Trade unions and the amendment of the labour code in Romania
Abstract Employment relations, as well as issues of social and labour-market reforms or the social dialogue, have been extensively treated by various researches interested in the East and Central European region. In this context, much attention has been paid to the changing roles of trade unions, the problem of re-making ancient structures perverted by their more or less collaboration with the Communist parties from the region and the emergence of new structures in search for legitimisation, the difficulties of trade unionism in articulating and representing interests, an aspect that is directly related to their organisational problems, the relations with the governmental authorities and with the employers' organisations in the tripartite framework, as well as the nature of the tripartism in reuniting social partners and state. This article focuses on national organised labour in Romania in relation to the 2005 Labour Code amendment. This specific level of national interest representation is privileged in order to highlight the peculiarities of recognised representative labour organisations in the post-Communist period. The main assumption is that trade unions are facing a particular policy interest with a shift from fragmentation and unstable co-operation to a ‘common position’. Thus this contribution assesses the determinants defining labour's collaboration while shedding light on state – trade union relations.
The Institutions of the Enlarged European Union: Continuity and Change
Preface 1. Introduction, Edward Best, Pierpaolo Settembri and Thomas Christiansen 2. The European Council: A Bigger Club, a Similar Role? Wolfgang Wessels 3. Surviving Enlargement: How Has the Council Managed? Edward Best and Pierpaolo Settembri 4. The European Commission: Enlargement as Reinvention? John Peterson and Andrea Birdsall 5. The European Parliament and Enlargement, Brendan Donnelly and Milena Bigatto 6. EU Enlargement and the European Court of Justice, Caroline Naome 7. The European Central Bank: Enlargement as Institutional Affirmation and Differentiation, Kenneth Dyson 8. The European Economic and Social Committee after Enlargement, Nieves Perez-Solorzano Borragan and Stijn Smismans 9. The Committee of the Regions: Multi-Level Governance after Enlargement, Simona Piattoni 10. Legislative Output after Enlargement: Similar Number, Shifting Nature, Edward Best and Pierpaolo Settembri 11. Implementing Committees in the Enlarged European Union: Business as Usual for Comitology? Manuela Alfe, Thomas Christiansen and Sonia Piedrafita 12. Widening, Deepening - and Diversifying: Has Enlargement Shaped New Forms of EU Governance? Edward Best 13. Conclusion, Thomas Christiansen, Edward Best and Pierpaolo Settembri Appendix Index
Illusory Corporatism in Eastern Europe: Neoliberal Tripartism and Postcommunist Class Identities
The plethora of tripartite bodies in postcommunist countries seems to suggest the emergence of an East European corporatism. Analysis of arrangements in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland indicates instead the prevalence of illusory corporatism. Token negotiations, nonbinding agreements, and exclusion of the private sector demonstrate that tripartite procedures are deployed to introduce neoliberal, not social democratic, outcomes. A path-dependent argument stressing labor's weak class identity best explains these outcomes. East European labor, unlike historic Western counterparts, is marked by a weak sense of class interests, disinclination to organize the private sector, and declining support from the workforce, making it unable to emerge as a strong force. It is not labor but the new elites that seek tripartism, hoping thereby to share burdens, conform to European norms, and demonstrate responsiveness to society. Formal tripartism also follows from the legacy of state socialism, giving symbolic voice to the formerly included now headed for exclusion. In the end, tripartism helps secure labor's acceptance of its own marginalization.