*** DOMINIQUE ANDOLFATTO, SYLVIE CONTREPOIS (Editors): Syndicats et dialogue social. Les modèles occidentaux à l’épreuve. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (41 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 – fax: 3761727 – Email: brussels@peterlang.com and order@peterlang.com – Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2016, 292 pp. €45, £36, $58.95. ISBN 978-2-875-74342-8.
What has become of social concertation in a context where globalisation continually brings restructuring and economic transformation, where information and communication technologies shatter the borderlines of work, where a far reaching crisis is shaking the foundations of the European Union and leaving numerous sections of society vulnerable and where the European dimension is also contributing to somewhat concealing some of our traditional bearings?
These are the questions to which researchers specialising in labour relations attempt to provide edifying and scientifically argued responses in 15 different case studies that reveal developments in the relations of social partners over the past 30 years in 15 countries. There is therefore a useful update on the models that were used at the end of the 20th century and summarised by Dominique Andolfatto (a lecturer in political science at Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté) and Sylvie Contrepois (researcher at London Metropolitan University and a member of the Paris centre for sociological and political research in their introduction: “a British or Anglo-Saxon model (closer to that of the US than mainland Europe), which leaves significant freedom of negotiation to trade union and employers’ representatives”, in addition to a, “German model and, more broadly, a model from north-west Europe (Rhenian), which prefers negotiations based on branches (with a subgroup made up of Scandinavian countries that have pushed the most for a homogenisation between trade unionism and policy and a model in Latin countries in which the state plays a preponderant role, due to the Jacobin heritage and the weight of the public sector”.
The body of this book is represented by the different case studies. They demonstrate that these models and the trade union actors themselves have been significantly shaken up since the last quarter of the 20th century, despite the fact that they have attempted to resist and have sought to adapt themselves to new contexts. 13 of these case studies focus on European countries: i) a study on developments in the Anglo-Saxon “model” (United Kingdom); ii) six studies involve the “model” from northwest Europe in its different varieties (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden); iii) four studies focus on Latin countries in Europe (Spain, France, Greece and Italy); iv) two studies focus on Eastern Europe – Bulgaria and Romania. There are also two studies on North America, namely, the US and Québec. According to the editors of this book, the former provide a number of clarifications and anticipates, “some of the changes the partially characterise the majority of European countries in the sense of there being greater liberalisation”, whilst Québec demonstrates more effective resistance from trade unions to regulation but at a price of having made significant concessions.
Unsurprisingly, the conclusions drawn in these case studies are not exactly optimistic, as demonstrated in this paragraph opening the final chapter, “several decades after the first foundations of a social Europe were laid, huge uncertainty remains regarding the capacity of the countries on mainland Europe to pursue construction together and assert a ‘European social model’ that is different and indeed an alternative to the neoliberalism characterising the Anglo-Saxon world and beyond”. Nonetheless, the authors call for caution when interpreting the different on-going developments and draw a number of different lessons. The general decline in trade union representation has therefore taken different shapes in the different countries and the unions have also demonstrated a determination and ability to recreate themselves and tackle these challenges. Another trend is also evident in the evolution of combining decentralisation in collective bargaining and the increasing regulation of professional relations by the states. This process of decentralisation has played a significant role in the deregulation of employment relations but this role has, however, been modified by, “the development of European legislation translated through increasing regulation and professional relations in the different states”. This evolution is particularly visible in Central and Eastern European countries that joined the Union at the beginning of this century. Several authors also highlight, “A Europeanization of national professional relations” in the older member states, including… the United Kingdom.
Pierre Bouvier
*** NIKLAS BRUUN, KLAUS LÖRCHER, ISABELLE SCHÖMANN, STEFAN CLAUWAERT (Editors): The European Social Charter and the Employment Relation. Hart Publishing (Kemp House, Chawley Park, Cumnor Hill, Oxford, OX2 9PH, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 598648 – fax : 727017 – Email: mail@hartpub.co.uk – Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.u k). 2017, 536 p. £75. ISBN 978-1-5099-0632-1.
Although it is not so well known as the European Convention of Human Rights, the European Social Charter adopted by the Council of Europe in 1961 is no less important, with regard to the civil and political rights covered by the former. Indeed, it adds economic, social and cultural rights of the same import. Since its 1996 revision, it is turning out to be a highly significant legal instrument and deserves greater attention in the academic world and by the institutions active in this domain: the judges, NGOs, trade unions, specialist lawyers, mediators and civil servants. This book is the result of two years of work by a team of independent researchers active in the shadows of the European Trade Union Institute and it is to them that this imposing book is aimed, as explained by the editors in their introduction. It was put together with the aim of the Charter receiving greater recognition, as well as its interactions with other instruments existing in the human rights domain: Council of Europe, European Union, International Labor Organization and the United Nations. In the first part of the book, five academic specialists provide a legal analysis of what is presented as, “a new social constitution for Europe”. The second part focuses on the application of different social rights and are analysed in light of the jurisprudence provided by the European Committee on Social Rights. Obviously, this evaluation is extremely appropriate in this current period when the crisis is undermining the social rights contained in the Charter almost everywhere, as pointed out by Régis Brillat in his forward and who argues that implementation is largely based on, “the principle of full employment”. As Executive Secretary of the European Committee of Social Rights, he also argues that the Charter is now having to confront a number of challenges, such as the not insignificant difficulty of its relationship with Community law, given that these two legal orders diverge, for example, with regard to the directives on working time, posted workers and family regrouping, as well as on the impact that austerity measures have on human rights...
