0000000000429566
AUTHOR
Charles Woolfson
showing 5 related works from this author
Labour Mobility in Construction: European Implications of the Laval un Partneri Dispute with Swedish Labour
2006
The accession to the European Union of new member states from central and eastern Europe, with weak trade union movements, poorly developed social dialogue and inferior working conditions, has been viewed as a threat to regulated labour standards in the EU-15. This article examines a high-profile labour dispute arising from the conditions of Latvian construction contract labour in Sweden. The dispute exposes weaknesses in the protective floor of minimum standards offered by the posted workers Directive. It also goes to the core of the debate about the preservation of a ‘European social model’ and the proposed Services Directive.
New Modes of Regulation for Health and Safety: Post-Enlargement Policy Perspectives for the European Union
2006
The recent joining of ten new member states to the European Union, eight of which are former communist countries, has reopened inherent tensions in current European Union (EU) policy-making on safety and health in the workplace. These spring from seemingly incompatible objectives; the need to ensure broad EU member state compliance with regulation, around agreed minimum standards through active regulatory enforcement, and the promotion of “softer” voluntary initiatives in the management of workplace risks and hazards in order to create “a culture of prevention.” The present EU strategy which ends in 2006, seeks to secure a balance between both sets of objectives. However, with respect to t…
Union recognition in Britain's offshore oil and gas industry: implications of the Employment Relations Act 1999
2004
The Employment Relations Act 1999 (ERA) has provided trade unions in the UK with new opportunities for achieving recognition. After a long history of anti-unionism in the offshore oil and gas industry, employers have voluntarily ceded recognition to Trades Union Congress (TUC)-affiliated trade unions. The legitimacy of this recognition process has been contested by the non-TUC Offshore Industry Liaison Committee (OILC), an offshore workers’ union, seeking to act as a recognised bargaining agent. The ERA may be promoting ‘business friendly’ agreements at the expense of claims to recognition of other bargaining agents and of democratic employee choice.
Employee ‘voice’ and working environment in post-communist New Member States: an empirical analysis of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
2008
This article examines employee ‘voice’ in workplace health and safety in three Baltic New Member States by means of a cross-national survey. The data point to unresolved problems of voice in the context of rather poor working environments. These present opportunities for collective renewal by trade unions, but paradoxically are more likely to be addressed by employers in the context of significant labour shortages created by a post-European Union accession labour ‘exit’.
Working Environment in the New EU Member State of Lithuania: Examining a ‘Worst Case’ Example
2008
Using recent survey data from Lithuania, it is suggested that post-communist countries such as Lithuania, admittedly a 'worst case' example, have specific legacies of serious health and safety problems. On a range of general health and occupational safety and health indicators, some three years after joining the European Union, Lithuania is currently a poor performer, and on key indicators the poorest in the European Union. Yet, formally, Lithuania has comprehensive health and safety legislation in line with EU requirements. Survey data suggest, however, a work regime of intensification and an absence of a participative working environment in which employees have a 'voice' in the safety man…