The Emergence of Regional Systems of Employment Relations: The Case of The European Union

The paper presents an overview of the present stage of development within the EU and compares, to a certain degree, its emerging industrial relations and employment relations with the situation in other, less integrated regional blocks. The paper looks at regional integration as represented by selected economic developments (like foreign direct investment, European Monetary Union, cost structures), by labour market issues (like changing principles of regulation, institutional and organizational arrangements at the macro and sectoral levels, social dialogues, European Works Councils, implementation problems)and by labour relations (social partners, differences in national systems, con?icting issues and interests).