The Library
Building social partnership? Strengths and shortcomings of the European Employment Strategy
Tools
Casey, Bernard H. (2005) Building social partnership? Strengths and shortcomings of the European Employment Strategy. Transfer: European review of labour and research, Volume 11 (Number 1). pp. 45-63. doi:10.1177/102425890501100106 ISSN 1024-2589.
Research output not available from this repository.
Request-a-Copy directly from author or use local Library Get it For Me service.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/102425890501100106
Abstract
The European Employment Strategy is now seven years old. Whilst its contribution to improving labour market performance has been evaluated, less attention has been paid to the manner in which the EES has worked, in particular the ways in which policy has been formulated and implemented. In particular, there has been little investigation of the extent to which one of the stated objectives of the strategy – the improved involvement of the social partners in the formulation and imple-mentation of policy – has been achieved. This paper argues that in many respects this objective has not been met. Even in countries where social partnership structures appear relatively well developed, the Luxembourg process has added little – in part because it is seen to be concerned with technical matters. Employment policy is ‘settled’ elsewhere. In addition, realisation of those elements of the strategy where social partner participation is most critical has often been frustrated by the lack of mechanisms to implement commitments made at the centre at places of work. Moreover, by subscribing to the strategy, social partners were also subscribing to a wider approach to economic policy – an approach that was scarcely compatible with the approach advocated by trade unions. Accordingly, the conclusion has to be that the Luxembourg process failed to develop social partnership. An exception might be the closer working together of the European-level social partner associations. However, their involvement in the strategy has been little noticed by their constituents, and it might even be argued to have encouraged elitism rather than to have promoted greater participation in policy-making.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) |
||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Institute for Employment Research | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | European Union -- Labor policy, European Union -- Labor supply, European Union -- Manpower policy, European Union -- Labor unions | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Transfer: European review of labour and research | ||||
Publisher: | Sage Publications Ltd. | ||||
ISSN: | 1024-2589 | ||||
Official Date: | 2005 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Volume: | Volume 11 | ||||
Number: | Number 1 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 18 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 45-63 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1177/102425890501100106 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||
Funder: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC), L216 252 008 ‘National Action Plans |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |