Less governance capacity and more inequality: the effects of the assault on collective bargaining in the EU

For many years, the EU was a major promoter of a strong role for employers’ organisations and trade unions in the EU member states. It incessantly underlined the importance of social dialogue and autonomous collective bargaining as a core element of the European Social Model, stressing their contribution to democracy, good governance, economic effi ciency, innovation and social cohesion (for example, European Commission 2002, 2004). It did so, among other things, to lessen the dominance of economic integration and to strengthen the social face of the EU. The commitment of the EU to social dialogue and collective bargaining was demonstrated by the development and fi nancing of social dialogue structures –both inter-sectoral and sectoral– at the EU level, by the creation of European Works Councils as workers’ participation bodies in European multinationals and by the frequent consultation of EU level trade unions and employers’ organisations in the making of EU economic and social policy over the past 20 years. Also, the right of workers and employers, or their respective organisations, to negotiate and conclude collective agreements is included in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.1 Indeed, the freedom to bargain collectively, at the levels chosen by the bargaining actors themselves, was considered a basic right within the EU. Strengthening social dialogue and collective bargaining was also a key demand from the Commission towards the Central and Eastern European countries in the process of preparation for their accession to the EU. The then candidate countries were urged to develop this core element of the social acquis (European Commission