O+NE - Old and new Europe

PROJECT

Old and new Europe.

New forms of labor relations and labour standards as social challenge in an enlarged Europe

APPLICANT

Berufsbildungswerk EINAP e.V., Stuttgart in cooperation with

• University of Tubigen, Institute of Political science
• Prof. Dr. Jozef schmid, Political economi and comparative policy analysis

PROJECT PARTNERS

• CGT (France)
• ACLI, Confzervizi Lazio, UIL Lazio (Italy)
• Sindikat Trgovine Hrvatske (Croatia)
• Inštitút zamestnanosti IZ (Slovakia)
• OSPO (Czech republic)

Other partners

• Deutcher Gewerkschafstbung (DGB)
• Evangelische Akademie Bad Boll
• Katholische Arbeitnehmerbewegung (KAB)
• Vereinigte Dienstleistungengsgewerkschaft (ver.di)

COURSE OF PROJECT

1 December 2006 – 30 November 2007

A. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

1. Aim and subject

The aim of the project will be encouraged to labour pressure groups as representatives of different unions, employee organizations and church institutions with regard to

* new employer-employee relationships,

* financial minimum security and

* qualification of employees

in three old European member states (Germany, France and Italy) as well as two new European member states (Czech Republic and Slovakia) and one European candidate state (Croatia).

These will be achieved by a purposeful exchange of experience and information, by development and expansion of transnational networking and by transnational learning.

From this it will be argued following matters for discussion and analysis:

• changes of employer-employee relationship on the basis of legal and tariff

egulations

• new contract forms of employer-employee relationship (precarious employment)
• forms of financial minimum security (minimum wage and basic social care)
• changing employer-employee relationship will effect on training and qualification of employees

2. Scientific expertises

In the context of scientific expertises an empirical-analytic processing of research subjects for the exemplary selected European countries will be done. The 6 partner countries selected by following criteria:

a) they are relatively representative of old member states with their different traditions of solidified and nevertheless work relations with consideration in management and

industry (Germany, France, Italy), undergoing change, on the one hand and

b) they are also exemplary for recent member states and candidate states of central and South-east Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia), which are in a changing and rebuilding phase of labour relations.

The expertises contain

• conceptual and comparative elements
• general description of industrial relations and social dialogue
• detailed descriptions of new employer-employee relationships
• financial minimum security as well as
• qualification of employees.

n addition there will be described examples of Best Practise.

3. Communication and networking

Communication and networking apart from scientific expertises are central elements of the project. Their implementation will be achieved by

• publication and editing the project results for labour pressure groups;
• workshop and conference of conclusion;
• interactive e-learning by Learning Management System (LMS). This is a  coaching offer for representatives of labour pressure groups from the involved countries;
• integration of national and transnational partners into the implementation process of the project and developing and expanding network relations and contacts;
• transnational, candid exchange.

B. PROJECT PARTNERSHIP

The project will be constructed as an industries overlapping project, with embedded special union representatives and work councils, especially from the commerce and metal industry. The project based on the “network social dialogue in EUROPE Baden-Wuerttemberg” Members of the network are

* Combined service trade union (ver.di)

* German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB), Baden-Wuerttemberg

* Catholic employee movement (KAB), diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart

* Associazioni Cristiane Lavoratori Italiani (ACLI), Baden-Wuerttemberg

* Catholic Academy, Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart

* Protestant Academy Bad Boll