European Union - European Industrial Relations?

This article discusses the possibility of a new European-level of industrial relations, which would be different from the current national level. The article discusses the impact of the Social Chapter to the Maastricht Treaty, which created a new institutional framework within which European-level employers and trade unions can negotiate.

Industrial relations has traditionally been a national affair, characterized by distinct local laws, practices and cultures. The process of European integration, exemplified by the Single Market Programme, the Maastricht Treaty and the imminent prospect of Economic Monetary Union, has created a framework within which national practices have been exposed to growing cross-border influences - including European Union legislation requiring European Works Councils to be set up in large transnational firms. Might European integration create the basis for a new distinctly European-level of industrial relations? And what impact would this have on exisitng national systems? This volume explores the prospects for the emergence of a distinctly European pattern of industrial relations, in which the European-level organizations representing employers and trade unions gain in importance vis-a-vis their national organisations. In particular, individual contributions analyze the impact of the Social Chapter to the Maastricht Treaty, which created a new institutional framework within which European-level employers and trade unions can negotiate.