(MT)
*** ARTEMIS ANAGNOSTOU-DEDOULI, PATRINA PAPARRIGOPOULOU-PECHLIVANIDI : Union pour la protection des droits sociaux. La sécurité sociale comme condition du développement économique et de la cohésion sociale. Editions Papazisi (2 rue Nikitara, GR-10678 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3822496 – fax: 3809020 – Email: papazisi@otenet.gr – Internet: http://www.papazisi.gr ). 2016, 336 pp. €20. ISBN 978-960-02-3233-2.
Burning contemporary issues relating to social security come to the fore during periods of economic slowdown. Combined with reduced participation on the labour market and an ageing population, the budget crisis affecting many European countries, particularly Greece, constitutes a significant challenge to pensions, social security and national insurance systems. In this context, the authors of this publication edited by two researchers teaching law at the University of Athens, contribute to the formulation of a long-term national strategy to modernise the prevalent social protection model in Greece. They provide a critical analysis and description of the different interdisciplinary suggestions for reforming the social insurance system. They highlight the need to work out a timetable and provide a scientific, political and institutional framework that is very different to the current one, in an effort to swiftly shift to a significant overhaul of the country’s pension system. Their objective is to transform this publication into a useful and practical instrument for teachers, researchers and students in the areas of the economy, law and Social Security, as well as any person interested in safeguarding Social Security in Greece and who would be able to use this book accordingly.
(AKa)
*** THANASSIS ALEXIOU: Les classes sociales, les inégalités sociales et les conditions de vie. Editions Papazisi (2 rue Nikitara, GR-10678 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3822496 – fax: 3809020 – Email: papazisi@otenet.gr – Internet: http://www.papazisi.gr ). 2016, 456 pp €20. ISBN 978-960-02-3237-0.
When social inequality gets worse and living conditions among significant sections of the population constantly deteriorate, is it really surprising that the concept of social class is abandoned? Does not this concealment actually reveal an ideological position linked to the fact that wealth and power are in the hands of those that control the system of production? The aim of the author of this book, a tenured professor at the faculty of sociology at the Aegean University, is to contribute to developing a social analysis as a critical process and reflection tool to implement in the current historic, political, economic and social context. This tool will be used to tackle social inequalities by way of cultural mediation such as habitus, linguistic practices and lifestyles that can help or hinder the social action of individuals and groups. In sociological terms, the author argues that this effectively means reconciling notions of social stratification (income, prestige, power, education and cultural capital, etc.) and the analytical category of social class for reconnecting the economy of means and resources (material and symbolic) to policy, namely, the way in which a society organises the production and distribution of social wealth and its reproduction.
(AKa)
*** SAVVAS ROBOLIS, VASSILIS BETSIS: L’odyssée du système social grec. Editions Livanis (98 rue Solonos, GR-10680 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3661200 – fax: 3617791 – Email: webmaster@livanis.gr – Internet: http://www.livanis.g r). « Politique-économie » series. 2016, 240 pp. €14. ISBN 978-960-14-3087-4
Emeritus Professor at Panteion University, Savvas Robolis, was, between 1990 and 2013, the scientific director of the Labour Institute at the General Confederation of Greek Workers. Together with PhD student Vassilis Betsis, he analyses and seeks to provide a better understanding in this publication of the way in which social security policies have been gradually developed and implemented in Greece. He therefore sheds light on the impasse involving the social security system following the application of the memoranda policies between 2010 and 2016. They also reveal the separation between financial and social elements. On the basis of actuarial documentation, they look at possible alternative policies that could guarantee long-term economic viability and an efficient social security system over the next decade and which could also help absorb the negative effects of current demographic evolution.
(AKa)
*** GAVRIIL AMITSIS: Les sauvegardes emblématiques de la cohésion sociale au moment du Mémorandum. Le modèle de la stratégie d'inclusion sociale nationale. Editions Papazisi (2 rue Nikitara, GR-10678 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3822496 – fax: 3809020 – Email: papazisi@otenet.gr – Internet: http://www.papazisi.g r). 2016, 416 pp. €26.50. ISBN 978-960-02-3263-9.
This study seeks to promote flagship initiatives taken by the Greek government during the implementation of the first two stabilisation memoranda for the Greek economy as a means to safeguard social cohesion. By way of the Green Paper on the national social integration strategy (2013) and the strategy that followed in 2014, social inclusion was used to enrich the toolbox covered by the social protection system by adding the operational model for active integration in the fight against poverty. The goal included the pursuit of three fundamental priorities: a) income support to ensure a decent living standard for people without adequate resources; b) connection to the labour market by way of employment promotion measures; c) improved access to social services. The author is a specialist lawyer in social law and a lecturer in social assurance law at the University of Athens. He demonstrates that the strategic initiatives were not endorsed during the 2015-16 period by way of the necessary regulatory changes. Subsequently, the Greek state remains institutionally fragile and the country remains confronted, seven years after the application of the memoranda, by major structural problems and institutional shortcomings that prevent it from building an efficient and sustainable network of inclusion for vulnerable sections of the population. This situation effectively puts social development and cohesion in the country at risk.
(AKa)