bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The European Works Council: an institution yet to be established?
Authors: Bélier Gilles 
Published: January 2010

This article examines areas of concern for unions as the European Works Council (EWC) directive is incorporated into national law, and they prepare for- the business of actually setting up the councils. The timing of EWC meetings; the information they have access to ; and their impact on existing consultation procedures - these and other areas may yet cause problems for the unions. French company councils could be especially under threat. How EWCs are made up is a matter for negotiation, while the composition of French councils is part of national labour law. These national stipulations may clash with aspects of the EWC directive. This example shows the delicate balance that needs to be struck between the role of local representative bodies and the strategic nature of the EWC. However this is to be done, unions would do well, the article says, to heed the advice of the ETUC - don't wait for the laws incorporating the EWC to be put in place; start talking now.
Directive 94/45/EC - outlook for application in companies
Authors: Richard Olivier 
Published: January 2010

Europe's employers have always opposed the European Works Council Directive, and they still do, says UNICE's Olivier Richard. But now that it has been adopted, it has to be applied. The way forward for employers is to go for voluntary agreements with the unions that will satisfy the directive's requirements, and avoid the imposition of a single consultative model. There is enough flexibility in the directive - thanks to the employers - to give negotiators room for manoeuvre. The three years allowed to set up voluntary deals should see some imaginative and innovative agreements that will benefit management and workers. But this flexibility has to kept to the fore; Mr. Richard adds a final warning to legislators, and to the working group set up by the commission to oversee the transposition of the directive into national law: their role should be to reduce sources of conflict, not to tighten up the directive.
Regulated deregulation - an option for Central and Eastern Europe
Authors: Lecher Wolfgang , Optenhögel Uwe 
Published: January 2010

This contribution assesses the process of deregulation as it has taken place to date in the most important countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs), with special reference to the social and labour components of the process and to trade union and indutrial relations developments. In the first instance, the authors employ descriptors appropriate for examination bf any system of labour relations, namely, solidarity and social justice; the bargaining culture inherited by the trade unions and their role as intermediary organisations and structures for the balancing of interests within society. Subsequently, in a second stage, an attempt is made to describe certain strategic areas for trade union policy in which appropriate action would best enable a comprehensive modernisation of labour relations, while at the same time maximising the CEECs' opportunities for integration within a future united Europe. The areas described are: the demise of the Fordist approach to labour via a process of systematic rationalisation; an integrated policy of poverty relief and social welfare; the shift towards a workplace-oriented trade union and collective bargaining policy; and the challenge facing the trade unions of organising the recruitment of new highly qualified and, in many cases, strongly individualised groups of workers, the "winners" of transformation, particularly those workers employed in the newly set up "joint ventures" . The name given to the approach thus described is the path of "regulated deregulation".
From golden age to crisis: patterns of stabilisation policy in Sweden and Finland compared Background: contrasts and parallels in policy developments
Authors: Pekkarinen Jukka 
Published: January 2010

This article examines the "Nordic model" of economic and social corporatism through a period of success and stability in the post-war period up until the mid-1970s, and the subsequent crises which were encountered. While basic features of the model can be found in all the Nordic countries (a tri-partite negotiating framework which seeks to reconcile competing pressures for competitiveness, internal stability and employment), the article argues that Keynesian style demand management was a relatively minor part of the system, although the state played an active role in economic matters. The article also explores the changes in economic management over time in the different Nordic countries, and with particular reference to Sweden and Finland examines the important differences in national approaches. The central purpose of this discussion is to throw light on whether the recent crises affecting the economies and labour markets of these countries are related to macro-economic policy failure alone, or whether a more permanent collapse of tripartite coordination has taken place.
The hidden agenda of post-war immigration: barriers to women's equal rights
Authors: Knocke Wuokko 
Published: January 2010

