Working papers

Social Dialogue at the local level: Some European experiences

Local development, job creation policies, social dialogue mechanisms

InFocus Programme on Strengthening Social Dialogue Geneva, November 2001

Acknowledgements
This study has been prepared for the UNIVERSITAS programme. It is a working document written with a view to stimulating debate and opinions around the topical issue of social dialogue at the local level. It deals with the most advanced experiences in Europe on the various forms and mechanisms of social dialogue at this level and their implications for job creation policies and local development. The study has been prepared under the supervision of Giuseppe Casale, Senior Social Dialogue Specialist, and has benefited from the contributions of Dr. Henri Pinaud, Senior Research Coordinator at the CNRS, Paris, and Prof. Marco Biagi, Director of the Centre for International and Comparative Studies, University of Modena e Reggio Emilia. Of course, the responsibility for opinions expressed in this report rests solely with their authors.

Geneva, November 2001

Patricia ODonovan Director InFocus Programme on Strengthening Social Dialogue

First Part

The international debate on social dialogue at the local level: recent trends and issues.

1.

Introduction
This study focuses on the theme of social dialogue at the local level. In particular, we refer to examples of especially significant experiences of social dialogue at the subregional or local levels, other levels such as the national level having already received extensive treatment in other publications.1 In this report we will also look at the effects of the internationalisation of the markets on growth, localism, and peculiarities that become factors of adaptability to the rules and disciplines on the supranational level2. In this context, we are dealing with issues like how cities and regions should use their devolved and decentralised powers to respond to new global trends and forces taking into account the principle of sustainable development, and, more specifically, what role should the State play. The fact that change occurs faster than ever in the economic operating environment and is increasingly difficult to be predicted has led to todays emphasis on local development. The slogan Think globally, act locally has become very fashionable.3 Employment policies are, from this point of view, a privileged ground for assessing the supranational and local interrelations. As recently pointed out,4 the development of local policy implies: a. The optimisation of local competitive advantages such as the establishment of human and social capital and providing the appropriate institutional infrastructures including technological institutes The promotion of local entrepreneurship and inward investment by improving the investment environment Fighting social exclusion and other employment barriers to increase living standards Encouraging cooperation between states, regions, municipalities, and other social partners.

b. c. d.

Before analysing the various examples at the local level with an emphasis on job creation policies, it should be noted, as an introductory remark, that the concept of social dialogue covers a wide range of notions and practices. R. Hyman in a recent ILO5 document gives a fairly exhaustive definition. In the view of this author the most common use of the term is simply another name for labour relations, including collective bargaining as well as the other means of arriving at an agreement between management and union representatives, while another interpretation of social dialogue restricts the term to the process of exchanging information and points of view, a process which may in the long term lead to successful negotiations without constituting negotiations as such. According to this author this concept may also refer to an institution (for example an Economic and Social Committee) whose purpose is to encourage consensual or mutually beneficial interaction or a policy of partnership between management and unions and avoidance of conflict. Finally, following the numerous declarations of the Copenhagen Summit to which we will refer again below, we can add a fifth interpretation of social dialogue which refers to the involvement in decision-making processes of various organisations that further represent civil society and which are in a start-up phase more or less in conflict with well established institutions. In this study we deal mainly with the last three definitions.

2.

The importance attached to social dialogue by the 1995 Copenhagen Summit

Social dialogue was identified as one of the essential components of economic and social development highlighted by the United Nations World Summit held in Copenhagen in March 1995. This Summit, which was attended by more than a hundred heads of state or government and which been prepared in great detail, marked in our post Cold War era a turning point in the fight against poverty, unemployment and underemployment, exclusion and discrimination. The Copenhagen Summit resulted in a Declaration on social development and an Action Programme which includes ten principles. These have since become the basis for action on the part of the international organisations and part of their way of coordinating between themselves and with the actions of non-governmental organisations, national governments, regional and local governments or social partners.6 This Summit, where the three main items on the agenda were poverty, employment and social integration, coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. In his introductory Declaration, the President of the Summit, M. Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark, himself a former trade union leader, had laid the emphasis, amongst other things, on democratic participation and international cooperation based on partnership. He clearly affirmed that social progress could not simply arise out of the play of market forces. In paragraph 6 of the Copenhagen Declaration we read that economic development, social development and environmental protection are interdependent elements that lend strength to each other within the process of sustainable development.. The latter aims to increase well-being without destroying the natural environment or, in the terms of the Bruntland Report to the UN in 1997, it concerns a form of development that corresponds to present needs without compromising the capacity of future generations to reply to their own needs.7 From the outset this Declaration, which applies as much to industrialised countries as to developing and transition countries, emphasises the responsibility of governments and of all the sectors of civil society (paragraph 7). It points out that poverty and unemployment too often lead to marginalisation and violence and in particular that too many young people, including those with qualifications, have very little hope of finding productive employment, and at the same time in all countries, elderly persons are often particularly vulnerable to social exclusion (paragraph 16). A whole series of problems received mention, such as problems relating to drugs, organised crime and corruption (paragraph 20) or insecurity in general and serious illnesses like tuberculosis, malaria or AIDS (paragraph 22). It also states that the international community, the United Nations Organisation, the multilateral financial institutions, all the regional organisations and the local authorities, as well as all the actors in civil society should contribute, by their efforts and the resources that they mobilise, to reducing inequalities both within a country and between countries (paragraph 27). The first of the ten principles solemnly stated at the Copenhagen World Summit recall the rights to education, to employment, to health provision and to housing (1a and 1f) and also the guarantee of basic social protection (2g), especially in order to help all those who live in poverty, the handicapped, migrants, refugees and other disadvantaged groups. The concept of decent work , to which we return below, was 5

already behind principles such as the one demanding the increase of suitable jobs that are sufficiently well paid (3a). To this end such a principle calls for investment in fully exploiting human resources, including through in-house training, and for support for independent workers, for the spirit of enterprise and for the development of SMEs and micro-enterprises, by granting loans and other facilities. Improving working conditions, an issue raised for example in paragraph 44 of the Action Programme arising from the Copenhagen Summit, is not the only improvement mentioned but is certainly the one that affects all the conditions of living (paragraph 55 of the programme deals with both these aspects), since health has already been mentioned above and the problem of housing is mentioned several times. In the same spirit section f) encourages those policies that make it possible to reconcile paid work and family responsibilities". Inequalities between men and women are repeatedly mentioned, particularly in the fifth principle, on access to education, to training and to health services, (paras. c) and d). In general, decentralisation, participatory democracy and social dialogue both with the social partners employers and workers organisations - and with men and women in civil society and the representatives of the various sectors of civil society are at the very heart of the strategies and actions advocated by this World Summit to realise the agreed objectives.8 Thus para. 1c) calls for a policy of decentralisation and open management of public institutions where ordinary citizens and local authorities receive greater means to develop their organisations, their resources and their own activities. Point g) also mentions for example cooperation in formulating and applying macroeconomic policies. For its part the fifth principle, which focuses on equality of the sexes, encourages men and women to participate in social, cultural, economic and political life and particularly in the preparation, application and follow-up of government policies and programmes, adding in point b) decision-making processes at all levels and local organisations". The tenth principle which calls for a spirit of partnership between the UN and other international or regional institutions also asks at the national level for a wide appeal to all sectors of civil society". The Action Programme that follows the Copenhagen Declaration also emphasises the need for participation,9 stating for example in Section I paragraph 7 that all members of society should take an active part in the affairs of the community or demanding in the following paragraph a spirit of solidarity, partnership and cooperation that is more marked at all levels. This paragraph also underlines the importance of protection and preservation of the natural environment10 in the context of sustainable development centred on human being, and also the importance of recognising pluralism and diversity, in particular of religions and cultures. Social dialogue to which there are numerous references in the texts adopted at the Copenhagen Summit of 1995 clearly appears therefore as a fundamental element in all the various aspects of human development; this is particularly relevant in policymaking and all the measures destined to achieve the associated objectives. Thus social dialogue is at the basis of decent work 11 which became the main ILO programme launched in 199912 and to which we will return in the course of this discussion.

At the Copenhagen Summit considerable emphasis was placed on the importance of following up the recommendations, particularly on the part of the UN Economic and Social Committee and the United Nations General Assembly, by proceeding in particular to a global evaluation during the year 2000 of the results obtained. This became the agenda for a special session of the General Assembly and the content of a Detailed report on implementing the World Summit on Social Development.13 It is true that since 1995 considerable progress has been made, for example improvements in the area of employment coupled with a favourable economic situation (now alas on the decline again) in many Member States of the OECD, without including the grave crisis that has afflicted Asia, Africa and various countries in South America and the Caribbean, but the objectives and undertakings of the Copenhagen Summit have lost nothing of their relevance and it is unanimously acknowledged that there remains a great deal to accomplish. Public opinion, influenced by the media, has the impression that the gulf between favoured and disfavoured groups is widening, and that the violence and insecurity mentioned at the Summit are on the increase in certain places. A certain democratic deficit due amongst other things to a lack of confidence in the existing institutions and to various corruption affairs or to problems in food or in public health result in very low turnouts at elections. Experts are constantly looking into the question why economic growth does not necessarily produce an equivalent improvement in employment. Thus a very rapid growth in a country where the inequalities are very marked will mainly benefit the better-off, whereas a more modest growth in a more egalitarian country may have a real impact on the lives of the poorest section of the population. Be that as it may, it is above all the advance of globalisation accelerated by subcontracting and increasing freedom of trade, already underlined at the abovementioned Summit14, that have been the cause of controversy and protests, especially at the recent summits of the industrialised countries since Seattle or since Nice. At present, the consequences of globalisation are being studied at the International Labour Organisation, which was recognised by the Copenhagen Summit as having a special role because of its tripartite structure, its experience and its competencies.15 The ILO has a working group on the social dimension of globalisation which has already published some important documents.16 However, this vast subject requires months of further work and possibly the setting up of a special top level world commission, as proposed by the Director General of the ILO.

3.

Divergences, points of agreement and difficulties in the international action

Although this is a difficult task we shall attempt below to summarise the points on which there are different positions and those on which there is agreement; then we shall discuss the role of the main international institutions and coordination of their action, as requested at Copenhagen, in order to achieve a framework for integrated study and development, as well as a strategic framework for the struggle against poverty and social exclusion. Structural adjustment policies, for example in Africa, expressed in particular by a detachment of the State and in general by a transition towards a market economy, have not always been followed by a rapid improvement in the economy and in the standard 7

of living, some essential public services in sectors such as education or health having been even worse financed than before: civil servants or public sector employees who lost their jobs sought means of subsistence and added their numbers to the so-called informal or non structured sector. If we are to be efficient and competitive, especially in the context of globalisation, some would say that the rich countries need forced deregularisation and a reduction in costs (particularly of labour) accompanied by rapid change; whereas the view of the unions and of various other experts is that economic efficiency and productivity both in quantity and quality are based on social guaranties, including a minimum wage, and the maintenance of collective bargaining and social protection are indispensable. Nevertheless the fear of social dumping persists, kept alive by announcements of collective redundancies and relocations, not to mention stock exchange ups and downs at a time of great volatility in the movements of capital. Well before the founding of the World Trade Organisation a number of developing countries displayed their opposition to any social clause in international agreements and commercial exchanges, seeing in them a form of protectionism, and the controversy has not died down at a time when the same countries are trying to get comparative advantages, not only for agricultural produce, even though generally this brings in very little, but also for industrial products and, with the new information and communication technologies, for the services sector (distance accounting, etc.). However, it is generally admitted that globalisation is rich in possibilities as regards growth, the creation of wealth and an increase in revenue, but its social implications are giving rise to more and more anxiety. Its impact on social stability, employment, equality and labour standards is the subject of debate in many international arenas.17 As for social dialogue in the sense with which we are using it in this paper and in the form in which it was so urgently demanded in paragraphs 85 and 86 of the Copenhagen Action Programme with regard to the participation of ordinary citizens, not only is it sometimes rather open to question given the problems that employers and workers organisations are meeting in various countries,18 but above all the desired representation of ordinary citizens quite commonly presents problems to which we will return below, although a certain number of solutions exist and have been tested out. Be that as it may and accepting that we should of course proceed to adaptations, the principles launched by the Copenhagen Summit, even with the growing risk of digital fracture between countries or generations that use the technologies of the new economy to a great or to a lesser extent, remain an essential basis for consensus on an action directed at combating poverty and exclusion and promoting decent work and minimum guarantees of job security and social protection. Already this Summit had been preceded by other big meetings such as the World Summit on children which took place in New York in 1990,19 the Rio Conference in 1992 on the environment and development,20 or the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in June 1993, and followed not long afterwards in Beijing by a Conference devoted to womens rights and their condition and by the Ostend Conference in 1997 on the role of the North/South social economy in relation to the cooperatives (production, consumer, housing, transport, savings and loans, etc.) and in relation to the complementary health schemes and other non profit-making bodies. The Copenhagen Summit itself referred to fundamental texts such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948; the 1996 International Pact on economic, social and cultural rights, ratified by 139 countries; the International

Convention on the eradication of all forms of racial discrimination and the Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination with regard to women. We should also mention the European Social Charter, adopted many years ago by the Council of Europe, which since 1998 has had a European Committee for Social Cohesion, and we should also mention the Charter on the fundamental social rights of workers adopted more recently by the European Union. Note that the EU has also taken on the principle of subsidiarity, whereby problems should be resolved as far as possible at the level at which they occur. In 1977 the ILO had already adopted an important tripartite Declaration of principles on multinational enterprises and social policies and around the same period the OECD published guidelines on the same enterprises. A further Declaration by the ILO21 relative to principles and fundamental rights at work and its sequel, adopted in 1998, drew together the fundamental obligations of the Member States, whether or not they had ratified the corresponding International Conventions on labour. These relate to forced labour and child labour, freedom of association, right to collective bargaining, equal pay for equal work and elimination of discrimination at work. This is similar to principle 3i) of the Copenhagen Declaration. Of course, labour standards should not in any way be used for protectionist commercial ends. Not long before (in 1996) the Ministers Conference of the WTO in Singapore had renewed the undertaking of the Member States to observe core labour standards that are internationally recognised; it recalled the competency of the ILO to establish these standards and guarantee their application and it reaffirmed its support for the activities of the ILO in the promotion of the said standards, already insisting that the standards may not be used for protectionist purposes. In this regard, it should be mentioned that the OECD reports of 1996 and 2000, did not find a significant relationship between export performances and non-observance of the fundamental international labour standards.22 The Global Compact,23 launched by the United Nations Secretary General at the Davos World Economic Forum, encouraged the business world to apply various fundamental values concerning human rights, labour standards and environmental practices, including the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining as well as social dialogue in general. The IOE, the International Chamber of Commerce, the World Industry Committee for Sustainable Development and the ICFTU participated in this initiative. Various studies24 have shown that factors such as macro-economic policies result in regular non-inflationary growth without excessive sacrifices. Redistribution fiscal policies, the extent to which product markets are regulated, in some cases monetary measures, the usefulness of training or of active employment policies have more influence on employment than the above-mentioned rigidity imputed to social institutions. Furthermore, the remarkable results obtained by countries such as Denmark, Ireland or the Netherlands may be largely attributed to a social dialogue renewing their regulations, their policies and their institutions. The World Bank itself has argued that globalisation has heightened the need for institutions that contribute to lowering inequalities of income and to guaranteeing a network of social security to persons rendered more vulnerable by the new environment and it launched a participative integrated framework for development at the local, national and international levels, with the aim of reconciling healthy macro-

economic and financial management and sound social, structural and human policies.25 In a general manner the traditional specialisation amongst international institutions that deal either with economic or with social problems is showing a tendency to diminish and there is now a United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) to coordinate their actions (see also <http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/dgo/messages/acc.htm>). The United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), itself convinced of the importance of social dialogue, has for example launched a series of national reviews on full employment policies which have been published in a summary report. This work was done by a special inter-institutional team responsible for employment and viable modes of subsistence, with whom the UNDP also actively collaborated. The ILO and the World Bank were associated at the Millennium Summit (see http://www.un.org/millenium/index.html) on the initiative of the United Nations Secretary General to create a network for discussion on youth unemployment. For its part UNCTAD has studied the effects of globalisation on poverty. Other institutions like the IMF, FAO, WHO, UNIDO, UNICEF and UNESCO offer their collaboration. This makes the implication of various key ministries much easier. It is also worth noting the forum for an exchange of views provided by the web site of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. Two quotations taken from the document of the ILO Governing Body, already mentioned, (GB.279/WP/SDG/2) seem to us to provide a good summary of the place taken by this theme in the international debate: ...an integrated approach to economic and social policies... in the context of globalisation ... cannot be a ready-made formula but must be the fruit of a process implying a dialogue between organisations whose purpose it is to concern themselves with economic and social questions and In making ourselves the advocates of reinforcing the rights of workers and their representation at all levels at the workplace and at the local, regional and national level I think that we can go much beyond a simple improvement in efficiency. The unions and the other forms of self organisation of the people are the key to democratic development (address by Joseph Stiglitz to the Industrial Relations Research Association in January 2000). One of the main difficulties of representing civil society in this way to the social partners in a bipartite or tripartite dialogue is the multiplicity of the organisations taking part in this dialogue and how they are represented. It is true that several national economic and social Committees have gone beyond the usual tripartite framework. This has been the case in France for quite a long time and more recently in Spain and Portugal.26 The usual criteria for representation based amongst other things on the number of members do not necessarily carry the same weight in relation to other criteria such as competency. The procedures for selecting organisations to take part in the discussion forums should take account of this. This multiplicity may perhaps be overcome to a certain extent using the long international experience of the concept of most representative organisations27 with criteria such as independence and experience or territorial extent). It would also be possible to rotate the representatives of the various organisations and call in experts or qualified personalities as we see below. More recently there have been tendencies towards grouping, at least in order to present a candidate. Thus in Europe a platform of European NGOs concerned with social questions, bringing together some 25 European NGOs and grouping thousands of institutions and networks in the

