Brussels, 20/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - The continued decline in trade union membership and the increasing pressures following several major mergers of employer organisations across the EU have resulted in significant changes to the structure of European social partner organisations in 2002. This is the picture emerging from the report, "Industrial relations Development in EUROPE 2002", published by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in Dublin and the European Commission. It is based on the experience of the European Observatory of Industrial Relations (EURI) and reports by the Commission on industrial, which it replaces.
These changes are occurring when social partners are putting into place a social dialogue on a European-wide scale, according to a press statement by the Foundation, which adds that their new work method concluded in July 2002 with the implementation of a general European reference framework for teleworkers' conditions of employment. It also offers a comparative study on the most important developments occurring in the field of industrial relations in 2002, including a chapter on immigration. There is also an analysis of the European social dialogue framework and the EU's political legislation on employment. (http://www.euri;eurofound.eu.int/annual reports.html).