Autonomy for the social partners

Citation

(2003), "Autonomy for the social partners", Work Study, Vol. 52 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2003.07952caf.003

Autonomy for the social partners

The EC treaty obliges the Commission to consult employers and trade unions before putting forward social policy initiatives. In this case, the Commission has launched consultations in two stages since June 2000. The social partners then have the option of negotiating between themselves, and the teleworking agreement is not the first to be concluded voluntarily at a cross-industry level.

The social partners already reached deals on parental leave in 1995, part-time work in 1997, and fixed term contracts in 1999, but all these were then formalised as EU directives.

Now, for the first time, it will be the employers and unions themselves who put the new accord into practice, in line with the procedures and practices specific to management and labour in the different Member States. They may involve, for example, collective agreements at cross-industry, sectoral, or company level, and codes of conduct. This is a big move towards fostering an independent social dialogue across Europe as called for in the Commission's recent communication on this issue.