10

associations sector, was set up in September 1995.28 This platform signed common declarations and positions with the Economic and Social Committee of the European Community (ESC). The issues which we have just mentioned are not therefore new and it would be profitable to consult the report entitled Tripartite consultation at the national level on economic and social policies submitted in 1996 to the 83rd session of the International Labour Conference.29 The document30 went as far as to point out that participation by other representative groups in a tripartite social dialogue could encourage the unions to take a wider view of economic and social problems and to take more account of the interests of disadvantaged groups and those on low incomes. By taking into account the above mentioned international debate on social dialogue and local development, we will now look at selected experiences which are centred at the local and regional level. In so doing we will bear in mind that the documents presented in 2000 to the United Nations General Assembly concerning the follow-up of the Copenhagen World Summit said that partnerships with organisations representing civil society and their members and decentralisation and participation on the part of the local authority are important institutional mechanisms which now make a substantial contribution to realising the objectives of the Summit .31

11

Second Part

Selected Experiences on the role of the Economic and Social Councils at the local level

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4.
4.1

Selected Experiences at the Local Level: The Role of Economic and Social Councils.
The ESC of Issy les Moulineaux This commune in the close suburbs of Paris is well-known in the history of aeronautics because of the records set by Farman and the Voisin brothers. At the end of the XIXth century agriculture in this area gave way to various industries, including tobacco production. Prior to its present development, from the beginning of the 1960s, following the trend at the time, there was a departure of the most polluting industries, and today, after having been a vast "industrial wasteland" of 40 hectares, this commune has become a pole of tertiary activities, with television companies, big telecommunications companies and others using the new information and communication technologies (NICT) facilitated by an underground fibre optic network (in the existing drains) for telephone and Internet connections (local optical loops). Since January 2000 Issy les Moulineaux even has a choice of two means of broadband access to the Internet (ADSL and cable). Under the influence of the man who has been Deputy Mayor since 1980, Mr. Andr Santini, the local council decided in 1989 to elect an Economic and Social Council.

4.2

General information on Issy les Moulineaux In 1999 the population stood at around 53,000 of whom just over 22% were under 20 and nearly 36% were between 20 and 39 years old. At present there are some1,900 companies in the private and public sectors registered here (that is if one includes the tradesmen and the self-employed) bringing in a total of 58,000 jobs, of which nearly 20% are in the new technologies and more than half in the services sector, including advertising, newspapers, etc. In spite of this, the rate of local unemployment is 3 points above the national average. The drive to improve local services, in particular urban transport, and for green spaces and planning along the banks of the Seine have resulted in a construction boom. Apart from housing, schools and other buildings, the business park is a very good illustration of this, going from 80,000 m2 in 1985 to 700,000 m2 in 1998 with a rate of occupation of 97%. This commune has developed on the basis of some 14 development zones ( zones d'amnagement concert - ZAC). Recently, the population has been encouraged in various ways to use the new technologies and particularly the Internet, including in the Mairie (local authority offices), in a cybermarket in the youth centre and a cyber tea shop in the senior citizens club. An "interactive municipal council" was set up which enables 5,000 residents with cable connections (who either have a digital link or if they have not can go to the youth centre which stays open specially for the purpose) to attend the debates or participate live by telephone (on a freecall number), by e-mail or by minitel. Comments or questions that are put to the council are, if possible, examined during the breaks in the session. The press has spoken not only of direct democracy, but of "edemocracy", drawing a parallel with a similar experiment in a semi-rural commune where traditional attitudes made it much less open to innovation.

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4.3

The ESC: creation, composition, organisation and mode of functioning The ESC was voted in by the local council on 20 April 1989 and was renewed in November 1995. It has 75 members, of whom 48 are directly elected by the population, following several notices in the local paper, and 27 are appointed by the Mayor on the basis of their competency. The electors sign up on a special electoral roll which has 8 socio-professional colleges: 1) industry, small, medium and micro enterprises; 2) tradesmen, artisans, self-employed; 3) liberal professions; 4) employees, civil servants and public agents working in the commune; 5) employees, civil servants and public agents working outside the commune; 6) associations; 7) families, students, senior citizens, health and solidarity workers; 8) migrants. All the electors have to do is to sign up regularly on the electoral roll for the locality (providing evidence of their activity or of belonging to a certain college), except in the cases of categories 1 and 8. In the first college, evidence of permanent employment in Issy les Moulineaux is required, while in College 8 the elector must produce a residence permit and proof of a local address32. The candidates may not be existing members of the local council nor local authority employees. A retired person may be a candidate in the first 3 colleges and, although less available, some young managers have stood for election. In 1995, for the second term, there were a total of 250 on the register but fewer voters. Several colleges did not in fact reach their full quota of representatives. The mandate is for 6 years. The ESC meets in plenary session at least 3 times a year. This body, whose purpose is to liaise with administrators, discuss issues and make proposals, is responsible for providing the Chairman, the Mayor of Issy les Moulineaux, with reports, opinions or reviews on topics of an economic, social or daily nature which he asks them to examine, leaving aside any ideological distinctions. The members of the ESC may ask the Mayor, via the elected vice-president, to include on the agenda any topic to do with life in the local community, having first justified its importance. In all cases the Mayor is the sole receiver of the ESC reports and the only person who may authorise their publication. They may however be consulted in the local authority offices like any other administrative document. The councillors are divided into 5 committees of 15 members each: 1) development, environment, town planning, standard of living, housing, safety; 2) transport, traffic; 3) family, health and social care; 4) urban activities, education, youth, sports, leisure; 5) economic development and information technology, vocational training, consumption. If a member is absent from committee meetings or the council 3 times in a row, he forfeits his status should a request for an explanation on the part of the Chairman or the Vice Chairman remain without a satisfactory reply for 2 weeks. The local authority pays the allowance due to the Vice President and the committee chairmen; other members normally serve voluntarily. The local authority provides the means, the premises and staff required.

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4.4

Activity report During the first term of office (1990-1995), 27 reports were submitted by the ESC to the Chairman, dealing amongst other matters with better access to employment, homecare for the elderly, environment, handicapped persons in town and development of economic activities on the housing estate. During the second term, up until June 2001, 13 reviews have been carried out of which a particularly important one is entitled "A Policy for Sustainable Development". The review for the policy on sustainable development was carried out in 1998 with reference to the European Commission green paper on the urban environment and the European Charter on sustainable cities adopted at Aalborg in 1994. In the wider perspective, sustainable development was seen in this case as a concept of harmony and the search for balance in an urban development desired by the inhabitants and suited to the resources at their disposal, a balance that needs to be found between economic and social elements, between environment and development, between development and natural capital on which it is founded, between the use that is made of this capital and maintaining its level. Amongst the problems raised were the issues of water, waste, noise (for example, laying suitable road surfaces), the quality of the air, public transport and the use of private cars and car parks. Already more than a quarter of the housing is supported by the local authority. A communal action plan was proposed, to include the struggle against poverty. The citizens are considered as the co-actors in sustainable development, through meetings in the quartiers (small urban districts) and discussion with the other local authorities, especially at departmental (provincial) and regional level. This report introduced a new approach without competing with existing institutions like the Employment Centre (Agence nationale pour l'emploi - ANPE) of fostering personal contacts to facilitate communication between job seekers and employers trying to recruit. The effect of this was a simultaneous drop in unemployment and in registrations at the ANPE. There is also a regular counselling session to welcome, inform and direct young people aged 16 to 25 who have no job and no training. In addition, an "integration hostel", run by the local centre for social action for the long term unemployed, tries to keep up habits of cleanliness and punctuality, provides literacy classes if necessary and where possible directs people towards small jobs that are quite legally remunerated, assisted in this by associations for reintegration into work and by an association that provides domestic help. The creation of an employment assistance centre and a loose structure for information, advice and training have been suggested to improve information and reduce the gap between supply and demand in the labour market. Several elements need to be taken into account in trying to make an evaluation of the activity of the ESC at Issy les Moulineaux. The first is a certain difficulty it experiences in finding its place within the organisations of the local authority, especially with regard to the municipal council, a problem which we will find elsewhere with regard to elected representatives at other levels. Although the ESC is in fact only elected by a relatively small number of inhabitants and its role is distinctly that of a "think tank" working in a spirit of local partnership and largely calling on ordinary citizens, the elected council may be afraid of the ESC giving way to the temptation to compete and to play a political role reflecting the opinions of the opposition or of the majority, the latter possibly fearing that the opposition might claim as their own certain ideas launched by the ESC. The members of the ESC are

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always mindful of possible conflicts in legitimacy and this latent fear explains the reticence of elected councillors and sometimes makes it difficult for the local authority to take into account the analyses and proposals of the ESC. Yet the instigator of this ESC had from the outset emphasised in the press that elected local councillors are more and more removed from reality and overloaded with work The local council has become the arena for purely formal democracy where with some very rare exceptions the majority and the opposition vote respectively for and against the cases put forward by the mayor. But all the discussion and decision-making has already taken place beforehand, in the various committees. For its part, the founding Charter of the ESC asks its members to observe the prerogatives of the local council without attempting to substitute for them, to involve themselves in their affairs or put pressure on them, and to work "pleasantly, courteously and with respect for [other] opinions". Another factor is lack of recognition on the part of the public. The fact that the mayor is the only person empowered to instruct the ESC and all ESC reports are passed back to the mayor, coupled with the fact that none of the reports have ever been published gives the public a rather hazy idea of this body, of what it does and of its results and might encourage the idea that the deliberations of the ESC simply serve the objectives of the mayor. This absence of recognition on the part of the electorate may also be a source of frustration for the members of the ESC. Moreover, as with ESCs at other levels, follow-up remains a problem which requires some special attention. A poor return in terms of realisation on the heavy investment made by the members of the various committees (surveys, including grass roots, discussion, proposals) may lead to discouragement and loss of motivation. These various difficulties can no doubt explain the high turnover of members of the ESC during a term of office, although the rotation of the general public is also very marked, as high as 19% between two surveys. It may also be that individual ideas affect the issue, together with delays due to constraints of all kinds (financial, administrative, etc). In any case, whatever the composition of an ESC, it cannot nowadays offer all the competencies required by the growing diversity of the topics to be dealt with, but it can call in or collaborate with external specialists. To overcome some of these obstacles, the ESC has just proposed to the Mayor a new internal rule which is expected to be adopted soon and which provides for better contacts with the elected councillors, in three phases: 1) after instruction, a meeting with the councillor in charge of the case and with competent civil servants to identify the problems, 2) first draft of the report and a further meeting to evaluate its appropriateness to the demand, 3) last meeting before the final draft and discussion with the members of other committees before the plenary session. In addition, a "citizens panel" on subjects of local interest, a tool for giving the alert, for reaction and aid in decision-making, representative of the population in the commune and which will be consulted every 3 months on the Internet is now being set up with the help of an independent institute (http://www.issy.com/panel/index.htm). It is also interesting to note the existence of groups such as a society for SMEs and SMIs, a Young Persons Municipal Council (Conseil municipal des jeunes) and a Council of Elders (Conseil des anciens). Finally, if the vulnerable populations are genuinely one of the main preoccupations of the ESC, when here as elsewhere they are for the most part hardly represented, the studies show that it is necessary to use intermediate structures to communicate

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effectively with them. For this reason all the resources supplied by these structures are used: a grocers shop supported by the social services with a social worker and volunteers (supplying low cost food and training in food hygiene), a residential hostel, omnipresent activity organisers in each quartier, doctors and pharmacists, especially for the elderly who are not familiar with the possibilities of home help or a short-term stay in a specialised home, and tradesmen with a "social vocation" of whom some have been trained as social workers.

5.

A trade union initiative to promote territorial social dialogue in the Arve

In September 2001, regional and local officers of the French trade union Confdration franaise dmocratique du travail (CFDT), the predominant workers organisation in the Arve Valley, organised a meeting for mutual reflection and dialogue on joint action and partnership projects that could be implemented in this geographical area to enable enterprises to develop their economic performance and at the same time provide social advantages for the workers, in particular improving recruitment, which had become more and more difficult, and suitable training, as well as living and working conditions, including for the long term unemployed and other excluded groups, although there are fewer of these in this zone than in other regions of the country. The initiative was followed up by nearly a hundred persons, amongst whom, apart from union members, there were company directors, especially of micro enterprises, including one representative of the general confederation of small and medium-sized enterprises (Confdration gnrale des petites et moyennes entreprises - CGPME), local elected leaders, often themselves head of a company, directors of local temporary job agencies, representatives of training institutions including a centre for block release training for apprentices, and a human relations officer who is very active in this region. An analysis of the problems and difficulties encountered was presented, together with possible solutions, by the union leaders instigating the meeting, by the departmental Director of Labour, Employment and Training, by a representative of the Regional Economic and Social Council (RESC) and the Director of a local branch of the Job Centre (Agence nationale pour lemploi - ANPE) who have all been working in this valley for twenty years or so. Moreover, two novel local experiences have been written up: that by a group of employers (groupement demployeurs pour linsertion et la qualification - GEIQ) in a neighbouring department, by their president, and that conducted in another labour market area, further away, by a representative of the CFDT.

