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 14 Issue 2, Summer 2008
Six years ago we published an issue of Transfer on ‘Changing employment relations in private-sector services: challenges and opportunities’ (Transfer 3/2002). The issue addressed different experiences of liberalisation, in particular the shift in employment to private sector services and the resulting challenges faced by trade unions. In November 2007, the research institutes ETUI-REHS and SALTSA and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) organised in Brussels a conference An alternative to the market – The social, political and economic role of public services in Europe, the aims of which were to underline the vital economic and social contribution of public services, to challenge assumptions underlying current EU policies and to identify issues for future research programmes.
