*** EMMANUELLE MAZUYER: L'harmonisation sociale européenne. Processus et modèle. Etablissements Emile Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129842 - Fax: 5119477 - Internet: http: //http://www.bruylant.be ). "Travaux du CERIC"series, No. 13. 2007, 353 pp, €75. ISBN 978-2-8027-2399-8.
This book updates and builds on a thesis for the European University Institute of Florence that will certainly irritate anyone who bucks the dominant trend in this time of fiftieth anniversary celebrations by doggedly remembering that the grand experiment, the European project, did not start at the end of the 1950s but rather at the start of the 1950s when the very first European community was set up, the European Coal and Steel Community. This first community had an obvious social dimension, to such an extent that Jean Monnet insisted that there should be a trade union representative as a member of the High Authority. Hence, having to read that the 'social dimension of the Community project was virtually inexistent or insignificant at first' will make some readers see red. All the same, Emmanuelle Mazuyer is not wrong in one sense because, between the setting up of the first Community and the second, the European Economic Community (EEC), there were several changes of character which undoubtedly allow her to argue that 'the first aim of an economic integration process is to facilitate trade between the countries of the region concerned' and the social dimension - particularly labour rules - was only considered at the beginning in terms of potential disturbances to the smooth operation of free trade between Member States and the harmonious balance of the market economy…
The aim of this detailed legal study is to explain the origins and functioning of the social dimension of the European project, along with its strengths and weaknesses and its 'exemplary characteristics'. What are the main characteristics of EU labour law that make it attractive in many ways for other regional integration projects? Emmanuelle Mazuyer provides documented answers to this question, assessing the harmonising of national labour laws, from the publication of a bill at EU level to the end result in national legal systems. In the first section, she starts by pointing out that while the option of establishing a common social policy was not foreseen in the founding treaties, this gap was gradually filled by the use of existing frameworks of rules to produce the first social harmonisation laws. She goes on to show that this was developed in a rather haphazard fashion, with periods of positive achievement, particularly in the 1970s, the 'golden age of the European social policy', alternating with periods of inactivity or even impasse, which gave European social harmonisation a shape described by the author as 'up and down or stop and go'. The author then looks at alternatives to the public or legislative generation of social laws, particularly the use for several decades now of growing involvement by trade unions, employers and private stakeholders, and even the delegation of generating common social harmonisation rules. The second part of the book is devoted to the way these rules are transposed into national law. Emmanuelle Mazuyer focuses her research on the way European laws impact on national legal systems and the network of legal relations underlying the legal systems. Finally, because the EU social harmonisation model has carried within it for nearly two decades, 'the premises of a constitutional order with European social partners (trade unions and employers) being given permission to pass their own laws, the author analyses the specific nature of implementing conventional rules.
Summing up, Emmanuelle Mazuyer points out that the EU system has called on three alternate solutions in an often disingenuous and flexible manner, namely artificial comparing and contrasting of all national models; exporting what is seen as the dominant national model; and creating its own model. She also comments that EU labour law is above al a procedural-type law, but this does not prevent it from granting considerable rights to the workers concerned. She argues, however, that the body of EU labour law, bordering on economic law, reflects the exploitation of the world of work in the service of economic objectives and competition demands to such an extent that the author even talks of the law being exploited to serve economic integration.
Pierre Bouvier
*** CONNY HERVERT ANTONI, XAVIER BAETEN, BEN J. M. EMANS, MARI KIRA (Eds.): Shaping Pay in Europe. A Stakeholder Approach. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Work & Society" series, No. 53. 2007, 285 pp, €29-50. ISBN 978-90-5201-037-3.
The fruit of several years work funded by the Swedish SALTSA research programme, this book is a decisive step forward in the study of pay systems in Europe. Its main innovation is the taking account of the different stakeholders (staff, employers, trade unions and employers' federations), their expectations and the conflicts that can arise from these differing expectations. The shaping of pay is therefore seen as a social process in which "pay levels, pay differentiation, pay equity and pay administration have to be discussed and solved through dialogue between different actors within an organisation". Rather than a general analysis with results that are difficult to interpret, the authors deliberately decided to restrict their research to a key question: What kind of pay systems are implemented in the European Union countries for operational employees with either permanent or long-term job contracts in the private sector? The research is divided into six main sections - studying the concept of pay; the interests of the different parties; auditing existing systems; major European trends; the influence of special national conditions at EU level; and the behaviour of national and international companies. Backing up theories explained with the aid of empirical data, the book is a convincing attempt to study how pay systems are shaped in Europe in line with the values and hopes of the different actors concerned.
(TBa)
*** CRAIG PHELAN (Ed.): Trade Union Revitalisation. Trends and prospects in 34 countries. Peter Lang (1 Moostrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel.: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2007, 582 pp, €76-90. ISBN 978-3-03911-009-4.