5.1

Various characteristics of the Arve Valley At one end of the valley the two localities of Cluses and Scionzier used to share an old tradition of clock making. Today they have between them 600 companies which deal with thermal and surface treatments and constitute one of the world centres for machine cutting (manufacture of small parts, especially for the automobile industry, often subcontracted to SMEs or even to micro enterprises but with purchase orders from multinationals). Extending up to the Swiss frontier near Chamonix, one of the world centres for mountaineering, the other main activity is tourism, with some 1,000 establishments in the hotel and cafe/restaurant branch employing around 6,000 people. 17

In particular there are numerous ski stations and the season extends in more than one case to nearly 8 months. The food processing industry also has a small presence as do industrial services. With a rate of unemployment at 3 per cent and even less during the high tourist season (and therefore much below the national average) which economists tend to consider as a full employment situation, this region exerts a considerable attraction and its total population which is concentrated in urban areas has gone from some 143,000 inhabitants in 1990 to around 165,000 inhabitants in 2001. There is even a frequent shortage of labour, especially qualified labour, aggravated by those who leave to work in the Swiss canton of Geneva nearby but who must (if they have the status of border residents) continue to live in France, which only serves to worsen local housing problems. This region therefore suffers, from the paradox of, on the one hand, lacking manpower, especially fully qualified but sometimes even part or entirely unqualified or of having difficulty keeping staff, and, on the other, of having a hardcore of unemployed, especially long term and the socially excluded, some of whom are migrants from the period of economic boom or their descendants who have adaptation difficulties (literacy, failure at school, etc.). In addition, the gulf is widening between the generations, many young people preferring not to work for 3 or 4 months a year because they can easily get another job through one of the many local temporary job agencies, where they are very quickly eligible for a job insecurity allowance and for paid leave. This phenomenon is accentuated by strong seasonal and economic variations which are hardly propitious for offering permanent work contracts. So the temporary job agencies carry 70 per cent of the job offers. For this reason the ANPE for this region has one of the lowest figures of registered job seekers in France (2,900) and the length of registration is also short, with the exception of the group of long term unemployed mentioned above and a significant proportion (7 per cent of the job seekers) who are handicapped and who have difficulty finding work. As for management/union relations, this valley has remained marked by the traditional relationships, at best paternalistic, which used to characterise SMEs and micro enterprises. There has been talk of a union desert although the situation is changing as are attitudes33. What is more, there are only two labour inspectors and four controllers for 60,000 workers. Only about a hundred companies in fact have a works council and barely 90 establishments have workers representation. Only half the health and safety and work improvement committees (comits dhygine-scurit et damlioration des conditions de travail - CHSCT) that ought to exist are in fact in place. There is also a lack of proper reception structures for migrants, of medical structures and of council housing.

5.2

Discussion and given experiences In spite of the given problems, occupational training, for which the basic regulations go back about thirty years and which are complicated for small, medium and micro enterprises, is less developed than in the neighbouring departments or even in the whole of the Rhne-Alpes region. In spite of an expansion in private sector training, a need for solidarity has emerged amongst the public institutions to develop in-company training and block release in general as well as qualifying contracts for adults and

18

information on training possibilities for the best qualified workers and also for those with lesser qualifications. A mechanism to achieve social integration via economic means while providing social support has therefore been called for, taking more account of the practice of several different jobs or of pluri-activity as in other regions or in some big companies, and complementary jobs for seasonal workers (for example working on the roads in the summer after the ski season). Teaching should be improved, as should reception, the integration structures, follow-up and, where necessary, the literacy scheme. It has also been noted that deciphering technical drawings could pose unsuspected problems. The fact that actions and institutions are shut off from each other was cause for regret and there was a call for more partnerships. A possibility of employment at three quarter time was envisaged for the over fifty year-olds. The present job orientation was seen as insufficient or devalued, but one should nevertheless point out that a Rhne-Alpes Pole has been set up for orientation towards the undervalued occupations. It was also emphasised that human resources directors are frequently short of time but also that companies, in general, do not sufficiently analyse the potential of their employees, even to go as far as examining their curriculum vitae and their professional career. The representative of the Regional Economic and Social Council reminds all the time of the growing role of this body in promoting in-house training. Furthermore, they draw the attention to the usefulness of the action by the adult vocational training association Association pour la formation professionnelle des adultes (AFPA), in providing distance courses and suitable recognition of vocational knowledge to take more account of experience and less of formal qualifications. During this open forum meeting, some delegates expressed their disquiet about modernisation and relocations, but it was considered that for the moment it is mainly the unprofitable activities that are affected, enabling people to focus on core skills, rather as is the case in northern Italy. The representative of the CGPME said that his organisations committee for employment and training was going to call a meeting with the heads of schools and training colleges and with the teachers and students in order to promote machine cutting skills, mere visits to the companies not being sufficient. The disadvantages of SMEs and especially of micro enterprises compared to large companies in guaranteeing social advantages could be overcome by sharing the costs of this and of social work in general, as has been done in other branches. It is true that some workers may prefer to be in a small company but often there still remains the problem of fewer opportunities for development and for a career. In the experience described by one GEIQ, the activities in question are in transport, handling and storage which employ a high proportion of young people who have no qualifications, having failed at school. This group of companies for integration and qualification, with 30 to 500 personnel, was set up in one year by 4 companies, although 26 had been contacted at the outset, and they have now been joined by two others. The CFDT has strongly encouraged this initiative followed by the support of the ANPE at a time when recruitment by temporary employment agencies was widespread (17 agencies had opened in one single street). The responsibility for organising this group was handed on to firm specialising in human resources. The workers are employed by the group, who provide them with external training courses

19

in short modules between two working periods or in a vacant period. These training courses are followed up and adapted to the job forecasts. This opens up opportunities for promotion to the job of fork-lift truck operator, order expeditor or even wharf supervisor. Job descriptions were made out during the analysis of skills and needs, company by company, and these were used as the basis for training programmes. Many of the excluded have thus been able to be reintegrated alongside the students that this branch continues to employ. The existence of three GEIQs has been announced in a neighbouring department (in transport, the hotel industry and metallurgy) and the number is soon to go up to six, with a plan to give seats on their board to union leaders. The director of one temporary employment agency present at the meeting said that agencies of this type generally train the people they recruit and offer to the companies. There have in fact been some possible analogies drawn between these agencies and the GEIQs. As for the experience of Bressuire in Western France, a labour market area committee (comit de bassin demploi - CBE), with equal representation of local government, employers organisations and unions was set up in 1984 following new legislation in 1982. They first of all carried out an analysis of the local situation. 90 per cent of the industries are SMES with one company that is a subcontractor for the automobile industry employing over 1,000 personnel. The other branches of activity cover mainly furniture, the food processing industry, which is expanding with pre-cooked dishes and poultry farming, and the shoe and clothing industries. With such flexible structures it has been possible to launch very diverse actions: setting up training schemes; introduction of a parallel qualification in metallurgy; including equal representation job regrading units in the social plans which, coming in very quickly with the ANPE, have a high placement rate; promotion of womens employment in traditionally male jobs, many women having suffered from relocations in the clothing industry in particular, which has taken a long time but now works well; assistance for SMEs and micro enterprises to progress at the level of quality (ISO standards, territorial excellence), future reviews over 3 to 5 years of the age pyramid and the retirement age in order to adapt training courses, etc. One association has had a CHSCT for a year and is developing rural employment, where small farms are giving place to bigger ones. Here also, employers groups have started to appear. Altogether several hundred jobs have been created, bringing the unemployment level down to 3.3 pour cent, much below the national average. In addition, an employment conference is organised each year with the ANPE and the unions to try and promote various job sectors and reduce the difficulties of recruitment.

5.3

The Arves lesson Whatever the economic situation, which can never be relied upon to remain favourable, social dialogue has proved its efficacy, even though it is in fact not easy, as the instigators of this meeting have underlined, to listen to each other or even less so to question ones own approach. Diversified actions, however limited they are, provided that they are adapted to the local neighbourhood realities which is why decentralisation is so important -, can add up to results. Talking and acting together

20

employers, unions, local government and institutions creates links and allows progress, especially in a framework where it is easy to get to know each other and at a time of social reconstruction between unions and management. The reduction of the working week to 35 hours, which has recently been a little modified for micro enterprises, has itself provided the occasion to rethink methods of recruitment and the organisation of work.. It has been noticed that a lot of young people are not at all interested in working overtime. In SMEs and micro enterprises, the head of the company has so much to do that he cannot be expected to familiarise himself with social rights in more than his own case, just as the unions cannot be everywhere all at the same time. Thus the local equal opportunity committee would appear to be one of the structures on which one can particularly rely. All this shows that a union can go beyond its traditionally defensive role to participate in constructive actions, and even be a source of proposals to many other associations, such as the parents associations, and similar interest groups.

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6.

The Regional Economic and Social Council (RESC) of Rhne-Alpes

After various earlier experiments, France has had an RESC for each of its regions as part of its decentralisation process since 1972 (the present title goes back to an act of 1992). It is a socio-professional consultative body within the elected regional political assembly for debate and executive powers the Regional Council (Conseil rgional). The membership of an RESC varies from 40 to 110 depending on the size of the region. Therefore, France has nearly 1900 councillors who devote themselves to social dialogue and to the study of economic and social problems in the RESCs of the metropolitan areas, the departments or the overseas territories. The main characteristics of composition, organisation and mode of functioning can be seen in the following review of the Rhne-Alpes RESC.

6.1

Various characteristics of the Rhne-Alpes Region Considered the second most important Region in France from the economic and social point of view after Ile-de-France, this Region, which covers 44,000 km2, has nearly 2900 communes grouped into 8 Departments with a total in 1999 of 5.6 million inhabitants, that is nearly 10 per cent of the population of metropolitan France. This population, younger than the national average, has been growing since 1990 at the rate of 0.6 per cent per year (compared to 0.4 per cent for the national average), which proves its attraction and its dynamism. The region is very heavily industrialised34, and has for a long time been oriented towards capital goods and intermediate or consumer goods, the main activities being metallurgy, the chemical industry, pharmaceutical products, the food processing industry, electrical and electronic components, plastics technology, textiles and household equipment, but these last few years the increase in employment has been mainly related to a development in industrial and personal services as well as in the transport and storage of goods. In 1996 the tertiary sector as a whole accounted for nearly 65 per cent of the total added value. This region has an extensive network of small and medium-sized and micro enterprises, partly due to subcontracting and to a flourishing craft industry (nearly 12 per cent of the businesses in this sector for the country as a whole). In March 1999 the rate of unemployment was 1.5 points below the national average. Agriculture still has a certain importance, with some 58,000 farms in 1998, especially fruit and wine growing along with stock raising, including poultry and pig farming. As we see in the case of the Arve Valley tourism, including winter sports, is also widespread, to the extent that in 1999 RhneAlpes was the 3rd most important tourist region in France, with 82,000 directly paid jobs, representing an increase of 40 per cent by comparison with 1990. Rented council housing accounted for 20 per cent of all the housing in the region, with an increase of nearly 17 per cent between 1990 and 1998.

6.2

Creation, composition, organisation and mode of functioning of the RESC From 103 members, elected as in the other RESC for a 6-year term, the membership is going up to 116. The representatives of the region in an RESC are divided in categories. The large majority of the seats are attributed to representatives of industry/ employers organisations and unsalaried occupations (industry, commerce, trade, agriculture, liberal professions, banks, etc.) and to the representatives of the trade unions represented at national level. A quarter of all seats go to representatives of organisations taking part in the collective life of the region in the areas of family, health and social welfare, cultural activities, sport, tourism, the environment, research,

22

etc. Five per cent at the most of an RESC are specially qualified personalities who because of their position or their activities contribute to regional development and are nominated by the prefect (Prfet) of the region. The representatives of the economic and social categories are named in a prefects decree which takes account of the nominations proposed by the respective social organisations. Other nominations in the cultural, sports or social areas, for example, are made in agreement with various institutions or associations.35 The same applies to the liberal professions, retired persons or farmers and to certain public services. Other groups are already present in this RESC are the regional union of family associations, the retired, the universities and the select higher education establishments (grandes coles), parents with school age children, the regional consumers centre (centre technique rgional de la consommation), the national housing confederation (confdration nationale du logement), the wildlife protection group (fdration de protection de la nature), complementary medical schemes, workers production cooperatives, etc. The President is elected for 3 years. He is assisted by a Bureau to organise tasks, coordinate the activities of the committees and prepare the plenary sessions, which are open to the public unless the Bureau decides otherwise. An Office of ten or so with a director, official representative, researcher and secretaries are responsible for the preparation and follow-up of the RESCs work, and the work done by its committees36 and working groups. The RESC is allocated a separate regional budget. The attendance allowance paid to its members is to be replaced by a monthly salary. While some RESCs have created sections with a maximum of 30 members of whom two thirds must be from the RESC, the one in Rhne-Alpes has instituted a working group for communication and two discussion groups: one on provision for elderly persons in difficulty, the other on the gap between supply and demand in jobs. The committees are empowered to call in external persons such as civil servants or experts and also to pay visits on site. This RESC holds about 7 plenary sessions a year when it votes on its opinion papers and reports, which are sometimes subject to amendment and often to a vote or a reserve. Referral to an RESC is compulsory in certain cases (draft plans and annual progress reports, various financial planning documents or master plans affecting the region or plans for areas where this body has a particular competency such as vocational training and regional planning). The RESC may also receive requests for opinions or reviews, formulated by the President of the Regional Council, on any project of an economic, social or cultural nature. In addition, the regional Economic and Social Council can at its own initiative publish an opinion on any question that comes into the competency of its region (self-designation). It has happened, particularly for time reasons, that a request for an opinion is passed to the Bureau on topics that are listed restrictively in the internal rules. According to the rules, any member of an RESC whose absences without explanation from half of the sessions at least have been noted over the course of one year by the Bureau may be declared by the Prfet of the region, on the motion of the Bureau, as having resigned from his post. In practice, there are more discrete ways of proceeding to the request for a member to resign. 6.3 Activity Report of the RESC Over the last few years, many subjects have been dealt with by this RESC. Among others, they are: forecast developments in employment and qualifications up to the

23

year 2015; the regional economic situation; employment in the rural areas; public information on setting-up or taking over a business; business development, employment and occupational integration; innovation as a factor in setting up and developing a business, a system for education and environmental planning; orientations in vocational training; technology transfer and local development; alleviating the causes of job exclusion; the living conditions of seasonal workers in the tourist centres; conditions for developing block release training and apprenticeships in further education; prevention of risk behaviour in young people; small industries and other small businesses. In addition we should recall that the RESC is involved in the evaluation procedures for regional policies, which covers for example the policy for economic development and its contribution to employment or the housing policy. In the context of requests for an opinion or for a review formulated by the President of the Regional Council, we may note that the Rhne-Alpes RESC has pronounced on the living conditions of students, on vocational orientation, on improving the effectiveness of the vocational training programme and on the application at the regional level of the youth employment scheme. On its own initiative it has reported on topics such as the disparity of development schemes within the region, developments in the educational system and provision for the elderly. On the whole we can say that a third of their opinion papers and reports were self-generated whereas previously this proportion was half, this figure being due to the increase in the number of requests, in particular concerning transport and environmental development. It is obviously difficult in a short review such as this one to summarise the key points.37 Nevertheless, we may note, essentially on the basis of the opinion paper and report on the draft performance agreement between the State and this region for 20002006 (notwithstanding a very short consultation time but with a mid-term proposal for a budget estimate), and the opinion paper and report of November 2000 on the broad orientations for the 2001 budget, that amongst the topics dealt with by this RESC there feature: environment (waste disposal, water treatment, controlling pollution arising from farm breeding, promoting renewable energy, etc.); coordination between rail and urban transport together with the so-called low cost car parks, as well as public transport in general and the road network; quality of life, green spaces, socio-cultural facilities, neighbourhood shops, the desire for consultation with citizens and their associations, including the representatives of the tenants on council housing boards (habitations loyer modr - HLM); health; the elderly (home improvements for home care, home help training schemes); the handicapped (access to employment in a normal environment, to accommodation or to cultural facilities); equal opportunity policies for men and women and the proposal to set up a regional mission on this subject; promotion of sustainable development; support for new businesses, especially micro enterprises; increasing employment in local services. In general, it was noted that job insecurity is on the increase, particularly for young people, and one union leader noted that there is no automatic relation between growth and exclusion, which itself is on the increase. With regard to housing it was noted that the recommendation for mixing social groups proved difficult in practice. Among other committees opinions, there was one saying that orientation makes it possible to construct a vocational plan which, going beyond a life plan, improves for each individual their chance of succeeding in finding their place in our society and also aims to respond to economic and social needs.