Economic and political realities in Europe are in a process of change from industrial mass production and growth to a pattern of jobs which require new skills in the shrinking industrial sector, in information technology and the expanding service sector. Politics at national level are declining in importance and are being replaced by politics decided at supranational level. Ongoing developments in EU member-states bear witness to the profound transformations in labour market conditions and job opportunities as a consequence of structural change and technological renewal. We can also see the changes in progress caused by the consolidation of the Single Market and the establishment of the European Union itself. While there is an awareness that these processes will affect many areas at national and European level, the consequences for the economy, for politics and not least for social conditions are still difficult to overlook. What will the Single Market imply for people and job opportunities? What will the changes mean for different groups or categories of people? What will, for example, the outcome be for the nearly 55 million women who are economically active, and for all those women who want to enter or reenter the labour market? Will all women be affected in the same way or will there be winners and losers? Is it at all correct to speak about women as a coherent category or will access to work and social rights depend on nationality, region, class, ethnic or racial categorisation? One of the most burning questions for immigrants and ethnic minorities today is whether EU-citizenship will define insiders and outsiders when it comes to equal rights and social protection. In many respects, both women and men are affected by discrimination, segregation, and the powerlessness and lack of choice that is part of being an immigrant. This paper will, however, focus on the particular barriers and obstacles to equal rights and freedoms encountered by immigrant and minority women in Europe. In order to locate women in the dynamics of post-WW II worker immigration, I shall start out with a brief look at the history of post-war worker recruitment and detail its hidden agenda of discrimination. Next, I shall discuss and analyse the adverse effects of immigration policies on women with regard to family reunion, residence rights, the right to work and to social protection, with examples from some major countries of immigration. Against this background, I shall argue that the situation and function of immigrant and ethnic minority women in European societies and labour markets have been largely determined by the receiving countries and their economic needs on the hand; and, on the other hand, by restrictions imposed on immigrant women's equal rights. I shall finally discuss current developments and future trends for women in the context of changing labour market needs.
Environmental taxes and unemployment in Europe
Authors: de Mooij Ruud 
Published: January 2010

A number of countries in the EU suffer from two major problems. First, the social and economic problems associated with high unemployment rates and, second, the degradation of natural environments. In the light of both of these problems, environmental tax reforms have been widely discussed in the EU. Indeed, some economists have argued that environmental tax reforms may contribute to reduce unemployment and, at the same time, improve the quality of the environment, thus yielding a so-called 'double dividend' . Other economists, however, have raised doubts on the double-dividend argument. In their view, such a tax reform is not likely to cut unemployment rates. This paper explains that this conflict among economists originates from the difference in methodology, namely, partial equilibrium vs. general equilibrium approaches. In particular, the double-dividend conclusion from the partial equilibrium approach may be misleading because, unlike the general equilibrium analysis, it ignores the interactions between markets. Although general equilibrium models have often been used to show that the double-dividend hypothesis may fail, they also provide insights that unemployment can fall due to an environmental tax reform. However, such a double dividend is typically associated with a shift in the income distribution from people outside the labor market towards the insiders. This change in the income distribution makes it very difficult politically to impose environmental taxes. Hence, concentration on the unemployment argument may frustrate the introduction of environmental taxes because the reduction in unemployment is typically associated with political tendencies due to a change in the income distribution. The best strategy to limit political obstacles seems to be one in which the income distribution is maintained. This can be achieved by using the revenues from environmental taxes to compensate people who bear the burden of the environmental taxes. Such a revenue-recycling strategy is generally different from one that concentrates on reducing unemployment.
Unemployment benefits between protection and promotion
Authors: Bosco Alessandra 
Published: January 2010

The aim of the article is to explore the triangular relationship between social protection, flexibility and unemployment, the main focus lying on the third side of the triangle, that between social protection and unemployment. The author looks at this relationship from the viewpoint of unemployment benefits because this branch is at the heart of the current European debate on how to make social protection more employment-friendly, as demonstrated by the European employment strategy and the recent Communication from the European Commission on the future of social protection. By exploring the questions of whether unemployment benefits contribute to unemployment or rather protect against and alleviate the problem of unemployment, the question is raised of the criteria which determine the effectiveness of an unemployment benefit system.
Local community services at the heart of a new type of development
Authors: Héritier Pierre , Grozelier Anne-Marie 
Published: January 2010

There is a current tendency to confine the concept of community services within a reductionist framework that regards it as a mere employment policy tool. The time has come to restore an alternative perspective and return this concept to its rightful place in the centre of a more ambitious overall context, namely a completely new type of development. The purpose of this article is thus to restore to this concept its full dimension and to show that it is not a question of using public subsidies to develop a few domestic-type jobs but to open up the way to another form of growth better able to meet the essential social needs which can be satisfied neither by the market consumer society nor by public funding. It turns out to be the case, moreover, that this new type of development, geared to a considerable extent to services, is actually richer in terms of job creation, and we speak, naturally, of permanent and skilled jobs. It is a question - no more no less - of prompting the emergence of a completely different approach to the economy, and this is a challenge for trade unionists who must find ways of reconciling two essential and apparently contradictory imperatives : the guarantee of quality services to the consumer and of a decent employment contract to employees. We are faced with major challenges requiring a political approach if they are to be developed on the appropriate scale.
Macro-economic evaluations of the potential offered by extending community services : a brief summary
Authors: Cette Gilbert 
Published: January 2010

