Transfer stimulates dialogue between the European trade union movement and the academic and research community. It contributes research findings on issues of strategic relevance for trade unions, in particular with regard to developments at the European level. Transfer publishes original peer-reviewed research on issues such as new developments in industrial relations, social policy, and labour market developments.
Volume 11 Issue 3, Autumn 2005
Sectoral social dialogue was until recently very much overshadowed in the research world by its inter-professional counterpart. This lack of interest is all the more surprising when considering that core collective negotiations in many Member States actually take place at sectoral level. This academic imbalance has started to rectify itself, with more and more quantitative and qualitative research that deals with the nature, outputs and the potential of negotiations between EU-level sectoral social partners. This edition of Transfer aims to consolidate 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. Eight years after the Commission’s Communication that allowed for the establishment of formal sectoral social dialogue committees, various authors evaluate developments to date.