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Among the vast production of published opinions of the RESC, there is the very weighty Opinion and Report of May 1997 on alleviating the causes of exclusion in youth employment (2 volumes). From this report at the most one can point out difficulties of expression in the young people who are the most in difficulty, illiteracy; the breakdown of family relationships; debt; health problems and poor housing; demotivation derived from failure at school; the lack of personal and vocational planning; the need for a more varied pedagogic approach and for an education in civics, in adapting to society and to autonomy and training in constructive criticism, including via television; partnership between the integration organisation and the companies; the inadequacies of the present system of grading non academic experience only poorly compensated by in-house training. This opinion paper was approved by 88 votes with 12 abstentions. All in all the RESC has proved to be a valid institution for boosting social dialogue at the local level trying to support the setting up of new businesses and extending economic actions to micro enterprises, favouring the rural and mountainous areas, the sensitive urban areas and the industrial redevelopment areas.38

6.4

The RESCs lesson The RESC is merely a consultative body without any management responsibilities. It is not in competition with the elected local councillors although this point is not always fully understood but, being detached from the preoccupations of re-election and anchored in socio-professional and economic realities, can be of very real use to them, including in economic forecasting. As noted by P. Bodineau39 and others, the relationship between a regional council and its consultative assembly is that the RESC may be as withdrawn as the assembly is active whereas conversely some regional presidents are quite happy with a relatively low profile RESC. It is true that, even though in principle it is the Office who handle the public relations of RESC, the personality of the President and his relations with the local press can contribute greatly to the use to which the generally quality work done by the RESCs is put. Often their work does not receive enough notice in the press although sometimes there is an advantage in being able to work more discretely. The most adept politicians manage to use the RESC to test out an idea or unblock a conflict. Appointing itself may also be a means of pronouncing an opinion which has not been requested by the regional council on a topic one considers important or an opportunity to broach a subject which is rather delicate for this type of political assembly or even a long way removed from its usual preoccupations. In fact in most Regions the RESC is regularly invited to take part in the meetings of the Regional Council committees. No doubt some cases lack the necessary competencies, but one criticism has been that many Regions too often call in consultants, often from Paris, when on a number of topics it would be simpler to refer to the RESC, which is quicker and cheaper. This trend should diminish as this institution and the quality of its work becomes better known and appreciated.40 Finally it was noted in December 2000 that in France only one RESC was presided over by a union member and not a single one by a woman. Rotation of membership, which is desirable inasmuch as experience should also be taken into consideration, does not seem to be a problem in the Rhne-Alpes RESC as the rate of renewal of its members is around 50 per cent.

25

Finally we note that there is now a support and advisory structure to improve social dialogue in matters relating to working conditions for the whole of France41. In addition, the members of the RESCs are going to be invited to participate in the new regional conferences for regional planning and development (confrences rgionales damnagement et de development du territoire - CRADT) which will enhance, even further, the role of the RESC in local development.

7. The Economic and Social Council of the Republic and Canton of Geneva
Within the Confederation of Switzerland, which has 26 cantons and half cantons, the executive council or government of the Canton of Geneva the State Council has had an Economic and Social Council (ESC) for more than five years.

7.1

Various characteristics of the Geneva Canton This Canton of French-speaking Switzerland had a population of 403,000 at the end of 1998, that is some 5.6 per cent of the whole of the country, of whom 252,000 Swiss nationals and 151,000 foreigners, mostly European, as well as a large number of crossborder workers coming from France. This Canton consists essentially of a city that is known throughout the world, with a population of nearly 180,000, of suburbs often of a residential nature and surrounding countryside that is still largely given over to agriculture, especially wine growing. The main activities are a renowned banking sector, insurance and various financial services such as asset management, accountancy, financial advisory services, etc. often going under the label of fiduciary (fiduciaires), numerous lawyers chambers, as well as everything related to tourism (hotels and restaurants, agencies, etc.). A major sector of activity is represented by the international and intergovernmental organisations including the United Nations European Headquarters, the head offices of several of its specialised institutions (ILO, WTO, IOM, WMO, WHO, the High Commissions for Refugees and for Human Rights, etc.), CERN, WIPO, or non governmental organisations such as the Red Cross, numerous diplomatic missions, various international socio-professional organisations like the IOE or the IMF, not to mention various multinational companies of whom many have their European head office at Geneva. In spite of the predominance of the tertiary sector, including of course commerce and luxury goods stores, import-export, and big distribution chains and consumer cooperatives, a certain amount of industry remains, particularly in clockmaking. The rate of unemployment, because of various particularities of this canton, has always been higher than for Switzerland as a whole. Recently it oscillated between 4 and 4.5 per cent as opposed to 2 per cent in the national average. Socially, in spite of the relative opulence that characterises this region in relation to many others in the world, there remain some disadvantaged groups. For the whole country a recent estimate puts at 250,000 the number of people corresponding to the criteria of poverty that have been accepted.

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7.2

The Geneva ESC: creation, composition, organisation and mode of functioning The idea to establish a tripartite social dialogue body was put forward a few years ago by Christian democrats and Catholic Christian trade unions in Geneva. For historical reasons of particular local sensitivity to anything that might appear in any form whatsoever as corporatism, this idea only slowly caught on and was eventually put forward again in 1993 by the Geneva trade union action group Communaut genevoise daction syndicale (CGAS). Following one years deliberations a State Council ruling of June 1994 inaugurated this ESC for a period of 6 years and it started work in January 1995. Having proved its worth, this institution has been retained. The ESC is composed of a maximum of 60 persons representing the various economic, social and cultural strands of the Canton. It has a 6-year term. A third of the members are representatives of the unions, proposed by the CGAS; a third are representatives of the business world and employers, proposed by the Geneva employers union Union des Associations patronales genevoises (UAPG) and a third are personalities chosen by the Geneva State Council beyond canton administration duties, by reason of their knowledge or their involvement in the socio-economic issues. The organs of work are the plenary assembly, the Bureau of 12 members as an organ of preparation and the committees who may call in experts to assist them in their work. The Geneva ESC has a President and a Secretary General, drawn from the unions, both nominated by the ESC, and there is a secretariat. There are in fact no permanent committees but only ad hoc committees depending on the topics under review. There are at present several committees, among others, one is on the relations between the State and the associations sector, and another one on changes in the regional economy, the latter is working together with the Rhne-Alpes RESC. There is also an external committee for the evaluation of government policies whose purpose is to analyse the implementation and the effects of government policies. The ESCs reports are published after transmission to the State Council, accompanied in some cases by the results of a vote and with all the proposed amendments. Here also the ESC may be mandated or designate itself.

7.3

Activity report In 6 years the Geneva ESC has published 15 reports, of which 13 contain proposals and often an analysis of experiences elsewhere and various reviews.42 The arguments of the reports or reviews are frequently published in a regular Newsletter called: The ESC Letter. These arguments are presented in a summary form. Other times, certain topics are taken up again at big public conferences whose proceedings are generally published. It can also happen that a forum or a study day is organised before, during or after a particular ESC project. It should also be noted that this ESC will take part from now on in exchanges organised by the International Association of Economic and Social Committees and similar bodies, as well as in meetings with similar institutions, especially the ones of Rhne-Alpes, Franche-Comt, Italy, Luxembourg for exchanging experiences on cross border workforce and its impact on pay structures.

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7.4

The ESCs lesson One may usefully consult the recent complete evaluation file on this subject on the website www.geneve.ch/ces, as well as the above-mentioned newsletter. One of the major roles played by the ESC is that in a growing gap, given the speed of new means of communication, between the traditional democratic process and social changes, the establishment of a second parliamentary house, has given the opportunity to workers and employer representatives to confront themselves on a regular basis on the major economic and social challenges that the Canton of Geneva is facing. Thanks to dialogue and exchanges between the various interested parties it was possible to arrive at end results and to achieve an easier consensus or one that is at least less marked by petty political considerations. In this regard, a current debate is going on among the social partners on the possibility to enlarge the representation of different local actors in the ESC such as the environment groups, students associations, sport clubs, cultural associations, and so on. Under the new proposed law regulating the permanent statute of the ESC, the State Council and Parliament should in any event report on the follow-up of proposals that have been put forward, especially with regard to the representation of other interest groups. Concerning this representation aspect, it should be mentioned that it will not be an easy issue to be resolved, especially if we recall that in the Canton Geneva there are more than 2000 association which are assisted by the local authorities. Of course, the criterion of recognition varies and usually the public authority applies the one based on the considerable amount of work provided with real competence by a specific interest group. Yet, this is only one criterion which could not be so easily applied to different circumstances and situations.

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8.

Concluding remarks on local development and the role of the Economic and Social Councils: pitfalls and potentials
In the years after the Second World War, following a phase of unprecedented economic development, the State experienced a huge expansion in most of the industrialised capitalist countries which was expressed by a development of its machinery and of its areas of intervention, especially in the social domain. Up until the start of the 1970s, the term social dialogue generally covered the classic labour relations between employers and workers organisations, within a progressive legislative and statutory framework defined by the government. Following the first oil crisis in 1973, three big debates brought about a change in public management, the first on the respective roles of the state and of the market, a second on the difficulties experienced by administrative structures in adapting to the economic crisis and a third on the capacity of companies to support the welfare state (Hufty, 1998)43. This new liberal thinking opposed Keynes, advocating a return to laissez-faire, and a movement of new public management developed in an empirical fashion in the United Kingdom, in the United States and New Zealand, and in a more or less similar way in most of the OECD countries. The search for savings in public spending led governments to try and diminish and restrict their fields of intervention, to decentralise authority, to orient and stimulate instead of doing (Osborne, Gaebler, 1992)44. This withdrawal to a greater or lesser extent on the part of the state encouraged the emergence, alongside the traditional actors, of various types of organisations claiming to represent the ordinary citizens: associations representing a variety of interests, permanent or ad hoc, aided and organised or otherwise by the state, sometimes institutionalised like the ESCs, and at all levels, local, regional, national and international. These organisations can act as pressure groups, forums, think tanks, etc., the functions of the ESCs not being incompatible. In France, another consequence of the withdrawal of the state is the redefinition of the fields of intervention of unions and management, of the role of group policies in relation to the law and to the breaking up of collective agreements. This was the context of the encouragement at the Copenhagen Summit to "a very wide participation on the part of civil society, which should contribute extensively to the elaboration and application of decisions determining the mode of functioning and the well-being of the community". The experiences analysed in this study represent a new type of development of social dialogue enlarged to include all the constituent elements of civil society. As regards the ESCs, we can find several points in common in the origin, the composition, the preoccupations and the practice of the three ESCs described. Firstly, it is interesting to find a similar explanation of the reasons for setting up an ESC in all three examples: complexity of the prevailing problems, members of the national, regional and local governments overburdened with work, weakening of the powers of these assemblies and the need for a more participatory democracy. Secondly, there has been a visible attempt in all cases to set up institutions which if they are not representative in the strict sense of the term are at least significant in relation to the characteristics of the populations at risk in the social, economic, health and environment spheres. The mode of constitution is generally composite: part elected members, part nominated. The point is to bring together a lay public but close

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to the grass roots, complemented by experts, where a minimum infrastructure is supplied and where the members are asked to put into practice a "dialogue" form of democracy (Callon, Lascoumes, Barthe, 2001)45 in order to produce analyses, opinions and proposals that are as close to a consensus as possible. If this is not possible, at least the exercise is a source of understanding on the existing arguments and positions. Thirdly, the topics recently reviewed by the ESCs described above also reveal common concerns, very close to the preoccupations underlined at Copenhagen concerning social and living conditions "that are particularly threatened at a time of profound structural changes". It is striking that the reports requested of the three ESCs, which are so very different from each other (Issy les Moulineaux, RhneAlpes and Geneva), touch on the same problems and for the same populations: the conditions of education, training, employment, housing, transport, the environment (noise, waste and pollution, etc); the populations that are the most concerned in the reports are the most vulnerable, that is, give or take a few variations, the youngest and the oldest age groups, the handicapped, the unemployed, and in a more general fashion the poor; the subject of mixing populations is also often raised; the question of the reception and integration of migrants is particularly discussed by the ESC of the Canton of Geneva. The ESCs of Rhne-Alpes and of the Canton of Geneva both have committees for the evaluation of government policies. Fourthly, the three ESCs are confronted in the same way with two main problems of functioning. The first concerns their relations with the members of the elected political assemblies, who may appear wary for fear of being exploited by the ESCs or conversely try to manipulate the ESCs themselves. The second touches on rather poor recognition on the part of the public and often on the part of elected representatives, which results in their having a rather woolly idea of the work of the ESCs and the social usefulness/efficacy of their reports. But is this second difficulty not related to the first? This point brings us to the delicate problem of the concrete relations between delegation democracy and participatory democracy; the latter may enrich and nourish the former without actually replacing it. An enlarged form of social dialogue can also be found in local initiatives such as that of the Arve Valley where they try to organise meetings for dialogue and exchanges between the maximum number of actors whose socio-professional activities are relevant to a given theme. There is no question that in several European countries the process of decentralisation which begun at the start of the 1980s constituted at decisive turning point in the emergence or the resurgence of ESC endeavours. The transfer of power from the State to the local authorities has begun to replace sectional planning with global thinking based on cooperation between the various local actors; and one may quote other examples of regrouping spaces and participants.46 These examples illustrate the practical results of the Copenhagen Summit in their diversity, their difficulties and the major role of the State in setting up the conditions which have enabled them to develop and will continue to do so in the future.

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Third Part

Social Dialogue and job creation policies at the local level: selected European practices.

