Research Project and Conference: Towards Transnational Trade Union Representation? National Trade Unions and European Integration (Bochum, 6th to 8th December 2007)
Supported by the VW-Foundation, the Institute for Social Movements is carrying out an international conference dealing with transnational trade union representation in the context of European integration. The working language will be English. The conference is to be held at the Institute for Social Movements, Bochum, December 6-8, 2007. As a result of the conference, a volume of collected essays will be published by the summer of 2008.
In consideration of an increasing importance of the European Union in general, and of substantial changes of European decision-making in particular, the conference aims at contributions to the question, to what degree the integration process has affected trade unions of the member states, both in Western and Eastern Europe. It is apparent that the amendments to the European treaties, and especially the Common Market and the Economic and Monetary Union, have brought about a new quality of economic integration that faces trade unions with substantial changes of industrial relations and labour representation in Europe. It seems that there is much too little knowledge of the challenges being brought about, and that trade unions have reacted to such challenges only to a limited degree. Thus it follows that the conference should pursue two major research targets: On the one hand, a systematic comparison of trade union politics in all EU-related states including the new member states during the more recent decades; on the other hand, a study of national trade union reactions and adaptations to the challenge of European integration, which is common to all EU member states.
For detailed information see the homepage of the project.
For further information please contact Jürgen Mittag, [mailto]juergen.mittag@rub.de[/mailto]