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Content archived on 2024-05-29

In search of a European model of industrial democracy. A transnational history of trade unionism 1960-2002

Objective

The last dozen years witnessed a breakthrough in the efforts to create, at EU level, a legal framework for the participation of employees in the decision-making process of companies. EU directives have established the legal basis for European works councils (1994) and for employee participation in the new company form Societas Europaea (2001). Article 27 of the new EU Charter of Fundamental Rights refers to information and consultation of the workforce as fundamental rights of citizenship. Yet, this breakth rough occurred after a long history of failed attempts. The central hypothesis of the project is that the long time of fruitless attempts and the eventual adoption of EU directives around the turn of the century should be interpreted against the background of a debate on industrial democracy within the European trade union movement.

The project will reconstruct the history of these debates and assess the extent to which they contributed to the changing fortune of EC/EU legislation since the early 1960s. By implication the project will challenge traditional interpretations of industrial democracy, which predominantly focus on diverse national conditions and experiences. The project will be carried out at the Department of Industrial Relations at London School of Economics, one of Europe's leading industrial relations research centres. It will boost the applicant's professional maturity in the field of European and transnational studies through a diversification of interdisciplinary competence s and methodological approaches. It will form the basis for the publication of a second monograph independent from the Ph. D. thesis.

The project bears a direct link to the ongoing debate about the European Social Model. It is designed to contribute to the objectives of the European Research Area by enhancing academic networks and by exploring broader societal implications of research.

Call for proposal

FP6-2005-MOBILITY-5
See other projects for this call

Coordinator

LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
EU contribution
No data
Total cost
No data