The few existing macro-economic estimates of the potential of an extension of local services provide a convergent message : the development of local services by means of public subsidies can lead to positive effects on employment. A positive assessment is obtained via two different channels. First of all via the traditional effects of financial transfers to households or the creation of public sector jobs. Assuming, however, as is only realistic, no change in the public sector balance, these positive effects disappear. Secondly the effects of changes in the structure of household consumption, which is enriched by the provision of local services, which then provide employment benefits. But it must be stressed that these macro-economic estimates are inevitably based upon a large number of prescriptive hypotheses which cannot but make them rather fragile in quantitative terms.
Balancing ideological commitment and political reality for local job creation- a Swedish dilemma
Authors: von Otter Casten , Blomqvist Paula 
Published: January 2010

Public social services in Sweden are in a highly transitional phase, reflecting new economic constraints and a change of policy regime. Transformations of the public social services sector have included market-oriented methods of management such as separation of purchaser and provider functions, contracting and intra public sector competition. The objective of the reforms has been to enhance economic efficiency at the micro-level of production. In addition, substantial cutbacks have been made in the funding of social services. One of the results of these changes is a reduction of jobs in the social services sector, a development which runs contrary to stated government objectives with respect to employment. To maintain local employment levels, a number of programmes have been initiated, both at local and central level. The situation can thus be described as one where local governments are forced to lay off regular workers within the social services sector, only to rehire them later in conjuction with job creation programmes. The paper provides an overview of this slightly paradoxical process, brought about by the clash of political objectives in one policy area (public social services) with those of another (employment). In Sweden, moreover, welfare policy goals with respect to equity, manifested in a commitment to public provision of social goods, prevent this paradox (and resulting excess demand for social services) from being solved by the expansion of a private market for social services. The net result is a loss of regular jobs and a growing gap between demand for and supply of social services. In addition, job creation programmes have generally failed to meet the expectations of trade unions and workers for "real jobs" with fair and equal rights, a failure that may bring about the establishment of a dual labour market also within the public service sector.
Putting EMU to work
Authors: Janssen Ronald 
Published: January 2010

With EMU, price stability has gained in importance over other policy goals such as growth and employment. The leading idea has become to fight and to control inflation in the hope that growth and investment will automatically follow. The first part of the paper discusses the potential benefits but also the costs of taking low inflation and price stability as an overriding policy objective. It argues that the benefits of reaching very low inflation are overrated, while the costs are underestimated. A second part of the paper turns to the current situation and policy discussion. EMU and the European Central Bank become operational in an environment of extremely low inflation, while at the same time external conditions (the global financial turmoil) are triggering a slowdown in economic growth. In this context, monetary policy has a heavy responsibility in ‘stabilising’ the business cycle and maintaining satisfactory investment rates. We argue that central banks in Europe in the past did not take up this responsibility, not even in the context of low inflation and tight fiscal policies. The essential question therefore is whether EMU represents a structural change in policy regime. A final section formulates a number of practical proposals that can increase the probability of such a shift in the policy regime of EMU so that EMU is effectively rebuilt as an instrument for price stability and employment.
Resources of the European Works Council — empirical knowledge and prospects
Authors: Lecher Wolfgang 
Published: January 2010

There typical EWC development paths can he singled out. To a certain extent these paths already exist. They can also he described as development stages of individual EWCs: the EWC with an exclusively national frame of reference: the EWC which is taking on an international quality, but focusses on the industrial relations within the parent company's country: the EWC deliberately working to develop a supranational collective identity with a European underpinning amongst members tending towards equality. Four dimensions can be analytically distinguished in this regard: time, money, information and power. The better the EWC can equip itself in terms of these four “claims”, the greater is the chance of developing a European identity and ability to act effectively. Naturally, the reverse is also true. The four claims are here differentiated in relation to EWCs, based on empirical knowledge mainly derived from two projects in which the author was or is a participant. As examples, the cases of Hoechst (chemical industry), Schmalbach-Lubeca (metalworking industry), AXA/UAP (insurance) and Kredietbank (baiting) are succinctly described. The evaluation looks selectively at a few other relevant empirical project results without detailed substantiation. The results are generalised in terms of a “good EWC practice”. The final part deals with the main subjects of the forthcoming revision of the EWC Directive, which focuses on improvement of the four main claims of EWCs' resource situation.
Five years after: a look forward to the revision of the EWC Directive
Authors: Buschak Willy 
Published: January 2010