Globalisation, loss of influence in traditional industry, problems asserting themselves in developing countries, etc. The golden age of trade union movements now seems ancient history. Starting with this very comment, noting that "fruitful discussion of the trends and prospects for trade unionism worldwide must be based on an understanding of each country's unique trade union movement and industrial relations systems", the authors of this book assess different types of trade union in existence today, the specific nature of each region of the world and how they have changed over history. Thirty-four countries have been selected in total, covering all regions of the globe and studied with a fine toothcomb. For each country, the authors shed light on the political and economic background, major obstacles to the growth of trade unionism, innovations introduced to get round these obstacles, and future prospects. Rather than trying to draw up a universal model or classify trade union movements in different categories, the authors decided to highlight the diverse nature of such movements, thereby shedding light on "the rich variety of tactics for survival and renewal employed by trade union movements around the world". Vital reading for anyone interested in issues surrounding the social aspects of labour and the different ways of addressing them…
(TBa)
*** TANJA BRAUM-SCHLEICHER: Daseinsvorsorge und service public durch den öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunk. Eine Analyse im Lichte der Dienstleistungsfreiheit und des europäischen Beihilfesystems. Peter Lang (see above). "Schriften zum Europa- und Völkerrecht und zur Rechtvergleichung" series, No. 22. 2006, 172 pp, €36-40. ISBN 3-631-55028-6.
This book is based on a law thesis on the issues raised in EU Member States and EU law by the existence of two radio and television services, public broadcasting on the one hand, contingent on public and state authorities and funded by them, and private broadcasting for commercial ends on the other. The comparisons in the book mainly look at the particular situation in West Germany and France, where the concepts of "Daseinsvorsorge" and "service public" cover very specific social and economic traditions and the special political culture of the countries concerned. The balance to be struck between the two systems is first assessed in terms of the two individual countries in question in the light of their legal systems, and then at European Union level, with the problems created by the existence of two systems, only one of which falls under EU competition law. The situation raises a series of questions to which the book does not attempt to provide definitive answers. A third approach is suggested to try and understand how the digital epoch will radically transform the functioning of the techniques used and can lead to a questioning of institutions established in either country to get the systems to work. Recent EU directives, which many see as challenging Member States' autonomy when it comes to public broadcasting, are still far from capable of resolving the problems arising in this rapidly changing world of radio and television, according to the author. Difficult subject matter, but the author manages to analyse it in a perfectly satisfactory manner.
(GFr)
*** OLGA STRIETSKA-ILINA (Ed.): A Clash of Transitions. Towards a Learning Society. Peter Lang (1 Moostrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel.: (41-32- 3761717 - Fax: 3471727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2007, 271 pp, €25-30. ISBN 978-0-8204-7476-2.
With the firm desire to stimulate debate rather than provide definitive answers, this book focuses on one of the three Lisbon Strategy objectives, namely the desire to turn the European Union into the most competitive and dynamic economy in the world. The book's originality is the angle selected to assess the question. The authors, all university lecturers, look at the impact of the reforms carried out with this aim in mind in the eight countries of central and Eastern Europe that joined the EU in May 2004. The main question asked is how these countries and their population are coping with the raft of transitions they have had to face. Alongside the raising of the problems faced by these central and East European countries in 'meeting various policy requirements and commitments' and an attempt to identify solutions, the book points out differences in how the 'learning society' is understood from one country to another, along with the need for Europe to invest more in education and professional training in order to meet the Lisbon Objectives, gaps in the Lisbon Strategy and the problem of the brain drain to the West. In the final chapter, various scenarios are studied for Europe in the next few decades. The authors comment that it is "characteristic that the issue of inequity did not find a scenario where it is likely to be revolved". Fascinating research.
(TBa)
*** ARI ANTIKAINEN (Ed..): Transforming a Learning Society. The case of Finland. Peter Lang (see above). 2007, 414 pp, €63-20. ISBN 978-3-03911-449-8.
The second edition of a series of articles looking at changes in Finnish education institutes and education policy, this new issue has four, rather than three chapters. In the new chapter, Ari Antikainen tries to determine whether a Scandinavian education model actually exists. The book follows changes in the model and looks at the extent to which the model arises from an ideology unique in Scandinavia. The editor is a professor in the sociology of education at Joensuu University. He comments that based on common objectives (democracy, equality, progress and pragmatism), "the Nordic culture and lifestyle have provided a good basis for lifelong and lifewide learning before it became a general rhetoric", although "the Nordic education model can only be referred to as an ideal type". Ari Antikainen also comments that education systems are becoming uniform around the world. At a time when the question of giving the European Union powers over education is being discussed, the book considers "the value attached in Europe to the Nordic model in the most general sense of the concept".
(TBa)
*** RITVA JAKKU-SIHVONENE, HANNELE NIEMI (Eds.): Education as a Societal Contributor. Reflections by Finnish Educationalists. Peter Lang (see above). 2007, 239 pp, €39-70. ISBN 978-3-631-56881-1.
The outcome of joint research by a university professor and an expert on education issues, this collection of academic essays look at the concept of education as it is interpreted and imagined in Finland. The book's aim is to explain the world of researchers, politicians and other practitioners, along with how they have influenced the education system in Finland, based on the cooperation of different actors and public funding of education. It is divided into three sections - an introduction giving a general description of the system and the main trends of the past forty years, a collection of reflections on the functions of education knowledge, and a section on educating teachers and educational experts. The book is a good introduction to the Finnish education system, whose effectiveness has been highlighted in recent OECD reports, and how it has changed in the light of European integration.
(TBa)