Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Section I Labour law and Europe
- Section II The structure of European labour law
- 8 The institutional architecture of the European social model
- 9 A framework of principles and fundamental rights for European collective labour law
- 10 A framework of principles and fundamental rights for European individual employment law
- 11 The European Court of Justice, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European social model
- 12 General principles of enforcement of European labour law
- 13 Administrative enforcement of European labour law
- 14 Implementation and enforcement of European labour law and employment policy through the social partners at national and EU levels
- 15 Individual judicial enforcement of European labour law
- 16 Euro-litigation: collective judicial enforcement of European labour law
- 17 The European social dialogue: from dynamism to benign neglect 1993–2008
- 18 External and internal scrutiny of the democratic legitimacy of the European social dialogue
- 19 Threats and challenges to and the future of the European social dialogue
- Section III The futures of European labour law
- Index
- References
17 - The European social dialogue: from dynamism to benign neglect 1993–2008
from Section II - The structure of European labour law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Section I Labour law and Europe
- Section II The structure of European labour law
- 8 The institutional architecture of the European social model
- 9 A framework of principles and fundamental rights for European collective labour law
- 10 A framework of principles and fundamental rights for European individual employment law
- 11 The European Court of Justice, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European social model
- 12 General principles of enforcement of European labour law
- 13 Administrative enforcement of European labour law
- 14 Implementation and enforcement of European labour law and employment policy through the social partners at national and EU levels
- 15 Individual judicial enforcement of European labour law
- 16 Euro-litigation: collective judicial enforcement of European labour law
- 17 The European social dialogue: from dynamism to benign neglect 1993–2008
- 18 External and internal scrutiny of the democratic legitimacy of the European social dialogue
- 19 Threats and challenges to and the future of the European social dialogue
- Section III The futures of European labour law
- Index
- References
Summary
The dominant feature of European collective industrial relations is the social dialogue:
The social dialogue is rooted in the history of the European continent, and this distinguishes the Union from most other regions of the world.
The European social dialogue is a process which stipulates a relationship between collective bargaining and law specific to the EU. Social dialogue does not simply equate with collective bargaining. Collective bargaining takes many forms in different Member States. Besides bilateral bargaining, the social dialogue may adopt the form of tripartite structures, assume roles for public authorities and/or establish mechanisms for representation of the unorganised. Similarly, social dialogue at EU level implies a flexible relationship between social dialogue at all levels and Community and national institutions. The relationship is contingent upon national traditions of social dialogue within Member States. European social dialogue must be extremely flexible in its application within the context of Community social policy.
Collective bargaining and social dialogue within Member States is regarded as reflecting a balance of power between labour and capital, exercised traditionally through industrial conflict. The Treaty does not address even the possibility of industrial conflict at EU level. Indeed, Article 137(5) EC seems explicitly to aim to exclude regulatory competences on the right to strike. The logic to this auto-exclusion is, perhaps, that the current state of EU-level social dialogue is qualitatively different in that the normal means of pressure – strikes – are not (yet) operational at Community level.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- European Labour Law , pp. 519 - 562Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009