Educating the Social Partners

At one of the European enlargement conferences the then Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs said “social policy, from education to health and safety, from social protection to labour law, is the foundation stone of the EU’s successful political and economic progress, as political democracies and as market economies.” This statement puts in a nutshell the significance of the EU’s social policy programme. Within that programme the important function of the social dialogue between the social partners, namely the representatives of employers and representatives of employees, cannot be under estimated. The two way dialogue between the autonomous and independent representatives of each side of industry, as well as, where relevant, with governments, is not only of importance but is a key element of a meaningful social policy. Social policy is a primordial feature in the improvement of economic performance of any Member State and is central to a nation’s economic progress. The social dialogue, an important feature of European social policy, has not been with out its problems and has not always been easy to effectuate. In many cases employers are uneasy with this process; are reluctant to carry out a dialogue with unions; or simply refuse to recognise a union for collective bargaining purposes. In spite of these setbacks, there has been some progress made in the social dialogue field at European level.