IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/treure/v9y2003i4p702-721.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

EMU and public service trade unionism: between states and markets

Author

Listed:
  • Deborah Foster

    (Lecturer, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Aberconway Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, UK CF10 3EU: fosterd1@cf.ac.uk)

  • Peter Scott

    (Senior Lecturer, Department of Business and Management, University of Portsmouth, Locksway Road, Milton, Southsea, Hants., UK PO4 8JF: peter.j.scott@port.ac.uk)

Abstract

This article considers the attitudes to the single currency of public service trade unions, illustrating this through a number of nationally based case studies. We examine claims about the impact of EMU on welfare states and public expenditure, and particularly the extent to which the governance of EMU attests a ‘neoliberal', marketising approach towards the public sphere. We find that any such tendency has been offset by the recent resurgence of forms of national-level bipartite or tripartite economic and social coordination, managing the effects of EMU through social dialogue. The subsequent section of the paper develops a categorisation of four main trends evident in European public service trade unions'response to the single currency: enthusiasm, altruism, scepticism and resistance. The dominant attitude to date has been acceptance. We highlight dangers for democratic legitimacy within public sector unions in cases where leadership support for EMU has exceeded that of the membership, and indicate some potential areas for future public service union influence in the EMU.

Suggested Citation

  • Deborah Foster & Peter Scott, 2003. "EMU and public service trade unionism: between states and markets," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 9(4), pages 702-721, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:9:y:2003:i:4:p:702-721
    DOI: 10.1177/102425890300900412
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/102425890300900412
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/102425890300900412?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. Streeck, Wolfgang, 1998. "The internationalization of industrial relations in Europe: Prospects and problems," MPIfG Discussion Paper 98/2, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    2. Wolfgang Streeck, 1998. "The Internationalization of Industrial Relations in Europe: Prospects and Problems," Politics & Society, , vol. 26(4), pages 429-459, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Syed, Jawad, 2008. "An Islamic perspective of industrial relations: the case of Pakistan," MPRA Paper 13684, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Nathan Lillie & Ian Greer, 2007. "Industrial Relations, Migration, and Neoliberal Politics: The Case of the European Construction Sector," Politics & Society, , vol. 35(4), pages 551-581, December.
    3. Michael C. Burda, 2001. "European Labour Markets and the Euro: How Much Flexibility Do We Really Need?," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Deutsche Bundesbank (ed.), The Monetary Transmission Process, chapter 7, pages 252-282, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Maarten Keune, 2021. "Inequality between capital and labour and among wage-earners: the role of collective bargaining and trade unions," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 29-46, February.
    5. Veronika Lemeire & Patrizia Zanoni, 2022. "Beyond methodological nationalism in explanations of gender equality: The impact of EU policies on gender provisions in national collective agreements in Belgium (1957–2020)," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 28(1), pages 47-64, March.
    6. Acocella, Nicola & Di Bartolomeo, Giovanni & Tirelli, Patrizio, 2009. "The macroeconomics of social pacts," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 202-213, October.
    7. Eve Caroli & Jérôme Gautié & Caroline Lloyd & Annie Lamanthe & Susan James, 2007. "Delivering flexibility:working time and contractual status in the food processing industry in France and the UK," Working Papers hal-04139208, HAL.
    8. Sonila Danaj & Tibor T Meszmann, 2024. "Weathering intermediated temporary labour mobility: social partners in Central and Eastern Europe after EU enlargement," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 30(1), pages 67-85, February.
    9. Katarína LukÃ¡Ä ová & Lucia KovÃ¡Ä ová & Martin Kahanec, 2022. "Industrial relations and unemployment benefit schemes in the Visegrad countries during the COVID-19 pandemic," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 28(2), pages 229-246, May.
    10. Kittel, Bernhard, 2002. "EMU, EU enlargement, and the European Social Model: Trends, challenges, and questions," MPIfG Working Paper 02/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    11. Giovanni Di Bartolomeo & Nicola Acocella & Wilfried Pauwels, 2004. "Is There any Scope for Corporatism in Stabilization Policies?," Working Papers 2009.154, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    12. Nigel Haworth & Stephen Hughes, 2003. "International Political Economy and Industrial Relations," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 41(4), pages 665-682, December.
    13. Dorian Aliu & Ayten Akatay & Armando Aliu & Umut Eroglu, 2017. "Public Policy Influences on Academia in the European Union," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(1), pages 21582440176, February.
    14. Romuald Jagodziński, 2011. "EWCs after 15 years — success or failure?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 17(2), pages 203-216, May.
    15. Valeria Cirillo & Matteo Rinaldini & Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2023. "Trade unions' responses to Industry 4.0 amid corporatism and resistance," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 76(305), pages 91-120.
    16. Ian Greer & Marco Hauptmeier, 2008. "Political Entrepreneurs and Co‐Managers: Labour Transnationalism at Four Multinational Auto Companies," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 46(1), pages 76-97, March.
    17. Kantola, Anu & Seeck, Hannele, 2011. "Dissemination of management into politics: Michael Porter and the political uses of management consulting," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 49805, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Thomas Prosser, 2012. "Europeanization through ‘procedures and practices’? The implementation of the telework and work-related stress agreements in the UK and Denmark," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(4), pages 447-460, November.
    19. Mach, André, 1999. "Small European states in world markets revisited: the questioning of compensation policies in the light of the Swiss case," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economic Change and Employment FS I 99-308, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    20. Κουτρούκης, Θεόδωρος, 2019. "Η Συμβολή Των Ευρωπαϊκών Συμβουλίων Εργασίας Στον Ευρωπαϊσμό Των Εργασιακών Σχέσεων: Οι Στάσεις Των Αντιπροσώπων Του Προσωπικού [The contribution of EWCS in the Europeanisation of Industrial Relati," MPRA Paper 92893, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 Mar 2019.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:treure:v:9:y:2003:i:4:p:702-721. 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: .

    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.