| Review of: | The Struggle for a Social Europe: Trade Unions and EMU in Times of Global Restructuring by A. Bieler |
|---|---|
| Reviewed By: | Monika Mura |
| Reviewed in: | Journal of Common Market Studies |
| Date accepted online: | 02/11/2007 |
| Published in print: | Volume 45, Issue 03, Pages 745-769 |
Book Reviews
Bieler's work investigates the position of trade unions on EMU, from the negotiations to the implementation, and their willingness to co-operate at the European level, in five countries: Britain, Sweden, France, Germany and Austria. The first two do not belong to the euro area, but are in any case affected by EMU. This is an original work, which attempts to analyse systematically a topic to which so far little attention has been paid. Previous analysis of the processes that resulted in EMU examined only marginally the role of trade unions and their possible impact. Thus Bieler's analysis is complete and exhaustive.
The underlying hypothesis is that trade union support for EMU varies according to the type of workers they represent. When the latter belong to transnational production sectors, then trade unions are not only more likely to support EMU, as they are close to the companies which enjoy monetary stability, but also more keen on co-operation at European level with other unions. On the other hand, those unions that still significantly influence national policy-making will not support EMU, nor will they be interested in co-operation with other unions, as the sectors they represent will be threatened by EMU itself.
Bieler offers an in-depth analysis of the theoretical approaches used to explain the conceptualization of labour as an international actor. In his view the best one is the neo-Gramscian theory on social relations of production, as it accounts for the formation of transnational classes. He also examines the influence of globalization in the restructuring process of finance and production, towards an increasing internationalization of labour relations. The author's hypotheses are proved from Chapter 5 onward, with the analysis of the different models of capitalism of the five case studies as determinants of the reaction to EMU. His conclusions are that the attitude of trade unions towards EMU changes according to whether they are confederations, transnational sector unions or national ones. Bieler finds that union confederations clearly supported EMU, and so did transnational sectors unions, whereas the willingness to co-operate at European level appears to be stronger in union confederations than in transnational sector unions. When national sector unions are examined, outsiders like Sweden and Britain obviously opposed EMU, while France, Austria and Germany accepted it. In all the cases considered, co-operation at European level was not welcomed, due to the diversity in the national industrial relation systems (p. 176).
Overall, Bieler addresses his hypotheses well and his work opens the way to further investigations in the field of social policy and wider debate on the impact of EMU.