Social Concertation in Times of Austerity Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Strange Survival of Social Concertation in Times of Austerity
- 2 Social Concertation as a Political Strategy
- 3 European Integration, Domestic Politics and Social Concertation
- 4 Methods and Cases
- 5 The Context of Social Concertation in Switzerland and Austria
- 6 Social Concertation and Cross-Border Labour Mobility
- 7 Social Concertation and Unemployment Policy Reforms
- 8 Synthesis and Comparative Outlook
- List of Interviews
- Notes
- References
- Index
- Changing Welfare States
6 - Social Concertation and Cross-Border Labour Mobility
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 January 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Strange Survival of Social Concertation in Times of Austerity
- 2 Social Concertation as a Political Strategy
- 3 European Integration, Domestic Politics and Social Concertation
- 4 Methods and Cases
- 5 The Context of Social Concertation in Switzerland and Austria
- 6 Social Concertation and Cross-Border Labour Mobility
- 7 Social Concertation and Unemployment Policy Reforms
- 8 Synthesis and Comparative Outlook
- List of Interviews
- Notes
- References
- Index
- Changing Welfare States
Summary
When it comes to the opening of the labour market, it makes everybody realise that […] one cannot have too many enemies. In social policy it’s mostly left against right, but in the opening of the labour market it’s not left against right, and this means that you have to collaborate with the left. Th ey [the Government] have realized that against the svp, the Swiss Democrats and the left together, this was too dangerous. sgb Central Secretary (Interview CH7)
It was not diffi cult to convince the [Economic Chamber], because they also feared that their members would be threatened: the chimneysweepers, the carpenters and so forth. Th ey were also afraid, they thought that from now on, if chimneysweepers, window builders and carpenters could come from Brno or from elsewhere to work and compete with them, they were also threatened as entrepreneurs, just like employees. And so there was – and there still is – an alliance between employers and workers. Head of Section International Aff airs, Osterreichsische Gewerkschaftsbund (Interview AUT2)
The renovation of a school in a Swedish town in 2004 was the starting point of vivid debates about how labour mobility could challenge the very underpinnings of social concertation in the European Union. In 2003, a Latvian company called Laval un Partneri won a contract to refurbish a school in the town of Vaxholm, near Stockholm. Right after Sweden opened its labour market to workers from the new member states of the European Union, Laval “posted” 35 Latvian workers who remained effectively employed in Latvia to carry out the work. The Swedish Building Workers’ Union Byggnads asked the company to sign a collective labour agreement complying with the standards of the wage agreement of the Swedish construction sector. The company refused to do so, and decided instead to conclude an agreement with Latvian trade unions, which provided for much lower wage rates. In response, the Swedish trade union resorted to industrial action by blocking access to the construction site. Unable to carry out its contract, Laval took the case to the Swedish labour court seeking reparation, claiming among others that trade union action restricted its freedom of competition and the free movement of services in the Common Market.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Social Concertation in Times of AusterityEuropean Integration and the Politics of Labour Market Reforms in Austria and Switzerland, pp. 111 - 154Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2013