IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v77y2024i5p685-715.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

European Social Dialogues: Shaping EU Social Policy through Parental Leave Rights

Author

Listed:
  • Zhen Jie Im
  • Trine Pernille Larsen
  • Brigitte Pircher

Abstract

The European Social Dialogue (ESD) has served as the platform for European social partners to negotiate parental leave policies at the European Union (EU) level since 1995. The partners’ efforts to revise the regulations in 2015, in response to the European Commission’s broader approach toward European work–life balance policies, failed, however, and the reasons for and implications of this failure remain insufficiently explored. Drawing on existing ESD literature and leveraging the regulator-intermediary-target (RIT) model, the authors develop a typology of policymaking outcomes based on the analysis of three parental leave directives from 1996 to 2019. The findings demonstrate that divergent preferences among European social partners, particularly when juxtaposed against the Commission’s policy objectives and interests, reduced the probability of a successful ESD through which European social partners could generate a framework agreement. Instead of being rule-makers, these conditions relegated European social partners to the role of rule-takers. If this trend continues, it poses a significant challenge to the role and influence of European social partners in EU policymaking.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhen Jie Im & Trine Pernille Larsen & Brigitte Pircher, 2024. "European Social Dialogues: Shaping EU Social Policy through Parental Leave Rights," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(5), pages 685-715, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:77:y:2024:i:5:p:685-715
    DOI: 10.1177/00197939241231789
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00197939241231789
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00197939241231789?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philippe Pochet, 2005. "Sectoral social dialogue? A quantitative analysis," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 11(3), pages 313-332, August.
    2. John Peterson, 2017. "Juncker's political European Commission and an EU in crisis," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 349-367, March.
    3. Anna Elomäki & Johanna Kantola, 2020. "European Social Partners as Gender Equality Actors in EU Social and Economic Governance," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 999-1015, July.
    4. Richard M. Locke & Kathleen Thelen, 1995. "Apples and Oranges Revisited: Contextualized Comparisons and the Study of Comparative Labor Politics," Politics & Society, , vol. 23(3), pages 337-367, September.
    5. Jean Lapeyre, 1996. "First round of European negotiations on a key issue for equal opportunities and equal treatment," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 2(1), pages 121-124, February.
    6. Paul Copeland, 2022. "The Juncker Commission as a Politicising Bricoleur and the Renewed Momentum in Social Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(6), pages 1629-1644, November.
    7. Mikkel Mailand, 2021. "Commission entrepreneurship and EU employment policy – The fate of a former darling," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(3), pages 249-267, September.
    8. Sørensen, Julie Malene Eichstedt & Würtzenfeld, Mathias & Hansen, Magnus Paulsen, 2022. "Explaining the deadlock of the European social dialogue: negotiating in the shadow of hierarchy," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(2), pages 323-342, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Roland Erne & Marco Hauptmeier & Valeria Pulignano & Peter Turnbull, 2024. "Introduction to a Special Issue: Social Europe: The Changing Contours of Transnational Employment Relations in the European Union," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(5), pages 643-658, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paul Copeland, 2023. "Poverty and social exclusion in the EU: third-order priorities, hybrid governance and the future potential of the field," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(2), pages 219-233, May.
    2. Jens Arnholtz & Nana Wesley Hansen, 2013. "Labour market specific institutions and the working conditions of labour migrants: The case of Polish migrant labour in the Danish labour market," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 34(3), pages 401-422, August.
    3. Eduardo Ortas & Isabel Gallego‐Álvarez & Igor Álvarez, 2019. "National institutions, stakeholder engagement, and firms' environmental, social, and governance performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(3), pages 598-611, May.
    4. Guendalina Anzolin & Chiara Benassi & Armanda Cetrulo, 2024. "Industrial relations and firm-level innovation. A comparative analysis of establishment data in Germany and Italy," LEM Papers Series 2024/12, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    5. Matthew Amengual & Janice Fine, 2017. "Co‐enforcing Labor standards: the unique contributions of state and worker organizations in Argentina and the United States," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(2), pages 129-142, June.
    6. Maarten Keune & Philippe Pochet, 2023. "The revival of Social Europe: is this time different?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(2), pages 173-183, May.
    7. Patrick Müller & Peter Slominski & Wolfgang Sagmeister, 2024. "Supranational Self‐Empowerment Through Bricolage: The Role of the European Commission in EU Security and Defence," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(6), pages 1672-1691, November.
    8. Keller, Berndt, 2017. "Review-Artikel: Internationale und vergleichende Arbeitsbeziehungen [Review article: International and comparative employment relations]," Industrielle Beziehungen. Zeitschrift für Arbeit, Organisation und Management, Verlag Barbara Budrich, vol. 24(3), pages 372-386.
    9. Grimshaw, Damian & Bertranou, Fabio & Gontero, Sonia & Urrutia, Antonia, 2024. "Negociación colectiva coordinada y multinivel: experiencias internacionales y opciones de políticas para Chile [Coordinated and multilevel collective bargaining: international experiences and polic," MPRA Paper 121701, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Selmer, Jan & Chiu, Randy, 2004. "Required human resources competencies in the future: a framework for developing HR executives in Hong Kong," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 324-336, November.
    11. Jan Czarzasty, 2024. "20 years after. Changing perspectives on industrial relations in Central and Eastern Europe two decades after EU enlargement: from transition to transformation," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 30(1), pages 15-31, February.
    12. Goyer, Michel, 2002. "The transformation of corporate governance in France and Germany: The role of workplace institutions," MPIfG Working Paper 02/10, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    13. Martí López‐Andreu, 2019. "Employment Institutions under Liberalization Pressures: Analysing the Effects of Regulatory Change on Collective Bargaining in Spain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(2), pages 328-349, June.
    14. Ergen, Timur & Kohl, Sebastian & Braun, Benjamin, 2021. "Firm foundations: The statistical footprint of multinational corporations as a problem for political economy," MPIfG Discussion Paper 21/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    15. Bob Hancke & Toon Van Overbeke & Dustin Voss, 2021. "Similar but different? Comparing economic policy responses to the Corona Crisis in the UK and Germany," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 165, European Institute, LSE.
    16. Jens Arnholtz & Chris F. Wright, 2023. "Labor Migration as a Source of Institutional Change: Danish and Australian Construction Sectors Compared," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(3), pages 532-555, May.
    17. Baccaro, Lucio. & Locke, Richard M., 1959-, 1996. "The end of solidarity? : the decline of egalitarian wage policies in Italy and Sweden," Working papers 3899-96., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    18. Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick, 2013. "The International Trade Union Confederation: From Two (or More?) Identities to One," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 51(2), pages 240-263, June.
    19. Ian Greer & Marco Hauptmeier, 2012. "Identity Work: Sustaining Transnational Collective Action at General Motors Europe," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 275-299, April.
    20. Avdagic, Sabina, 2006. "One Path or Several? Understanding the Varied Development of Tripartism in New European Capitalisms," MPIfG Discussion Paper 06/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:77:y:2024:i:5:p:685-715. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.