Ever since the 'golden age' of labour peaked around 1970, organised labour has been progressively weakened in Europe and elsewhere. The end of the era of welfare state expansion and increasing levels of social security constitute a potential threat to social cohesion in Europe. Concern about labour interests and social inclusion is very much an issue in the Europe of the early 21st century. This is the main theme of this volume, which includes original and interesting articles dealing with conditions and developments in trade union organisation and conduct in the representation of workers' interests. Industrial and occupational changes have not only threatened the traditional strongholds of trade unionism but also compelled unions to apply new strategies in representing their interests. Another focus of the book is political regulation of the labour market: the relevant articles highlight the failures and successes of the European Employment Strategy with special emphasis on activation schemes and overall strategies for establishing a shared commitment in Europe to achieving sufficient competitiveness by means of a flexible labour market.

Autorentext

The Editors: Jens Lind is Associate Professor at Aalborg University. Herman Knudsen is Associate Professor at Aalborg University. Henning Jørgensen is Director of the European Trade Union Institute, Brussels.

Klappentext

Ever since the golden age of labour peaked around 1970, organised labour has been progressively weakened in Europe and elsewhere. The end of the era of welfare state expansion and increasing levels of social security constitute a potential threat to social cohesion in Europe. Concern about labour interests and social inclusion is very much an issue in the Europe of the early 21 century. This is the main theme of this volume, which includes original and interesting articles dealing with conditions and developments in trade union organisation and conduct in the representation of workers interests. Industrial and occupational changes have not only threatened the traditional strongholds of trade unionism but also compelled unions to apply new strategies in representing their interests. Another focus of the book is political regulation of the labour market: the relevant articles highlight the failures and successes of the European Employment Strategy with special emphasis on activation schemes and overall strategies for establishing a shared commitment in Europe to achieving sufficient competitiveness by means of a flexible labour market.

Inhalt

Contents: Jens Lind: Introduction Herman Knudsen: Representation and Participation - Unilateralism or Bipartism? Richard Hyman: Solidarity For Ever? Harriet Bradley/Geraldine Healy/Nupur Mukherjee: Including Minority Ethnic Women - Trade Union Strategies in the UK Peter Leisink: The Information Industry: Towards Post-fordist Employment Relations? Steen Scheuer: Extra Holiday Entitlements in Denmark - Towards a Transformation of Collective Bargaining? Daryl D Art/Thomas Turner: Union Growth and Recognition. The Irish Case in a Comparative Context Jeremy Waddington: Representation and Participation in Multinational Companies. The Perspective of European Works Council Representatives from Six Countries Peter Nielsen: Employee Involvement and Participation in Knowledge Organisations Henning Jørgensen: Labour Market and Employment Policies Activated? Amparo Serrano Pascual: Are European Activation Policies Converging? Jean-Claude Barbier: Systems of Social Protection in Europe. Two Contrasted Paths to Activation, and Maybe a Third Henning Jørgensen: Make Contacts - Not Contracts! Better Development of Labour Markets through Corporatist Steering and Accountability, Illustrated by Danish Labour Market and Employment Policies Thomas Bredgaard: Similar Labels, Different Contents. A Comparison of Corporate Social Responsibility in Different Contexts Jens Lind: Labour Market Policy in Denmark - A European Success Story? David Etherington: The Politics of the Jobs Gab and Activation. Future Directions for Labour Market Policy in the UK and Denmark Helge Albrechtsen: Do We Need the Unemployed as a Fourth Industrial Relations Actor? The Case of the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany and Denmark within the Framework of the European Employment Strategy Mikkel Mailand/Søren Kaj Andersen: Social Partnership for Inclusion. Theoretical Understandings and Empirical Typologies.