‘Euro-bargaining’ and the cross-border dimension
In March 2007, Total, the French petrochemicals multinational, and European-level trade union organisations signed a Europe-wide agreement on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the areas around Total’s production sites. This is the third European accord to be concluded at Total.
Total is pioneering a form of European-level bargaining, and so far few companies have gone down the same path. However, a glance at the contents of this month’s issue of European Employment Review highlights that nowadays there is little in the field of employment and industrial relations that does not have some transnational aspect. To take a few examples:
>> EU-level trade union and employers’ organisations have just reached an agreement on preventing workplace violence and harassment, which is to be implemented across Europe by 2010;
>> UK unions Amicus and the Transport and General Workers’ Union (now merged as Unite) and North America’s United Steelworkers (USW) have announced the first moves in a merger process to create a transatlantic super-union with 3.4 million members; and
>> unions from around the world met recently to call for international regulation of the rising tide of private-equity investment, which they see as a threat to their members’ jobs and employment conditions.
In this context of “internationalisation”, it is more important than ever for practitioners, policymakers and researchers to keep abreast of developments across Europe.
Mark Carley, Editor, European Employment Review |
