The dynamics and implications of employment growth in private sector services have become a key issue in the debate on labour market organisation, social regulation and welfare policies in Western Europe. While expansion of private services is considered crucial to fight unemployment and social exclusion, the private services are often associated with social polarisation, untamed flexibility, and erosion of the standard employment relationship, trade unionism and collective bargaining – confronting the social and political actors with difficult dilemmas. In view of the limited knowledge about developments in services labour markets, the aim of this book is, on the basis of eleven country studies, to provide a comparative overview of main trends in the pattern of employment and labour relations in private sector services in Western Europe. The analyses emphasise the heterogeneity of the private sector services, reveal significant diversity across countries, and caution against the notion of a universal de-standardisation of service employment, underscoring the importance of institutions in shaping national trajectories of employment growth in services. Particular attention is paid to the challenges facing trade unions in meeting the diverse and changing aspirations of the workforce in private sector services.

At Your Service? - Comparative Perspectives on Employment and Labour Relations in the European Private Sector Services

The monetary union is the most significant accomplishment in recent European construction. The question of how the euro did or did not affect and will in the future affect systems of national industrial relations lies at the heart of the book. Six countries – Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, France and Finland – are in this respect analysed and the differences as well as the similarities are put forward. As a starting point, the transition to a monetary regime aiming at low inflation, from one aiming at full employment needs to be taken into account. In this framework, the Maastricht Treaty acts as a continuity rather than as a breaking-point. Far from economic determinism, some countries have dealt with the uncertainties linked to the transition towards the single currency through national social pacts. The monetary union has been a restraint as well as a pretext to finalise long-term undergoing reforms, although some member states appear more apt to confront the challenges of a single currency than others. The example of German reunification illustrates the difficulties of adapting to a monetary union among regions with different levels of development. In conclusion, the prospects of a European co-ordination in regard to wage policies are developed.

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