EUROPEAN REVIEW

ISSUE 34 - Page 10

                       

THE EUROPEAN REVIEW WAS lucky enough to attend the recent Marco Biagi Foundation conference on ‘Planning the future of industrial relations in Europe’ at the University of Modena in Italy. The foundation is named after Professor Marco Biagi who was murdered by Red Brigades terrorists in 2002. As he was an expert in business economics who advised the Italian government, the conference subject was highly relevant to his life’s work. Speakers included John Monks of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Stavroula Demetriades of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, leaders from trade union and employers’ federations in Italy and academics from all over Europe. The theme of the meeting, ‘Good Industrial Relations for Competitiveness and Development’ sought to tie together economic expansion and social dialogue but it was soon clear that conditions varied so greatly in different European countries that there was, as yet no automatic link between the two.	Delegates listen to translations in the Great Hall at Modena University while John Monks speaks and (below) the nearby, modern factory of the Maserati car company
For instance Ms. Demetriades told the conference, the UK, Ireland and the new EU members in eastern Europe had the least developed relations between union and employer, being overwhelmingly at company level. Yet it is generally agreed that these countries have had the highest growth rates recently. Mr. Monks said that the current mood of the European Commission and governments seemed to be to go for growth at all costs including reductions in welfare and the public sector and the curtailment of the rôle of trade unions. However action by union members on the both the Services and REACH directives had defeated possible inequalities. The EU had moved from a ‘Peace process’ to a ‘Prosperity process’ and now had to use its strength as a bloc to form a ‘Power process’ that would have a more generous influence on the World than that exercised by the USA. Before the start of the conference delegates had a chance to tour the nearby Maserati car factory where 5,000 units a year are turned out in pristine, modern conditions. The absence of robots and use of skilled craftsmanship means that they don’t come cheap. In Italy a ‘Quattroporte’ retails at €111,000.