The workings of industrial relations are constantly evolving. In this blog piece, Eurofound authors Christian Welz and Ricardo Rodriguez Contreras discuss a tool that Eurofound has developed to enable this process of change to be monitored and analysed, enabling stakeholders in Member States to assess the functioning of industrial relations within their country and to compare it with others.
Social dialogue is under great strain throughout the EU because of the economic crisis, with Eastern Europe particularly hard hit, says a report presented by the European Commission yesterday (11 April).
European Commission - Press Release - European Commission MEMO Brussels, 11 April 2013 (see IP/13/321) What is "social dialogue"? In general, "social dialogue" refers to discussions, consultations, negotiations and joint actions involving organisations representing the two sides of industry (employers and workers). It can take place at all levels (company, sectoral, regional, national, European) and either
The on-going economic crisis poses a serious challenge to the dialogue between workers' and employers' representatives and governments according to a report published by the European Commission.
In this year’s November session, the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association – the supervisory body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) that examines cases concerning employers’ and trade unions’ rights to organize, collective bargaining and social dialogue – examined an extensive deficit of social dialogue in austerity measures taken in Greece and highlighted the need for ILO assistance in the country.