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9. Job Creation Policies and the Role of the State: Decentralisation v. Deregulation
In the third part of the report we will take a look at those main characteristics of local development, job creation strategies and the role of the social partners. However, before doing this, it is worthwhile to mention what the role of the state has recently been in the wider debate of decentralisation and deregulation. There are conflicting views on what should be the role of the State and social parties in the context of job creation policy. The OECD, for instance, strongly supports a market-oriented strategy to create new jobs and fight unemployment. This strategy could be defined in terms of State abstention, and in some ways reflects the US neo-liberal attitude toward the (de)regulation of the labour market. Since 1992 the OECD has undertaken a major Job Study to examine the fundamental aspects of the employment and unemployment in the OECD Member countries47 This study analyses the effects in numerous countries of a range of economic and labour factors on unemployment. Macroeconomic management, competition from low-wage countries, faster technological change and slow adjustment to new jobs and skills are just some of the factors examined. The OECD Jobs Study finds that much unemployment is the unfortunate result of societies' failure to adapt to a world of rapid change and intensified global competition. Laws, regulations, practices, policies, and institutions designed for an earlier era have resulted in labour markets affaires to be too inflexible for today's world. Based on this finding, the OECD set out a broad programme of action designed to deal with job creation policies. The OECD strategy is based on ten recommendations representing a balanced mix of macroeconomic and structural policies. According to these guidelines the state should work to create a climate that spawns entrepreneurship, and the rationalization and simplification of regulations to stimulate the creation of new enterprises, while removing bureaucratic policies and rules that hinder the creation or growth of new entities thereby strengthening the emphasis on active labour market policies and reinforcing their effectiveness. To prevent rising unemployment, wage, and labour costs policies should be more flexible and reflect local conditions and individual skill level. In these recommendations there is a very limited reference to the role of local authorities and social parties. However, the real purpose is to increase competition in the market. Employment will be a consequence of economic growth. In a way, one could say that the policies for employment are completely decentralized from the State level to individual economic initiatives. There is an idea that the states role as a topdown regulator should be changed to that of a listener, gatherer, and disseminator of information. First and foremost, the central government must be a strategic partner for local and regional actors. Contrary to this idea, the EU approach to unemployment is more articulated and still based on the pivotal role of the State in the implementation of an employment strategy. Since the publication in 1993 of the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment, the EU Commission has identified a number of features in the national employment systems that have resulted in the creation of fewer jobs a given 32

level of output, such as a slow adaptation to the new international division of labour and of the gap between the qualifications of the labour force and the needs of the market, insufficient flexibility of labour markets with respect to work organization, and statutory or conventional conditions that discourage business from taking on employees, wage increases not leaving enough scope for employment creation, taxes and other statutory contributions heavily burdening labour affecting the less qualified, and employment policies excessively based on passive assistance. However, over the past few years the European Union has adopted a strategy that in many aspects resembles that of the OECD. The idea to maintain high levels of protection and guarantee equal employment opportunities is strongly balanced by a more market-oriented approach toward the mechanism of governing labour market. Though the OECD is stressing a de-regulative approach, the EU is more concentrated on the issue of the labour market open to all. Increasing employment opportunities through four pillars of the European Employment Strategy (employability, adaptability, entrepreneurship, and equal opportunities) are now the common goals of EU Member States. In order to reach these goals, the EU does not simply delegate market forces to create new employment opportunities. Instead, the EU approach is the result of a more articulated strategy based on the principles of subsidiarity and proximity which are the best means of preserving the link between the European Union and its people. In this perspective, the idea that local and regional authorities play a crucial role in generating employment, both directly as employers and indirectly through fostering a favourable business climate, is more and more accepted. This is particularly true within the so-called European Employment Strategy, which reflects the growing awareness of the opportunities that exist at local level for developing employment48 This has led most Member States to trigger institutional and administrative decentralization processes in their employment policies, so bringing decision-making levers closer to the local communities and their needs.

10. The Job Creation Policies in Europe: Toward Local Dimension for the European Employment Strategy
The Amsterdam Employment Chapter and its implementation, the so called Luxembourg Process49, represents the establishment of a Community action policy regarding the creation of new jobs. By including employment in the Community policies and thus making the promotion of employment a matter of common concern, requiring Member States to coordinate their policies in order to achieve a high level of employment in the context of balanced and sustainable economic progress, the new title ensures the development of employment initiatives and the creation of an effective policy at the European level. The extraordinary European Council meeting on Employment in Luxembourg in November 1997 gave life to these provisions by the development of an agreed-upon coordinated process for implementation. The culmination of these efforts was the adoption of the Luxembourg Process on Employment Guidelines and National Action Plans, which endorses a coordinated strategy aimed at the development of active job creation policies. The European Employment Strategy (EES) is notoriously based on guidelines (GLs) which are laid down yearly as provided by art. 128.2 of the Treaty50. Undoubtedly,

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they constitute an example of soft laws, as an alternative to the traditional legislative approach based on directives and regulations. GLs are actual rules that bind member states to the stated principles, regardless of their political and domestic situation. Nevertheless, since harmonization is openly rejected (art. 129), examples of hard laws in employment matters would have been inappropriate. Soft laws are certainly normative in character, representing in the meantime a method of Community guidance51. Employment guidelines belong to this category of laws since they recognize fully the principle of subsidiarity while, at the same time, creating the expectation that the performance of the member states will be in conformity with them. The use of this instrument is, consciously or not, revealing of the attempt to find a third way in the middle between interventionism and abstentionism in employment issues63 well beyond the subject matter. It sounds promising if also referred to social affairs. The link between the employment and social chapters of the EU Treaty lies in the fact that part of the overall EES requires action in re-adapting social protection standards to the changing situation, mainly in the field of work modernization. Possible Community action in social affairs might in the future take the form of soft laws, possibly agreed upon by the social parties to be later translated into hard laws (directives, etc.). In light of the EU enlargement, it seems to be highly recommendable to assess the results achieved in the context of the employment chapter. Similar to the EES, social policy could also be based on an exchange of experience and standardization in order to promote the most effective practice. The EES represented a move from management by regulation to management by objectives52, a new way of working not simply for the EU authorities but especially for national Governments and social parties. It is a model which should be taken into serious consideration also beyond employment matters which means, first of all, in social affairs. Instead of long-awaited, watered-down, social directives, which simply attain the exercise a coordinatory function, one could legitimately raise the question as to whether the EES logic would be preferable, particularly when the object of Community action is not the protection of fundamental rights. Hence, in the perspective of the EU enlargement, due to the difficulty in pursuing any goal of harmonization, the question deserves serious reflection. After five years experience, the EES has demonstrated its vitality in contrast with the critical evaluation originally made by the social parties at the community level. Referring to the draft Amsterdam Treaty, UNICE expressed skepticism about an extensive European employment policy, on the one hand, while, the ETUC called the employment chapter a minimalist solution, on the other, claiming that the new rules were insufficient to obtain significant advances in promoting job creation53 Furthermore, UNICE has never concealed its reservations about the involvement of European social parties in this area, fearful of a possible breach of the subsidiarity principle. Not by chance did the ETUC and the CEEP issue a joint statement on 8 June 1998 pledging their commitment to make the EES successful experience. Contrary to these suspicions, the most recent developments demonstrates that the EES represents a tool which not only strongly supports the principles of subsidiarity and proximity, but also increases the role of social parties.

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Under the employment guidelines for 200154, all actors at the regional and local levels, including the social partners, must be mobilized to implement the European Employment Strategy by identifying the potential of job creation at local level and strengthening partnerships to this end. In this respect Member States will:

take into account, where appropriate, in their overall employment policy the regional development dimension; encourage local and regional authorities to develop strategies for employment in order to exploit fully the possibilities offered by job creation at local level and promote partnerships to this end with all the actors concerned, including the representatives of civil society; promote measures to enhance the competitive development and job creation capacity of the social economy, especially the provision of goods and services linked to needs not yet satisfied by the market, and examine, with the aim of reducing, any obstacles to such measures; strengthen the role of the Public Employment Services at all levels in identifying local employment opportunities and improving the functioning of local labour markets.

Since 1999 the EU Commission and the Committee of the Regions have developed an initiative called Local Action for Employment, which places local and regional authorities in a position to promote their own national employment action plans. Under this initiative Local development policy has become increasingly important in recent years as social parties and local authorities have sought to address the persistent problems of depressed and undeveloped areas by supporting locally-based, bottom-up approaches that complement mainstream national programmes. The constantly changing global market launches new challenges, leaving enterprises, communities and workers searching for new ways to increase competitiveness and security of their labour markets. There is a large, persistent, gap in the distribution of employment and unemployment across the Union. Throughout much of the South, and many regions in the periphery of the Union, as in many older industrial areas of the Member States, employment rates standing below 50 to 55 percent is commonplace, with unemployment rating often twice the EU average. In this context the said European countries are undertaking new initiatives to strengthen connections between local business community and multinationals, to promote partnerships among enterprises, and to help employers and workers to develop workplace practices that foster both security and flexibility. New employment approaches at a local level seem to be very important because they best reflect the peculiarities of a local market. There has been little overall change in the long-term regional disparities of employment rates in the Union. If anything, disparities between regions have widened over the past 15-20 years. Over the last two decades, unemployment rates in the high employment regions remained in the narrow range between 4 and 7 per cent while the low employment regions have seen a marked deterioration from 15 per cent to around 25 per cent. This implies quit serious structural problems in the regions affected by low employment rates. The regional authorities can create an appropriate legal framework taking into account the specific features of the local contents.

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11. The Local Dimension of the European Employment Strategy: In Search of Good Practices
As stressed in the previous paragraphs, the awareness of opportunities for developing employment that exist at the local level is quite new. Only in the last decade most EU Member States have developed an institutional and administrative decentralization process in their employment policies, reflecting the importance now being placed on the job strategies rooted at local level. In this perspective an important facilitator is the pan-national European Commission of the European Union, through its agencies, programmes and funds (EU structural funds)55. Different countries have various strategies to create employment opportunity at the local level. These States, however, may be able to draw on the ideas and experiences of other countries integrate different methods to solve their own problems. In this perspective, EU policies have the instruments to draw a coordinated process for the comparison and benchmarking of these strategy in the different areas of intervention. Based on the experience of several Member States, the EU Commission has indicated 17 fields with potential for employment in a local perspective: home help services, child care, new information and communication technologies, assistance to young people facing difficulties, better housing, security, local public transport services, revitalisation of urban public areas, local shops, tourism, audiovisual services, the cultural heritage, local cultural development, waste management, water services, protection and conservation of natural areas, and the control of pollution56. More than 80,000 local authorities belong to the EU. It is clear that the situation concerning the role of local authorities and job creation models varies from country to country on the basis of national peculiarities. For example, highly developed countries pay much attention to the qualitative aspect of job creation while less developed states focus on the quantitative. However the fact that local authorities do not always have power to fix employment policies does not prevent them from becoming increasingly involved in the development and operation of active market measures. It is evident that local authorities are among the most important players in the development of employment at local level. Being closest to the local economy and, consequently, to the local population, local authorities clearly have a key role in developing partnerships and promoting cooperation between various local public and private actors. In the context of job creation it is particularly important that local authorities have powers that give them the potential to create new jobs, so their actions are likely to have a considerable impact on the local labour market. Although they are often major employers, their role may need to be strengthened if they are to play their part more efficiently. Good and better practices is the motto under which EU is planning to increase employment and improve working conditions. Identifying good practices for local development is a challenging task. This is partly because of the large variety of initiatives put in place in EU and OECD countries for raising endogenous local potential, encompassing fields such as entrepreneurship, tourism promotion, training and skills development, environmental programmes, management, agricultural diversification and so on. It also reflects the broad range of objectives of these programmes covering different aspects of economic development, social development

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and long-term capacity building and the different criteria that can therefore be applied to judging success. Finally, it is challenging because the possibilities of what can be achieve by policy may vary between different areas and different times. Moreover, the very concept of local development is based on promoting local approaches that respond to local conditions. Therefore, there is no single model of how to implement local development or of what strategies or actions to adopt. One of the keys to successful local development interventions is the careful development at the outset of a strategy or plan that explores the opportunities and challenges for the area and identifies priorities, actors and methods of intervention. The strategy should be built up by all the relevant partners so that there is a sense of a shared vision for the future of the locality. The strategy should also be reworked regularly to ensure that it adjusts to changing conditions. Development of an appropriate strategy seems to be one of the most important issues. The European Commission identifies some key factors for successful strategies evident:57

Choose a relevant territory for the initiative. This area should be selected on the basis of the potential to form partnerships, mobilize the area for common projects, and the ability to draw on local assets of skills and know-how. Choose of relevant time-scale for the strategy. The emergence of projects, the development of networks and the acquisition of new skills take time- at least 18 months in most cases. Sometimes five or six years are needed to transform attitudes. Attain the commitment of those who have the resources and responsibility for the future development of the local area and its community. Identify a planning group/development agency responsible for the strategy with the resources, the expertise, and the credibility amongst the local community to carry out the task. Complete a strategic audit. This constitutes an analysis of the areas strengths and weaknesses, including a review of its hardware (e.g. natural resources, physical infrastructure, population trends) and its software (e.g. technical skills, availability of finance, innovation, R@D, business culture). Develop processes of action appropriate to the local areas stage of development and local conditions, as identified by the strategic audit. In this way the development strategy can be designed to address local needs, capacity, and circumstances. Set strategic goals that are clear, attainable, and measurable. The specified objectives should endeavour to focus on the various dimensions of the problem and should not be over ambitious. Goal specification should also reflect a communitys capacity to realize these goals. Find the appropriate capacity of individuals, organisations and development agents. This can be developed by increasing skills, encouraging new forms of organisation, stimulating new linkages between organisations and increasing flexibility and adaptation to a wide range of situations in order fill the gaps in local developments. Include the participation of all related parties. The utilization of input from a variety of actors is essential for successful implementation. This information includes knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm to be associated with successful actions. Place an emphasis on monitoring, evaluating, following-up on subsequent enhancements/readjustments of the strategy. These post-implementation activities may enhance the understanding of the areas problems and demonstrate important lessons both to the area itself and to other areas.

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Another way of understanding good practices methodology is to assess them in terms of what works. The effective strategies for job creation are those that have been established for longer periods of time and continue to produce employment opportunities. The key to evaluating the effectiveness of a project can be made on the basis of the satisfaction of all parties concerned. Searching for good practices does not only entail the examination of local pacts but determining whether jobs have been created or not. An understanding of project failure is also necessary for the development of effective strategies. Job creation is not a simple task. Firstly projects need to be proposed by local governments and the business community. Their proposals should stress equal opportunity for men and women, elderly people and the individuals at the risk of social exclusion. Secondly, projects should reduce long-term unemployment and youth unemployment. Finally projects need to be signed and implemented by the signatories. Once adopted, policies must be financed and implemented. The signatories are responsible for making sure that their policies are carried out. Job creation policies are experimental in that a trial and error period exists in which a project either succeeds or fails. This period may last, as an average, from a couple of months to a year before results can be seen. Once the results are achieved, the signatories can decide if they want to continue with project as it is, make amendments, or discard the project altogether. The job creation policies that are proposed for examination in the following paragraphs have all been adopted and carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of local job pacts.

12. Best Practices: An Overview

Although the job creation strategies adopted by the regional governments of EU Member States differ, they share a common goal. That goal is to create new jobs. There are several factors involved in the attempt of making job creation policies work at the local level. Helping to maintain the balance between supply and demand of labour, defining the type of aid to be given (financial measures, tax incentives, subsidies to employers, deregulating national rules on labour law, etc.) and listing acceptable working conditions are just some of the factors. The others include setting up guidelines for the training process of the workers involved and giving incentives to entrepreneurs (those who are self-employed). These elements can be found in the policies adopted by the regional governments that are proposed for analysis. All the pacts fit perfectly with one or more pillars of European Employment Strategy.