We now have well over 500 agreements on European Works Councils. There is already plenty of practical experience. All loo often, the chance for dialogue with workers' representatives is not used by company management. If the European Works Council is to play its role, to participate in managing change, then it needs information that is given regularly and m a written form. Consultation must take place before decision-making, so that the opinion of employees' representatives can still be considered during planning. Preconditions important for the proper functioning of any European Works Council are missing from the Directive, for example, the right to training. EWC representatives must be given the means to meet local representatives, to keep them up-to-date with the information and consultation within the EWC. Companies in the media sector (Tendenzunternehmen) should not be exempt from information and consultation obligations that ultimately are beneficial to the management itself. The threshold of 1000 employees fails to see the needs in undertakings. With the trend towards splitting up companies, “smaller” transnational companies are becoming mare important. Any company that fails to comply with the obligations regarding information and consultation should be excluded from financial support for which it could be eligible in the context of European, national or regional measures.
Equal opportunities policies for women and men : a critical analysis of the 1998-1999 Employment Action Plans
Authors: Lemière Séverine , Silvera Rachel 
Published: January 2010

Equal opportunities for men and women are one of the express objectives of the employment guidelines. Apart from measures to combat sexual discrimination in employment (unemployment, earnings, occupational segregation, etc.), it is now a declared objective to introduce an integrated approach through mainstreaming, making equality cut across all the employment pillars. This article seeks to highlight the innovative measures taken in this field and the advances as compared to 1998, but also to show where ground has been lost and where the various European plans are silent. The article falls into two main parts. We begin by looking at Guidelines 20 and 21, which are characterised by the importance they give to reconciling work and family life through specific new measures affecting the labour market. We then describe in detail the different approaches developed by the European countries to the concept of mainstreaming and draw up a typology of them, which will be something original since it does not entirely follow the traditional divides (between northern and southern countries, etc.).
15(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid–induced angiogenesis requires Src-mediated Egr-1–dependent rapid induction of FGF-2 expression
Authors: Kundumani-Sridharan Venkatesh , Niu Jixiao , Wang Dong , Van Quyen Dong , Zhang Qiuhua , Singh Nikhlesh K. , Subramani Jaganathan , Karri Saradasri , Rao Gadiparthi N. 
Published: January 2010

AbstractTo understand the mechanisms underlying 15(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid [15(S)-HETE]–induced angiogenesis, we studied the role of Egr-1. 15(S)-HETE induced Egr-1 expression in a time-dependent manner in human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMVECs). Blockade of Egr-1 via forced expression of its dominant-negative mutant attenuated 15(S)-HETE–induced HDMVEC migration and tube formation as well as Matrigel plug angiogenesis. 15(S)-HETE–induced Egr-1 expression requires Src activation. In addition, adenovirus-mediated expression of dominant-negative mutant of Src blocked 15(S)-HETE's effects on migration and tube formation of HDMVECs and Matrigel plug angiogenesis. 15(S)-HETE induced fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) expression rapidly via Src-mediated production of Egr-1. Cloning and mutational analysis of FGF-2 promoter revealed that Egr-1 binding site proximal to transcription start site is required for 15(S)-HETE–induced FGF-2 expression. Neutralizing antibody-mediated suppression of FGF-2 function also attenuated the effects of 15(S)-HETE on HDMVEC migration and tube formation as well as Matrigel plug angiogenesis. Furthermore, in contrast to wild-type mice, 12/15-LOX−/− mice exhibited decreased Matrigel plug angiogenesis in response to AA, which was rescued by 15(S)-HETE. On the basis of these observations, we conclude that 15(S)-HETE–induced angiogenesis requires Src-mediated Egr-1–dependent rapid induction of FGF-2. These findings may suggest that 15(S)-HETE could be a potential endogenous regulator of pathologic angiogenesis associated with atherosclerosis and restenosis.