Promoting Labour Rights and Social Protection in Post- Crisis Europe

Promoting Labour Rights and Social Protection in Post- Crisis Europe. New Research Agendas. European labour markets […]

Policy Study

13/04/2016

Promoting Labour Rights and Social Protection in Post- Crisis Europe. New Research Agendas.

European labour markets currently fail millions for whom they cannot provide work, and millions more who must face job insecurity, underemployment, stagnant wages or poverty pay. The forces which have served to weaken our labour markets include political failure, globalisation, technological change, labour union decline and the increasing power of capital vis-à-vis labour. Ominously, each of these forces look likely to accelerate, rather than abate. This is – clearly – a particular problem for a movement so historically and closely bound up with the labour movement, and labour rights. Given this, it is imperative that European socialists look beyond their existing prescriptions for labour markets. We may have lost the recent history of labour, but it is essential we reclaim the future.

This paper identifies and develops four new areas which policymakers may seek to exploit. Firstly, we assess the potential for strengthening labour markets through a renewed focus on international solidarity – including deepening cross border cooperation with labour organisations and learning from best practice both in and outside of Europe. Secondly, we consider the options for strengthening the position of migrant labourers within the EU – a policy which serves to not only build solidarity within Europe, but also begin to mitigate the race to the bottom which characterises man sectors of European Labour markets.

We also consider the possibility of developing Europe’s industrial strategy such that it becomes capable of coordinating the development of capacity and innovation – and in so doing, securing the kind of work that (particularly young) European workers often seek. And in the same vein, we conclude by arguing that the European left must look much more closely at developing a basic income style proposal of its own. Such a policy, we argue, offers the prospect of the most radical and effective rebalancing of Europe’s labour market. We argue that much of the leftist scepticism over a basic income is misplaced, and that suitably defined – the policy represents an invaluable pro-socialist and pro-labour option for the future.

Network
Karl Renner Institut
Find all related publications
Publications
28/03/2023

Back to the Dark Ages?

Q-commerce, rapid retail and the changing landscape of retail work
28/03/2023

Getting the goods

Trade unions and strategy in the quick-commerce sector
24/03/2023

Making Next-Generation EU a permanent tool

Recovery Watch series
21/03/2023

Is an EU-wide approach to the mental health crisis necessary?

Demand for an EU mental health strategy existed before the pandemic but has intensified since. […]
Find all related events
Events
Upcoming
12/04/2023
Online (Expert meeting)

Social measures in the NRRPs

Recovery Watch series
Past
30/03/2023
FEPS HQ (Expert meeting)

Towards a European Health Union

Expert seminar
30/03/2023
Berlin, Germany (Expert meeting)

Security at work in an uncertain world

FEPS and Progressive Britain roundtable on the future of work
Find all related news
News
20/02/2023

Let’s end involuntary unemployment!

European survey on the perception of unemployment and publicly funded jobs
20/12/2022

How to make the best use of the Resilience and Recovery Fund

The first results of the Recovery Watch research project were presented to the Italian public in Rome on 15 December
18/10/2022

Open letter to call for a deep reform of the EU fiscal rules

FEPS cosigned an open letter to EU leaders calling for them to address the underlying structural […]
30/05/2022

FEPS launches ‘Recovery Watch’, a new research project

The National Recovery and Resilience Plans represent the new framework in which member states will identify their […]
Find all related in the media
In the media

Research shows Ireland is too reliant on voluntary sector for mental health services

by RTÉ Radio 1 27/03/2023
RTÉ Radio 1 talks about our case studies 'Is an EU-wide approach to the mental health crisis necessary?', published in collaboration with Think-tank for Action on Social Change (TASC)

Irish mental health services ‘too hospital-centric’

by Irish Examiner 23/03/2023
Irish Examiner article on FEPS and TASC policy study "Is an EU-wide approach to the Mental Health Crisis necessary?"

Ireland lacks key mental health services, report finds

by RTÉ 23/03/2023
RTÉ article on FEPS and TASC policy study "Is an EU-wide approach to the Mental Health Crisis necessary?"

‘No one is unemployable’: the French social experiment

by EUobserver 21/03/2023
EUobserver article on unemployment in the EU with a mention to FEPS' policy brief 'A Job Guarantee for Europe.'