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Entrepreneurship: Asturis, Spain (1998)

Asturias (Spain) is undergoing a process of industrial reconversion, particularly in the coal mining and steelmaking sectors. It has the highest regional unemployment level in Spain (17.92 per cent). The mining areas have been hit the hardest. The job creation ideas that the regional and local authorities chose to adopt in 1998 seem to be working. One of the ideas is to set up an institutional co-operation through the development of associations Casas del Consorico and an observatory. This will provide information, documentation and analysis of the action themes in the Pact. The signatories of the Pact plan to create a fund through which to finance aid to projects involving investments of less than 40 million pesetas. The social partners hope to set up a committee, the Mesas para el Pacto, which will co-ordinate the fight against unemployment. They plan on providing support for networks of business partnerships and creating regional mobile advisory teams, which would help to supervise businesses. The local government hopes to develop industry through the integration of new technologies into industrial areas and undertaking regional industrial development.
Source: http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/pacts/EN/LIST/es_asturias.cfm

Employability: Molsheim-Shirmeck. France (1998)

Youth unemployment seems to be the target of the job creation plans adopted in the Molsheim-Shirmeck region of France. The signatories agree that by informing SMEs of employment aid for young people, developing sandwich courses in businesses with more than 50 employees, and promoting apprenticeships in the crafts sector, the number of job vacancies in the area, especially for young people, will be increased. Job searching will be made easier for young people once new employment services and opportunities have been created. It is estimated that 250 new jobs will be created each year through the use of sandwich course contracts. The regional authorities hope to create jobs in the area by increasing access to these contracts and by creating an insertion solution for every long-term unemployed person. The job creation plans that were adopted between the months of January and September 1998 are numerous. They are adjusting the supply of labour to the demand, improving employment guidance for young people, making teachers aware of the realities of business life (visits to businesses and three-day courses under the local Economics Education Committee) and making summer jobs available in the communitys engineering departments. Others include simplifying administrative procedures and creating a resource centre intended to structure supply and demand for services. Funds will be provided in order to finance these programs and to open a youth centre. A job initiative counter will be set up at Schirmeck.
Source: http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/pacts/EN/LIST/fr_molsheim.cfm

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Employability adaptability: Halle Vilvoorde, Belgium (1998)

The Halle Vilvoorde region in Belgium has a job shortage, resulting from the closure of the Renault car plant. Very few jobs can be found in the primary and secondary sectors, because the closure resulted in the loss of 3,100 jobs. The unemployment rate stands at 6.05 per cent. Most of the people unemployed in Halle Vilvoorde are long-term unemployed and over 40 years old. Almost a third of the unemployed in the area do not speak Flemish, the language of the region. The region is highly dependent on Brussels for employment. The Halle Vilvoorde local pact encourages training, counselling and supervising unemployed people. Priority will be given to the highest risk groups of the unemployed. Job opportunities will be created for the unemployed by providing training for those workers who feel threatened by unemployment. They feel they might be out of a job due to changing circumstances in their companies. Re-establishing former Renault employees into the labour market is one of the aims of the local government. Several job creation methods have been adopted targeting such employees. These include offering job seekers the chance to expand their skills through temporary employment in companies, through internships, individual vocational training projects or subsidised labour. Job seekers will be given the opportunity to find work, improving the match between training and company needs and organizing in-company training. Incompany training will focus on adapting workers to changes in industry and organizing campaigns to increase awareness of the measures being implemented by various governments. Other job creation ideas include developing additional business sites in the area (one of the regions weaknesses), promoting childcare facilities, and establishing neighbourhood services. Promoting childcare and environmental projects has already created jobs. Childcare projects allow the long-term unemployed to look after children of employees while their parents are at work, solving both the problem of long-term unemployment and the problem of childcare. Protection of the environment as well as job creation is stressed when municipal greenery projects are promoted. These projects encourage employment by employing job seekers to maintain public parks and shrubbery in the municipality.
Source: http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/pacts/EN/LIST/be_hallevilvoorde.cfm

Employability equal opportunities: Sonderjylland, Denmark (1998)

Residents of Sonderjylland (Denmark) know all about hard times. With a high female unemployment rate, an unskilled workforce (employees with little to no qualifications), and an aging labour force, the region is extremely fragile. As a result, the area is sensitive to economic fluctuations. The local government is hopeful that the job creation schemes they chose to adopt in July 1998 will correct the problems of the past. They feel that creating new jobs will eliminate some of the problems they have had. The job creation schemes of the Sonderjylland target women who have had difficulties entering the labour market, young people with little to no experience, and older workers who wish to remain in the labour market but on a parttime or more flexible basis. One of the schemes is to establish a secretariat that will act as a go-between for actors at the community level and those at the regional level. The secretariat will consist of two people who undergo specialized training. From this training they will become familiarized with the range of subsidies and measures which may be employed in the implementation of the pact. By co-ordinating the measures needed to fight unemployment and sponsoring cross-border projects (measures which respond to business needs), people who feel they are at risk of being marginalized and SMEs receive assistance. To create jobs in the area, regional authorities have taken a regional approach to employment.
Source: http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/pacts/EN/LIST/da_sonderjylland.cfm

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Employability: Dublin, Ireland (1999)

In 1997, 19,528 people under the age of 24 were unemployed in Dublin (Ireland). These people account for 24.5 per cent of the total unemployed in the region. Unemployment in the area currently stands at 12.8 per cent, compared to the national average of 11.8 per cent. Long-term unemployment as well as youth unemployment remains a problem. For instance, 52 per cent of the unemployed are classified as long-term unemployed. To Dublin residents it is not only important to reduce long-term unemployment in disadvantaged and excluded groups (disabled people and travellers), it is a necessity. Creating jobs means identifying a skills-base needed to meet the demands of local businesses, providing training in information and communication technologies and implementing the programs designed to help tackle the issue of longterm unemployment. These programs are the Whole Time Jobs Initiative Program, the Core Skills Program, and Organised Labour Streams. The local authorities hope to fight youth unemployment by implementing the Luxembourg guarantee to young people who are within six months of leaving full time education and developing linkages between schools and the business sector, local authorities and community organisations. The guarantee is to provide a training place for young people. The Train and Build Project is a project that aims to establish links between young people and labour. This offers educational support to young people from disadvantaged communities and builds skills to the third level initiative. The social partners hope that by implementing the Social Economy Development program which aims to research, facilitate, and develop social economy projects the social economy will be helped. Some of the job creation schemes included in this pact establish networks and linkages at the local and regional level, implement the Economic Profile Project, and set up the Core Pact group. The Economic Profile Project will review and evaluate issues such as sustainable employment, job creation, and raising the skills base. The Core Pact group along with focus groups tackle problems of long-term unemployment and youth unemployment with expertise.
Source: http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/pacts/EN/LIST/irl_dublin.cfm

Employability: Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands (1998)

The region Noord-Brabant, located in the Netherlands, is struggling. It is difficult to fill vacancies in this area due to long-term unemployment and lack of an adequately trained workforce. Lack of flexibility threatens business competition. High levels of inactivity exist, especially among older workers. The social partners of Noord-Brabant agreed to the following job creation schemes when they adopted their local job pact in February 1998. Exchanging information between the various governments on what works, they set up a series of sectoral employment projects which will help fix staffing problems in companies and the qualitative mismatch between supply and demand and implementing projects like RegioMet. RegioMet is a partnership of metalworking companies, which targets long-term unemployed people in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The La Poubelle project inserts the long-term unemployed. Suitable candidates among the long-term unemployed are selected for a job. The candidates undergo a training course and once they are deemed to be qualified for a regular job the soon to be employee will be given a subsidized position in the company.
Source: http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/pacts/EN/LIST/nl_noordbrabant.cfm

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Employability adaptability equal opportunities: Vienna, Austria (1998 - 2001)

Employees in Vienna (Austria) feel threatened by corporate downsizing. Fighting long-term unemployment requires restructuring the local economy, raising qualification levels through active labour market policies, and improving equal opportunity between men and women. Some of the job creation schemes that have been adopted are reintegrating the unemployed into the labour market, improving the attractiveness of Vienna as an economic and business centre and as a potential site for the implementation of projects like the Training Account Program. This program will give grants to finance individual training courses. The WiedereingteigerInnen Program supports reorientation, training, job searches and new business start-ups for women and men returning to the labour market after time-off. The Flexwork project specializes in finding contractual work in companies for older and long-term unemployed people. The Home Service project provides employment for long-term unemployed women. The women receive an hourly wage plus social security benefits in exchange for domestic services carried out in private homes. The WAFF (Weiner ArbeitnehmerInnen FyrderingsFords) acts as a promoter of active labour market policies and human resources. The mayor of Vienna acts as president of WAFF whereas representatives from the district, the political parties, and the social partners sit on the advisory committee. The WAFF budget originates from the city council and private sector funds. Every WAFF project receives co-financing from the European Social Fund.
Source: http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/pacts/EN/LIST/au_wien.cfm

Entrepreneurship - adaptability: Ita Lappi, Finland (1998)

People are leaving Ita Lappi (Finland) in search of work. The region is losing their best-trained young people. In order to get people to stay, action plans and job creation schemes promoting tourism and economic growth have been adopted. Preventing migration, developing tele-work, providing support for subcontracting, and setting up seasonal jobs in the field of forestry are just some of the job creation schemes that have been implemented. Others projects include developing Eco-tourism and modernising the areas image in order to attract tourists and investors.
Source: http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/pacts/EN/LIST/fin_italappi.cfm

Entrepreneurship: Stromstad, Sweden (1998)

The economy in Stromstad (Sweden) is declining. The unemployment rate stands at 13.9 per cent. Entrepreneurs in the area realize that in order for jobs to be created there is a need for economic cooperation. The success that the local government has been having with their job creation schemes relates to the fact that their schemes pertain to all sectors of the economyfishing, agriculture and commerceand they focus on improving local skills. Appointing a project manager is one of the job creation schemes. The project manager will be responsible for project management, the distribution of data, the evaluation of individual projects, and the quantification of NTERREG funds for interregional co-operation. Other job creation schemes include developing and enlarging the fishing sector, establishing computer communication centres in rural areas, promoting tourist activity in the region and increasing access to the Norwegian market.
Source: http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/pacts/EN/LIST/sv_stromstad.cfm

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Employability: Haringey and North London, England (1998)

Job creation schemes adopted in Haringey and North London (England) covers the regions of Easterhouse and Coatbridge. One of the schemes is to set up a steering group, which makes decisions regarding policy development and financial control. The Local Employment Observatory develops innovative research methods in order to improve understanding of the local labour market. The local government hopes to create jobs by improving the employability of people. Employability means an employee that is flexible and mobile. Employers want employees who are willing to take on new tasks.
Source: http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/pacts/EN/LIST/uk_tottenham.cfm

Entrepreneurship equal opportunities: Florina and Kozani, Greece (1998)

In an attempt to fight unemployment and social exclusion, the regional and local authorities of Florina and Kozani (Greece) have come up with job creation schemes and start-up plans. To the residents in these regions job creation means keeping the population of the area active, providing women access to the labour market and enhancing the efficiency of existing development projects and programs for the creation of sustainable employment. In Florina, women especially are affected by increasing unemployment rates. In Kozani, unemployment stands at 17 per cent, which is the highest in Greece. The economic crisis that hit industry in the area had a direct effect on the mass lay-off of personnel. The local government hopes to develop the primary sector by enhancing agricultural development through the processing of farm products, giving aid to private and co-operative units which process farm products in the area and promoting local farm products. One of the job creation schemes that the regional authorities of Florina have come up with is to establish an employment observatory. The aim of the observatory will be to speed up the adjustment process of the workforce and entrepreneurs to industrial changes and to create networks at the national and transnational level. This will improve communication channels through the transfer of experience, knowhow and information, the development of an electronic advertisement service, and will also make the management of human resources within local labour possible.
Source: http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/pacts/EN/LIST/el_kozani.cfm

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Employability, entrepreneurship, adaptability, equal opportunities: Milan, Italy (2000)

Creating a Concertation Commission which approves and monitors projects is just one of the many job creation schemes that the Milan Municipal Administration and the social parties (except for the CGIL) agreed to and adopted in February 2000. The Concertation Commission will be a tripartite body made up of representatives from the Milan Municipality, the Province and signatory associations. The president of the Commission will be the Milan Municipality and the signatories will nominate the two vice-presidents, one from the employers side and the other from the trade union side. The Commission will meet at least six times a year. When the Commission is in session it will meet with representatives from the city associations that deal with the social economy, physical and/or mental handicaps, and immigration. The Milano Lavoro One-Stop Shop is a job creation scheme aimed at helping the match between supply and demand of labour. It will be set up on the basis of a convention between the Municipality and the Province of Milan. The OneStop Shop is aimed at helping businesses hire workers. It gives the authorization needed for dependent work and self-employment. The terms for hiring under a fixed-term contract can be found in the Milano Lavoro One-Stop Shop. A business can hire under a fixed-term contract when hiring the first employee. This type of hiring is allowed when employers have up to five employees and the parties agree to the importance of placing special attention on the use of contracts or quasi-subordinated work for people over 40 who have been excluded from the labour market. A person with whom a previously stipulated contract had been created is another requirement for hiring under the contracts of dependent work. According to the procedures established by the Concertation Committee public or private enterprises will be able to apply for self-financing, co-financing or financing on behalf of a third party. One-Stop Shop funds originate from municipal, provincial, regional, and EU sources. The financial measures taken by these sources are handouts in the form of financial aid or normative aid. The government, in situations it deems necessary, distributes financial aid. Normative aid is more complex in that there are certain rules governing state aid. Once the Concertation Committee has chosen which enterprise would be most beneficial to finance they will co-ordinate training courses. These courses should reflect the needs expressed by the demand of labour. The training of Milano Lavoro will consist of a small staff. Through the use of training and guidance courses and work programs, the Milano Lavoro will be able to carry out activities. The aim is to provide the co-operation needed to create employment insertion methods. The training programs that the Concertation Committee chooses to institute will operate in partnership with public and private institutions in training suppliers and in finding suitable training offers.
Source: http://www.comunemilano.it

13. Creating New Markets and New Jobs at Local Level: The Case of the Personal Services Sector in Italy
At this point of our research we cannot ignore some of the inconsistencies which are emerging in the policies of job creation at the local level recently pursued in Europe. These inconsistencies are a direct consequence of traditional legal rule that is no longer adequate for handling the modern labour market. In this perspective, the emerging sector of personal services (services like care for the elderly, child care, etc.) represents a valid field of verification of this thesis58. The specific characteristics of this sector show the positive role taken by the intermediary in the hiring of labour. According to each traditional national labour law, the presence of a third party in the employment relationship has been considered as being dangerous for the workers and for the precision of the labour market. The old legislative frameworks are not progressing at the same pace of the economy and society. Legal rules, work contracts and principles formulated over the course of the past century are inadequate for governing and representing the new types of labour of the 21st century. They constitute one of the main obstacles in the efforts to create more

44

jobs and also interfere with the enterprises that attempt to meet those needs that are not met by public services or by the market forces. If a rigid and old-fashioned legal framework discourages private enterprises to enter into and invest in a market of this kind, stable organisations willing to operate in this sector will falter. The response will hinder an increase in the development of informal practice, inevitably altering the purpose of this sector. The recent attempts to support the emersion of a structured market in the area of personal, at-home, services for the elderly by some Italian local authorities (Milano, Modena and Bologna) have given us the opportunity to observe the problems and perspectives which arise in the policies of job creation at the local level. Placed in the context of European Employment Strategy, these national experiences clearly show the importance of a modern legal framework in order to determine the likelihood of success of the markets of the 21st century. In Continental Europe, both statutory rules of labour law and collective agreements are still concentrated in the industrial sector, according to standard models of organisation and pre-defined contractual patterns. The lack of ad hoc rules causes the development of sui generis contractual schemes, mainly situated on the border of legalities.

In Italy, this situation is the main cause of a very wide underground economy. By using the ISTAT estimates of the irregular labour, the average rate of irregularity of the system would seem to range around 15%, with values exceeding 20% in Southern Italy. In turn, the development of sui generis contractual schemes is the cause of unfair competition (i.e. social dumping) which further complicates the rare attempts to discipline the new markets and the new ways of working.

