jobs. What is the extent of relocation and what are its qualitative impacts? Away from the spotlight of individual cases and anecdotal evidence, `relocation`, proves to be a complex... Find out more

This paper is an extract from the publication Collective bargaining on working time. Recent European experiences. Find out more

The regulation of working time has historically been at the centre of the labour movement's struggle and in recent decades working time has also been a core issue for trade unions. In the 1990s and early 2000s, much of the working time debate was about labour's goal of working time reduction, the... Find out more