The Struggle for a Social Europe

This book provides a detailed investigation and comparison of the trade unions of five EU member states: Austria, Britain, France, Germany and Sweden, and their positions on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Several European-level trade union organisations are also examined. The focus of this project, however, is not limited to EMU as a case study. Rather, EMU is regarded as a vehicle to assess trade unions' options and possibilities to respond to global structural change in general and to participate in the formation of the future economic-political system of the EU in particular. Two principal hypotheses are investigated. Firstly, that a labour movement's position on EMU depends crucially on its length and degree of exposure to the competitive pressures of globalisation, and secondly, that those trade unions which lose influence within the domestic institutional set-up are most in favour of the establishment of an industrial relations system and social regulation at the European level to counter global pressures. By contrast, unions which continue to enjoy a strong position at the national level, are less likely to engage in European co-operation.

ISBN 0719072522   Pages 264 ISBN13 9780719072529 (What's this?)   Volumes 001 Publisher Manchester University Press   Weight (grammes) 454 Imprint Manchester University Press   Published in Manchester Format Hardback   Series title Critical Labour Movement Studies Publication date 30 Sep 2006   Height (mm) 234 Library of Congress HD   Width (mm) 156 DEWEY 320.94   Spine width (mm) 29 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Undergraduate, Professional / Scholarly

1		Trade unions, EMU and neo-liberal restructuring in Europe		3
2		Transnational restructuring and the conceptualisation of labour as an international actor		24
3		Globalisation and the transnationalisation of the social relations of production		47
4		Globalisation and the transnationalisation of national forms of state		68
5		Trade union confederations and the attempt at coherence		103
6		Transnational social forces of labour and their support for EMU		132
7		National social forces of labour : the reluctance to engage in European co-operation		153
8		European trade unions and EMU : the emergence of labour as a regional actor?		177
9		Trade unions and the future of the European model of capitalism		199

0;This is an extraordinarily important book 1; path-breaking in its coverage, rigorous in its scholarship, and sophisticated in its theorizing. It turns the spotlight of our attention onto institutions and social forces normally disregarded in the mainstream literature on European integration. By bringing the trade unions of 5 major European countries into such sharp focus, Andreas Bieler reminds us of the crucial role of organized labour in the shaping of a social Europe. It is a reminder that is long overdue. Clearly structured and tightly argued around a set of persuasive theses, this book will be a valuable point of reference for the many scholars and political activists now seeking to tame the neo-liberal excesses of an unregulated global capitalism.1;--David Coates, Wake Forest University

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