Europäische Chancen und Schweizer Hoffnungen

Seit 2012 können EU-Bürger:innen direktdemokratische Initiativen unterschreiben und damit die EU-Kommission auffordern, ihre Politik zu ändern. Eine Europäische Bürgerinitiative (EBI) kommt zustande, wenn die Initiierenden eine Million Unterschriften zusammenbringen. Zwar muss die Kommission danach keine EU-weite Volksabstimmung organisieren, dennoch muss sie die EBI ernst nehmen und entsprechende Maßnahmen prüfen. Welche konkreten Erfahrungen haben europäische Gewerkschaften bislang mit EBIs gemacht?European Commission Horizon 2020Unia Trade Union2023-11-29 JG: PDF replaced at author's reques

Why do some labour alliances succeed in politicising Europe across borders?

Despite the introduction of the European Citizens’ Initiative a decade ago, transnational democratic mobilisations remain a rarity in Europe. Yet as Imre Szabó, Darragh Golden and Roland Erne explain, there remains scope for organisations to build support for public services and oppose privatisation across borders. Drawing on a comparison of two European Citizens’ Initiatives put forward by trade unions, they identify some of the key factors that determine success

Ireland: Trade unions recovering after being tipped off balance by the Great Recession?

This chapter describes the features and fortunes of the Irish union movement over the last thirty years, highlighting the issues it faced and the strategic responses it adopted. Whereas the collapse of social partnership agreements and the unilateral imposition of wage cuts after the financial crisis put unions very much on the defensive, it would be wrong to write off the Irish union movement.European Commission Horizon 2020European Research Counci

Transnational Solidarity? The European Working Class in the Eurozone Crisis

European labour movements are under severe pressure as a result of the global financial and eurozone crises, which have been used by capital to attack unions and workers' rights. In this essay, we will assess the response of European labour movements to this attack and discuss to what extent relations of transnational solidarity have been established in this process. Germany has been at the core of discussions about the eurozone crisis. While peripheral European Union (EU) member states have run into severe problems, the German economy appears as the clear winner, the example to follow due to its booming exports. As it is the largest national economy within the EU, what happens in Germany has also wider implications for the rest of the EU. Hence, we will specifically focus on the response by the German labour movement to the crisis. What has been more important for German unions solidarity with workers elsewhere or solidarity with one's own employer? The analysis of German unions will be complemented by brief discussions of struggles in Europe's southern periphery. In the conclusion we will reflect on the response by labour movements at the European level to establish whether unions have been able to go beyond their traditional national environment in the search for new strategies against the attack of capital

Response to letter regarding article, "percutaneous left-ventricular support with the impella-2.5-assist device in acute cardiogenic shock results of the impella-EUROSHOCKRegistry"

Comment on Letter by Maini regarding article, "percutaneous left-ventricular support with the impella-2.5-assist device in acute cardiogenic shock: results of the impella-EUROSHOCK-registry". [Circ Heart Fail. 2013] Percutaneous left-ventricular support with the Impella-2.5-assist device in acute cardiogenic shock: results of the Impella-EUROSHOCK-registry. [Circ Heart Fail. 2013

The Wages of Fear

DG 26/10/201

Direct democracy in Italy

Author has checked copyrightDG 30/10/201

European industrial relations after the crisis: a postscript

TS 07.03.1

European Unions after the Global Crisis

The economic and financial crisis has discredited the idea of a self-regulating market. Yet, it remains to be seen what measures society will be taking to protect itself against future fallouts of global markets. There is a growing consensus that the economy needs to be governed by tighter regulations. But this does not necessarily mean that the economy will be subordinated to democratic politics. Nevertheless, the paper concludes that any fatalism about the prospects of a democratic counter-movement against the marketisation of society is misplaced. Without doubt, the first reactions to the crisis – namely the huge bailouts for private banks and the subsequent cutbacks in public services – do not augur well for the future of labour and egalitarian democracy. Conversely, the more socio-economic decisions are taken by tangible political and corporate elites rather than abstract market forces, the more difficult it is to mystify underlying business interests. The more visible business interests become, however, the easier it will be for social movements and trade unions to mobilise discontent and to politicise the economy.DG 12/11/2012Names JG 2012-11-1

A contentious consensus: The establishment of the National Minimum Wage in Ireland

Author has checked copyrigh