Source: National Employment Action Plan (Italy 2001)

It is certain that these manifestations are common in the modern society, not just in relation to the labour markets. Every country and every sector of the economy is establishing informal practices of producing and circulating the wealth; practices more or less illegal and more or less tolerated by the government. These illegal practices weaken the monopoly of the law of the State. The more the State pretends to regulate all the aspects of the economy and of the market, the stronger the pushes are towards the anti-state and the processes of auto-regulation of the society. However, this phenomenon is particularly relevant in the area of the labour market, especially if we take into consideration the historical role played by the State in protecting the workers like the weaker parties of the employment relationship. In this respect, if the belief is that the end of labour law is possible, it seems true that we are going toward a labour law without the State59. It is equally true that the dimension of underground economy allows us to evaluate with a high degree of certainty the efficiency and rationality of the State intervention in the labour market. This process involves all the sectors of production, not to exclude these apparent aliens of international competition. The services include those for the municipality (cleaning and maintenance of the streets, squares, parks; traffic control etc.), those for the people (care and assistance to the elderly, ill, disabled people, children; restoration; entertainment; culture, tourism; domestic cleaning, etc.), those for the enterprises (activity of so called facility management like management of

45

information technology, maintenance and surveillance of the enterprises possession, etc.), etc. With respect to these sectors, relevant opportunities of regular work are not only dispersed and fragmented in the labour market, but also generate social hardships, urban decay, misdemeanours and in general a situation of wide illegalities. These activities are ultimately concentrated in the black market because they involve services which are labour intensive requiring a high degree of flexibility of the manpower. Particularly emblematic in this perspective are the personal, at- home, assistance services for older people, which today are completely deregulated. In the area of home care and household based care, provisions to care for elderly tend to be poorly articulated, especially if compared with provisions for children or disabled people. The legislative framework offers mainly services-in-kind, limited cash benefits and pensions in addition to very little time off for the family engaged in a work out of home. No legal rules seem to exist for any household services in the grey area that exists between the domestic cleaning services and the field of medical assistance. This is the reason why the market for personal assistance services to the elderly is little or not at all transparent. The supply of social and household services to the elderly responds to the changed nature of both potential and effective demand in a manner that is both quantitatively and qualitatively inadequate. From a socio-economic point of view these phenomena are the causes of inefficiencies and wastes (high cost for the services for the families which render a low quality of the services supplied). From a juridical point of view, they constitute a clear violation of the legal rules in the area of employment relationship. The absence of appropriate contractual schemes for the worker in the so-called grey area represents one of the main factors of distortion of the market of personal assistance services. The resulting gap has been partially filled either by informal activities or, in other cases, by the families themselves, which have been obliged to act as self-producers. The overall quality of services supplied and of life components of the family has suffered from this situation. The lack of an appropriate legal framework still represents a challenging obstacle to the development of this sector. This is particularly true from the point of view of labour relationship between the family/elderly and the worker. At this regard, it is true that new regulations were introduced in 1999 in order to provide incentives to the social co-operatives, particularly for disadvantaged persons. The provisions of Law No. 44/1986 (on youth entrepreneurship) were also extended to the expansion and consolidation of social enterprises. In addition to elements of financial feasibility, the criteria adopted for granting incentives takes into consideration the social benefits of the activities. However, the general case still remains that the direct and informal employment relationship between family/elderly and the workers. The individual relationship is inevitably concentrated in the wide area of black market, above all when the relationship is not governed by the rules of subordination. In this sector, the private mediator can, if he works with entrepreneurial methods (apart from the intention of gains) rationalise the management of the work relationship and contribute to the regularisation of relationships that elapse between worker and

46

family. Apparently only the absence of the intermediary becomes the result of a more economic solution. It is true in fact, that in this way, one jumps to a level of intermediation. However, in the direct relationship between family and workerassistant it is determined that most of the time, these economic, judicial and social assumptions feed the black market and the scarce quality of service. In this way, only leaving closed the exclusive individual relationships towards the more collective forms, typically firms, they can reach an acceptable result for all: community administration, social parties worker assistants, and families. An attempt to regulate this market: Modena, Italy (2000) On December 22, 2000, the Municipality of Modena and the social parties (CGIL-CISLUIL) signed a finalised agreement noted to the construction of a local pact between diverse social, institutional and economic actors. This agreement initiated by the distribution of the following goals: emerging undeclared work, regularising irregular work relationships, creating an area of new occupation by optimising the meeting stages between demand and supply, regularising a cross of insertion into the labour market of an extra-community workforce, rising of the quality of the workforce, such as standards for the rising of the quality of service, etc.
Probably the most relevant part of the agreement is the effort to regulate the grey area. In order to cope with this task the social parties have decided to increase the value of the quasi subordinated contract (c.d. collaborazioni coordinate e continuative). This pattern of work is located between self-employment and subordinated contract. The main characteristic of this contractual scheme is that the way of work is quite similar to the subordinate one (in fact the collaboration is co-ordinate and continual), but the legal effects still remain those of selfemployment. This is the reason why this pattern of work is very attractive for the employer. By signing the pact, the social parties have tried to combine the flexibility related to this contract with a minimum level of protection of the workers involved in such working relationships. This contract must be signed with indication of the duration, hours of work, the kind of services, compensation, causes of termination or suspension of the relationship. Even though it is not usual in a selfemployment relationship, the social parties have considered a trial period useful, considering that the collaboration between the worker, the family and the elderly is based on a high level of confidence. In any case, the compensation should not be inferior to the wages indicated in the collective agreement of the third sector for comparable performance. In the absence of a different agreement between the parties, the termination of the contract is allowed only for breach of the contract, just motive (objective) and expiration of the term. Illness, injury and maternity do not break the contract, but it simply remains interrupted. In case of illness and injury the worker receives the compensation agreed, but only for the first month of the interruption of the contract. The agreement recognises some basic trade union rights to the worker (freedom of association and the right of participation to the assemblies called by the trade unions) and some training rights in order to develop the quality of the services supplied to the families.
Source: Biagi M., Tiraboschi M., Servizi di cura alla persona, assistenza domiciliare agli anziani e politiche locali per loccupazione: lesperienza modenese nel contesto comunitario , Modena, 2000.

14. Concluding Remarks: Decentralised Social Pact and the Role of Trade Unions
The comparative analysis of the local employment pacts reveals that the social dialogue method is the basis of best practices. While analysing social pacts on the local level, it can be concluded that a number of prevalent problems, such as creating new jobs and fighting unemployment, may be resolved more easily locally than 47

nationally, based on the difficulty of implementing measures adopted at national level. The results obtained through social dialogue seem to be more satisfactory in comparison to those obtained by the simple policies of deregulation, which in Europe are unable to resolve the problem of the necessary coordination of job flexibility with job security. Above all, the added value is the existence of a working climate of trust and participation among all of the social parties involved. Focusing on social pacts at the intermediate and local levels allows for a clear distinction, even in terminological terms, between Local Employment Pacts and Pacts for Employment and Competitiveness60. Functionally, both types of pacts intend to use a method of concertation for the controlled introduction of various forms of microeconomic flexibility in both the internal and external labour markets. In terms of regulations, the final result of both seems to be de-standardisation and a consequent regulatory differentiation. The objective of both pacts, despite their differences, is how to reconcile the entrepreneurial and territorial systems competitiveness with the employment friendly policies. The basic assumption is to provide security and stability for workers in a context of greater mobility and flexibility, and as an increase in job mobility and flexibility, and an increase in job opportunities for the targeted weaker social groups. These pacts deal with the three guiding principles of post-Fordist economies in regards to social and economic policy, at least in its European version: flexibility, competitiveness, and job security Functionally, the task of local employments pacts is to adopt the micro (territorial) impact of the legal national framework. Macro policies of centralised social pacts often seem unable, without further intervention, to extend the macro-level advantages of bargaining, such as pay agreements, a low rate of inflation and safeguarding or the welfare system, to certain excluded and marginalised social groups. Therefore, centralised social pacts appear to be incapable of coping with territorial and social inequalities and the differences in development and unemployment rates61. Structurally, territorial pacts aim at involving social partners in the institutional government of the labour market, fully exploiting the resources of the contractual method, but at a territorial rather than a company level. Through territorial social pacts, the collective bargaining method, with its resources of consensus and flexibility, goes beyond the scope of a single company and is extended to the territory. It were as though collective bargaining had reinvented itself to become a practice of territorial labour policy concertation, thus not only enlarging its traditional jurisdiction (even dealing with active labour policies), but also conquering new spheres of institutional legitimacy62. Formally, the main feature of Local Employment Pacts is the direct involvement of various public actors: local authorities, chambers of commerce, banks, research institutes, universities, professional associations, third sector associations, etc. In Local Employment Pacts, public authorities directly make certain commitments, often in a solemn, written form. These commitments are concerned not only with the granting of financial resources but also forward-looking plans (e.g. investments in infrastructures, providing services for enterprises, administrative efficiency, public order measures, etc.). Commitments of the various partners assume the form typically associated with a privately negotiated deal.

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Since 1995, showing remarkable farsightedness, the European Commission, in conjunction with the Committee of the Regions in the context of White Paper application in the field of social and market policy, in order to stimulate economic growth, competitiveness and employment recognised that only with participation of the actors at local and regional levels can efficiency in this matter be achieved. Today the Commission stresses the necessity of giving a local dimension to the European Employment Strategy underlining that the local level is not limited by the administrative boundaries. The appropriate territory for local intervention is more often defined by the cultural affinities with which local people identify local production systems, flows, and the travel-to-work area. This is particularly important for the development of the territorial bargaining also in relation to the so called transfrontier economies. More recently, the summit of Lisbon regarding employment stressed the importance of coordination policies. The local level is subject to the same logics. The European Employment Strategy pushes the national employment policies from the passive positions to the active positions, recognising that employment is the best method to overcome social exclusion and poverty. To create new employment is necessary to diversify the actions according to the territorial peculiarities indigenous to each country. All over Europe, there are spaces where one can simultaneously find metropolitan, tertiary, industrial, and small and medium enterprises, rural, and declining areas. Empirical evidence demonstrate that negotiated programmes at the territorial level is the most appropriate method to regulate the balance between supply and demand of labour. The intermediate level (between plant level and national level) of regulation of social and economic phenomena related to the world of production and labour should, however, continue to play its adequate role. In a number of European countries, the regions are beginning to play a very relevant role in the process of implementation of the social European policy as proposed by the EU. But numerous problems still exist. The first problem regards the bargaining items. For example, when the local agreements are stipulated to favour the increase of employment in particularly disadvantage areas, (but not only in these cases), the best instrument seem to be the flexibility in hiring the workforce and the introduction of flexible work organisation. Yet, on these issues not always agreements are reached between the social partners. In this context, the first experiences of social local pacts have demonstrated that the re is still a long way to go. This is due to several limitations (either in legislation or practice), including the possibility of violating anti-discriminatory provisions. Above all, there is still much to be done for what concerns the role that the social actors themselves should play, especially from viewpoint of the territorial (local) union representation. This is an important aspect, since it deals directly with the mandate that the social partners should receive when entering into consultation and negotiation at the local level. Social dialogue at the local level, then, is a long-lasting process with very interesting perspectives, but not without difficulties, for both workers and employers.

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NOTES 1 Cf. in particular A. Trebilcock (Ed.): Towards Social Dialogue: Tripartite cooperation in national economic and social policy-making (Geneva, ILO, 1994); ILO: Tripartite consultation at national level on economic and social policies (Report VI, International Labour Conference, 83rd session, Geneva, 1996); and P. Bodineau: Les Conseils conomiques et sociaux (Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, Que sais-je, 1994); J. Monat: Economic and Social Committees or similar institutions and social dialogue (forthcoming); G. Kester and H. Pinaud (Ed.): Syndicats et participation dmocratique Scnario pour le 21me sicle (Paris, LHarmattan, 1995); G. Casale (ed.): Social Dialogue in Central and Eastern Europe (Geneva, ILO, 1999) H. Arthurs, Labour Law Without the State, in University of Toronto Law Review, 1996, 1 ss S. Mnkre, Address at the Territorial Employment Pacts Dissemination, conference in Bruxelles, 8 November 1999, p. 1 (in:www.1oecd.org).. B. Huhonnier, Devolution and Glabalisation Implications for Local decisionmakers, in International Conference, Glasgow, 28-29 February 2000 R. Hyman: Social Dialogue in Western Europe: The State of the Art (Geneva, ILO, Social Dialogue Papers, WP1, 2000) Cf. Summit Report on CD-ROM (Electronic library on the Social Summit United nations and International labour Organisation, 2000) For further details cf. esp Le Monde-Economie, Paris, 12 June 2001, p.II. Cf. in particular Undertakings 1a, 2h) infine, 4a), c) and j) (a point which refers to the NGOs, as does Undertaking 6k). Cf. paragraph 12g) of the Section in question and paragraph 14 d) states we must encourage the decentralisation of public institutions and services respond in an appropriate manner to local needs and facilitate local participation. Also paragraph 24 of Section II which stipulates that we must give to poor people and to vulnerable groups the means to organise themselves and to participate in all aspects of political, economic and social life, particularly I the planning and implementation of the policies that concern them . (Under the same heading see paragraph 28e) and paragraph 34 which calls for reinforcing the role of the local authorities, of the non governmental organisations of the universities and other teaching establishments, of businesses and community organisations to enable them t participate more actively in the elaboration of policies and in putting them into effect. Paragraphs 39 and 40 call amongst other things for the participation of family associations and of all the generations). Paragraph 12 of the above-mentioned Section I calls in point e) for transnational and national societies to act with a respect for the environment. It is difficult to give a valid universal definition of decent work as this concept may vary according to the conditions prevailing in different countries, even though a common factor everywhere is the desire to obtain employment which will make it possible to provide for oneself and ones family a suitable existence while respecting liberty, equality, security and human dignity. One succinct definition speak of an occupation that meets to a reasonable extent the expectations of the individual concerned (conditions of work, pay) and those of the group (quality of the product). Apart from job creation, the pillars of decent work are the guarantee of fundamental rights in the workplace, provision of social protection and promotion of social 51

2 3
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7 8

10

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14 15 16

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18 19 20

dialogue. Moreover we should include with this concept the notion of quality work which relates to improving the conditions of work and of employment (including equal pay and observance of the rules for health and safety) as well as healthy relations between social partners previously called for at the Copenhagen Summit (see paragraphs 54 and 55 of the Action Programme). See ILO: Decent work and Reducing the deficit in decent work a global challenge : reports by the Director General to the International Labour Conference, 87th and 89th sessions, Geneva, 1999 and 2001. See CD-ROM (Electronic library of the Social Summit-United Nations and International Labour Organisation, 2000) and ILO: Documents ITM/1/1995 and ITM/2/1995. E.g. in paragraphs 42 and 87 1) of the Action Programme adopted at Copenhagen. Cf. paragraph 98 c) of the above Action Programme. Cf.esp document GB/279/WP/SDG/2 Organisation, negotiation and dialogue in the service of development in the context of globalisation, and documents GB279/WP/SDG/3, GB280/WP/SDG/1, GB 280/WP/SDG/2, GB/281/WP/SDG/1, GB281/9 and GB 280/14 on the Committee on Employment and Social Policies. Document GB 279/WP/SDG/2, op. cit., paragraph 15. Cf. also E. Lee: Globalisation and Standards at Work: a review, International Labour Review, 1997, vol. 136, no. 2. Cf. GB279/WP/SDG2, op. cit., paragraphs 20 to 30. Cf. Report of the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992 (United Nations, F.93.I.8). A reminder that the action by the ILO, is reinforced by its related associations such as the International Society for labour Law and Social Security, IIRA and ISSA and by its International Institute for Social Studies, which contributed a great deal, for example in the field of poverty, to the preparation of the Copenhagen Summit. Cf. refs. In ILO: GB.279/WP/SDG/2, op. cit., notes 34 to 37. Cf.http://www.unglobalcompact.org. Cf. ILO, Ibid., paragraph 72 ff and note 57 in particular Cf. World Bank, ref.cit. in Ibid, notes 72, 73, 75 and 77, particularly the Report on World Development 2000-2001 and also UN documents A/AC.253/13E/CN.5/2000/2 556 Cf. also UNDP: World Report on Human Development, 2000 (De Boeck University, Paris and Bruxelles, 2000) and Report on Poverty 2000: Conquering Human Poverty (New York, 2000). For collaboration between international institutions cf. ILO: Documents GB.279/ESP/1 and GB.279/WP/SDG/1. Cf. ILO, Freedom of Association. Decisions and principles of the Committee on Freedom of Association of the ILO Governing Body (4th edition, Geneva, 1996). The numbers of members may also be a determining factor in situations which are otherwise equal. Cf. M. Carley : European Forum on Social Policies 98 (Luxambourg, Official Publications Office of the European Community, 1999), pp. 7-10. Cf. pp. 37-38 of Report VI. GB.279/WP/SDG/2, op. cit., paragraph 70. United Nations document A/AC.253/13 E/CN.5/2000/2 32; cf. also 40 and 63 to 66 and 291 and 304, amongst others. If any one college has less than 6 candidates, the Mayor may nominate any other person who can prove eligibility for the given college

