Speaker
Description
The crisis of industrial relations was not generated by the coronavirus pandemic, but the progressing division of the global production process during the last generation has undermined working regulations of the nation states. In response to this evolution, the International Labour Office, reminiscent of its origin in the 1919 Peace Treaty of Versailles, has taken a great step forward at a meeting in Geneva 21 June 2019 through the adoption of its “Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work”. It is against this background of tripartite global movement that the European Union based on the “European Pillar of Social Rights”, proclaimed by the European Commission at its Gothenburg Summit 17 November 2017, can historically be located. In the meantime, two EU Directives on specific issues have been enacted 20 June 2019 and an ‘Action Plan’ adopted 1 March 2021. This ‘Action Plan’ for the implementation of Social Rights in Europe is intended to shape the future development of EU social government. Despite its glaring ambiguities, this plan is the most important document for the social policy programme of the European Commission.
This contribution to IREC 2021 will analyse the publication of the ‘Action Plan’ against the background of a more long-term history of industrial relations and its present process of transition. This critique will be based on a proposal for an alternative strategy transcending present obsolete economic restrictions.