21

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26 27

28

29 30 31

32

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34 35

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39 40 41

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C.F. F.Pyke, G. Beccantini and W. Sengenberger (ed.) : Industrial Districts and interfirm cooperationin Italy (Geneva, International Institute for Social Studies, 1990) or S. Aryeni : Les rseaux de PME du Nord-Est in Cadres-CFDT (Paris), no.375-376, Dec. 1996 CfP. Bodineau, op.cit., pp. 44 ff. Industry in this region is very diversified and represents nearly 30 per cent of added value compared with 23 per cent at national level. In the first part o1998 the tertiary sector (including industrial and personal services, trade, health, public administration, education and transport as well as the financial and housing sectors) provided 68 per cent of the jobs in the region. Research posts represented 10 per cent of the national total. Exports from Rh-Alpes (of which 43 per cent is industrial equipment), mainly to Germany, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Benelux countries, Spain and Switzerland, provided for nearly 12 per cent of French exports. Nomination to an RESC may be made by an association with a relatively membershi which carries out a proper election of their representative organised in the presence of the prefectorial administration. The Committees of the Rhne-Alpes RESC are: 1) Economic Development, Employment, Technology Transfer, Training and Occupational Integration, Energy; 2) education and Vocational Guidance, 3) Research, Technology, Higher Education; 4) Regional Development, Planning, Communications, Environment; 5) Agriculture and rural Development; 6) Lifestyle: Health and Social Development, Town Planning, Housing, Cultural Development; 7) Tourism, Sport,Leiyure, Parks and Regional Green Spaces; 8) Budget Planning, Evaluation. The number of committees is usually set by a local regulation: there are eleven for example in Ile-de-France. The positions are in fact prepared in committee and there is an attempt to reach a consensus as far as possible but not at all costs. Objectivity is the rule and the reservations that were sometimes expressed concerned, for example, the rail programme, although the opinion and the report in question were approved. Rhne-Alpes Regional Council, Rapport dactivit1999, p.2. This report says (p.25) that the Council to achieve interdependent and sustainable development is making a major contribution to reducing exclusion and to improving the quality of lifeits actions are particularly centred on the environmentthe quality of urban life, housing and social actions in favour of the most deprived. P. Bodineau, op. cit., pp. 65 ff. Ibid., p.77 The French national association for improving working conditions ANACT (Agence Nationale pour lAmlioration des Conditions de Travail), is a tripartite organisation set up in 1973 under the direction of the Ministry of Labour; its role is to encourage unions and management to undertake reviews and schemes aimed at improving conditions at work. It is finaced by FACT (Fonds pour lEmlioration des Conditions de Travail). Since the 1980s, ANACT has multiplied in all the administraative regions in the form of ARACTs (regional agencies) with reprrresentatives of the regional labour bureaux (Directions rgionales du Travail et de lEmploi) and of management and unions. Amongst others, on the temporary occupations of the unemployed within the private economy (1995); neighbourhood jobs (1995) with a strategy based on neighbourhood services and a proposal for a system of service sector employment vouchers chque emploi service; in-company training (1995) with in particular a proposal for training leave; Geneva: advantages and expectations how to get out of the mire (1996), a

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proposal for setting up a regional investment fund to give SMEs access to loans that are difficult to obtain from the banks; reception of foreigners in Geneva a table of the problems and resources in the canton and surrounding district administration (1996), with a policy aimed at treating foreigners without distinction not only as factors in production or as assistance liabilities but as people having rights: Political rights, citizens rights and the integration of foreigners in Geneva (1997), a pragmatic approach to social integration on this politically sensitive subject; social exclusion with a first part of an exploratory nature concerning the principle mechanisms that lead individuals or groups to the fringes of dependency, with the main lines along which a whole series of proposals may be put forward (1997) and then on the same subject (in 1998) a reflection stage in which to comprehend and act, i.e. propose some answers and tools with which to master the complexity of the subject by mastering the knowledge; Job share, flexibility and job creation (1998) focussing on the 4-day week and giving pride of place to in-company dialogue; Towards a pilot scheme for training vouchers (also in 1998) and a launch of this formula (chque-formation) in January 2001, admittedly not very stimulating for the training of poorly qualified people and therefore proposing, in addition to this pilot scheme, in order to try and break with the sociocultural handicaps that prevent access to the scheme, the setting up of an observation centre for in-company training; sustainable development and regional development in the neighbouring regions in France, in the Val dAoste and in Geneva (1998) with an exchange of views between employers, union organisers and outstanding figures engaged in the defence of the environment as to the conditions of sustainability; access to loans for SMEs (1999); The family and organising ones time (1999) to improve the quality of life and in a concomitant fashion ones competitiveness; Free movement of individuals risk of pay dumping? (April 2000) on the possibility of the free circulation of individuals between Switzerland and the European Union; Relations between the State and the associations sector organising a partnership (December 2000), followed by a second, third and final report on the realities in Geneva in this respect and the rules of the game to put forward. We should also mention a review on Managing working time carried out in 1996 by the ESC secretariat at the request of the city Administrative Council, one in 1997 entitled The social cost of unemployment in Geneva done by the university employment observation group (Observatoire universitaire de lemploi) at the request of the ESC, which describes in particular the risks of a two-speed society and a new poverty, one in 1998 on the indicators for sustainable development also at the request of the ESC and one in 1999 entitled Needs for qualifications and competencies in the international sector in Geneva: what chances for the young?, also carried out by the ESC secretariat at the request of the Geneva Foundation. This last report, based on a review of human resources managers in 31 intergovernmental organisations, NGOs and multinationals, in this case took up the definitions of the OECD for whom qualifications are all of the knowledge and know how required to accomplish a specific task whereas competencies are constituted by the aptitude of an individual to use his qualifications to accomplish something, to mobilise the necessary knowledge at the right moment and advisedly and resolve a problem that comes up in the course of his job. Knowledge and qualifications result from a training action or an academic course whereas competencies are always the result of experience. Vocational competence therefore builds up over the various stages of a career. Amongst qualifications, knowledge of IT and a good standard of English stood out clearly and

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desirable competencies are an open mind, mobility and flexibility with a particular emphasis on social skills, especially above a certain level of responsibility. Osbourne, T., Gaebler, D., Reinvening government : How the entrepreneurial spirit is transforming the public sector. Reading MA: Addison-Wesley. 1992. Apart from the elected institutions of the national, regional and local ESCs one may mention in France other permanent thematic associations, for example for consumer defence, national or local associations taking part in consensus conferences (on NGOs, on the location of nuclear waste plants); associations of the unemployed who are trying, so far without success, to be recognised by the public authorities; ad hoc temporary associations and all the organisations with or without the support of experts in organising hybrid forums, the mark of dialogue democracy. Cf. Callon, M., Lascoumes, P., Barthes, Y. Agir dans un monde incertain essai sur la dmocratie technique Paris, Seuil, 2001 Cf. esp. ISERES CG : Rapport sur la situation conomique et sociale, 98/99 la croise des chemins, Paris, VO Editions, 1999, and Jobert, A., Les espaces de la ngotiation collective, branches et rgions, Toulouse, Octares ditions, 2000 H. Arthurs, Labour Law Without the State, in University of Toronto Law Review, 1996, 1 ss S. Mnkare, Address at the Territorial Employment Pacts Dissemination, Conference in Bruxelles, 8 November 1999, p.1 (in : www.loecd.org). B. Huhonnier, Devolution and Flabalisation Implications for Local decision-makers, in International Conference, Glasgow, 28-29 February 2000 See: OECD, The OECD Jobs Study : Facts, Analysis, Strategies, OECD, Paris, 1994. More recently, OECD, Implementing the OECD Job Strategy: assessing Performance and Policy, OECD, 1999; OECD, Implementing the OECD Jobs Strategy: Lessons from Member Countries, 1997; OECD, 1997. See: European Commision, Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Acting Locally for Employment A Local Dimension for the European Strategy, COM(2000) 1996 final, p.1. See: M. Biagi, The Impace of European Employment Strategy on the Role of Labour Law and Industrial relations, in IJCLLIR, vol. 16, n. 2, 2000, 155 ss. See: M. Biagi, The Impact of European Employment Strategy on the Role of Labour Law and Industrial relatons, cit. J. Kenner, EC Labour Law: the Softly, Softly Approach in IJCLLIR, vol. 11, n.4, 1995, p. 307 J. H. Pendersen, Mainlines in Danish Labour Market Policy as Presented in the Danish National Action Plan 1999, in IJCLLIR, vol. 15, N.4, 1999, p. 383 A. Larsson, Europes Labour Markets the Archilles Heel of the EMU Process?, Occasional Paper, European Commission, Brussels, 1999. S. Zagelmeyer, Collective Bargaining on Employment in the European Union and Norway, European Foundaton for the Improvement of Work and Living Conditions, Dublin, 1999 Council Decision of 19 January 2001 on Guidelines for member States employment policies for the year 2001 (COM 2001/63/EC) See: Scharpf, New Challenges and Political Responses, in Conference on The Future of Work, Employment and Social Protection, January 18-19, 2001 See: H. Arthurs, op. cit.

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See the documents from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions: K. Sisson and A. Martin Artiles Handling Restructuring Collective Agreements on Employment and Competitiveness, Dublin 2000; S. Zagelmeyer Innovative Agreements on Employment and Competitiveness in the European Union and Norway, Dublin, 2000. K. Sisson, J. Freyssinet, H. Krieger, K. OKelly. C. Schnabel, H. Sefert, Pacts for Employment and Competitiveness Concepts and Issues, Dublin 1999 B. Caruso, Decentralised social pacts, trade unions and collective bargaining how labour law is changing. In Biagi M. ed., Towards a European Model of Industrial Relations? Building on the First Report of the European Commission, Kluwer law International, 2001 Ibidem

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Selected Bibliography
Arthurs H., Labour Law Without the State, in University of Toronto Law Review, 1996, 1 ss. Biagi M., The Impact of European Employment Strategy on the Role of Labour Law and Industrial relations, in IJCLLIR, vol. 16, n. 2, 2000, 155 ss. Biagi M., Tiraboschi M., Servizi di cura alla persona, assistenza domiciliare agli anziani e politiche locali per loccupazione: lesperienza modenese nel contesto comunitario, in Associazione Mario del Monte e Universit degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Rapporto sulla situazione economica e sociale della provincia di Modena 2000, Modena, 2000. Bodineau P., Les Conseils conomiques et sociaux (Paris, PUF, 1994) Campbell, The Third System Employment and Local Development, I, Syntesis Report, 1999, in <http://europa.eu.int>; C. Borzaga-A. Olabe-X. Greffe, The Third System Employment and Local Development, II, Key Sectors, 1999, ivi; P. Lloyd-B. Granger-C. Shearman, The Third System Employment and Local Development, III, Tools to Support the Development of the Third System, 1999, ivi. Caruso B., Decentralised social pacts, trade unions and collective bargaining - how labour law is changing, in Biagi M. ed., Towards a European Model of Industrial Relations? Building on the First Report of the European Commission, Kluwer Law International, 2001. Casale G., Social Dialogue in Central and Eastern Europe, ( ILO, Geneva, 1999) Commission of the European Communities, Communication from the Commission on a European strategy for encouraging local development and employment initiatives, COM(95)273; Commission of the European Communities, The Era of Tailor Made Jobs: Second Report on Local Development and Employment Initiatives, Forward Studies Unit, Bruxelles, 1998. Commission of the European Communities, Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Acting Locally for Employment. A local dimension for the European Employment Strategy, (COM(2000) 196 final, cit, 20-21. Crouch C., Labor Market Regulations, Social Policy and Job Creation, in Gual J., Job Creation: the Role of Labor Market Institutions, Elgar, Cheltenham, 130 et seqq. European Commission, Second Interim Progress Report on the Territorial Employment Pacts, November 1999. Foden D., Magnusson L. (ed.), Entrepreneurship in the European employment strategy, Brussels, ETUI, 1999. Huhonnier B., Devolution and Globalisation Implications for Local decision-makers, in International Conference, Glasgow, 28-29 February 2000. Kenner J., EC Labour Law: the Softly, Softly Approach, in IJCLLIR, vol. 11, n. 4, 1995, p. 307. ILO, Reducing the deficit in decent work a global challenge, (ILO, Geneva, 2001) Larsson A., Europes Labour Markets - the Achilles Heel of the EMU Process?, occasional paper, European Commission, Brussels, 1999. Mnkre S., Address at the Territorial Employment Pacts Dissemination, Conference in Bruxelles, 8 November 1999, p. 1 (in: <www.1oecd.org>). Mosley, Hugh, The role of the social partners in the design and implementation of active measures, ILO, Employment and Training Papers, n. 27/1998.

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Nap (2001), National Action Plan For Employment Implementation Report, Year 2001 - Italy, Ministero del Lavoro, Roma. OECD, Implementing the OECD Job Strategy: assessing Performance and Policy, OECD, Paris, 1999. OECD, Implementing the OECD Jobs Strategy: Lessons from Member Countries, 1997; OECD, 1997. OECD, The OECD Jobs Study: Facts, Analysis, Strategies, OECD, Paris, 1994. Pedersen J.H., Mainlines in Danish Labour Market Policy as Presented in the Danish National Action Plan 1999, in IJCLLIR, vol. 15, N.4, 1999, p. 383 Pyke F., Local Development Initiatives and the management of Change in Europe, ILO, Employment and Training Papers, n. 31, 1998, 6-7. Quentin O., The Role of Local and Regional Authorities in the draft Employment Guidelines, Dublin Castle, Ireland, Octber, 2000. Pinaud H., Kester G., Syndicats et participation dmocratique Scenario pour le 21me siecle (Paris, lHarmattan, 1995) Renshaw G., Achieving Full Employment in Transition Economies, ILO, Employment Paper, n.7/2000. Scharpf F.W., New Challenges and Political Responses, in Conference on The Future of Work, Employment and Social Protection, Annecy, January 18-19, 2001. Sisson K., Martin A., Handling Restructuring Collective Agreements on Employment and Competitiveness, Dublin 2000. Sisson K., Freyssinet J., Krieger H., OKelly K., Schnabel C., Sefert H., Pacts for Employment and Competitiveness Concepts and Issues, Dublin, 1999. Zagelmeyer S., Innovative Agreements on Employment Norway, Dublin, 2000. and Competitiveness in the European Union and

Zagelmeyer S., Collective Bargaining on Employment in the European Union and Norway, European Foundation for the Improvement of Work and Living Conditions, Dublin, 1999.

Web sites: http//www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/pacts/EN/LIST/ http://www.inforegio.com/pacts/EN/links.html http://www.inforegio.com/pacts/EN/links.html http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/esf/en/public/terp/en/toc.htm

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