Social partners in Europe
Trade unions and employer organisations, also called social partners, have a long history in shaping Europe’s economies. Both trade unions and employer organisations impact the daily experiences of those who live and work in Europe: Their role is crucial to organising the economy democratically. They are the protagonists of this exhibition’s story.
Social partners operate at different levels: local, sectoral, national and European. On the national level, social partners often negotiate wages or working conditions via collective agreements (‘collective bargaining’). There is, however, a wide variety in social partners’ roles across EU Member States: in Nordic countries, they are the main rule-makers for work. Elsewhere, for instance in Belgium, they can also have a consultative role shaping policy through advice to governments. In other countries still, the very idea of social partnership between trade unions and employer organisations is contested.
European Social Partners
The oldest and largest social partner organisations at the European level are the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), which brings together workers’ interests, and BusinessEurope and SGI Europe, which represent employers. Today, the EU commits to promoting social partnership and its organisations, also with a view to facilitating collective bargaining between employers and workers. Such a goal finds its roots in the early years of the European integration process. Already in 1957, the Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community, promoted “close co-operation between Member States in the social field”.
UNICE/BusinessEurope
Privately-owned businesses in the European Communities’ Member States organized themselves at European level soon after the 1957 Treaties of Rome. UNICE (Union des Industries de la Communauté Européenne), renamed BusinessEurope in 2007, was established in Brussels in 1958 by business federations from the then six founding Member States. BusinessEurope now represents more than 40 national federations, such as the Italian Confindustria, the German Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände e.V. (BDA), and the Polish Konfederacja Lewiatan. Since its founding, UNICE/BusinessEurope has advocated for the establishment of a free European market, the liberalisation of global trade, and restraint in regulating the economy by state action.
CEEP/SGI Europe
The Centre Européen des Entreprises Publiques (CEEP), renamed SGI Europe in 2020, was set up in Brussels in 1961. Since then, it represents employers providing services of general interest, often from the public sector. As a cross-industry social partner, CEEP/SGI Europe carved out its role at European level by highlighting the importance of the public sector in modern economies, which has varied greatly over time and across European countries. Often considered less prominent than BusinessEurope, CEEP/SGI Europe has nonetheless made a crucial contribution to social partnership in the EU.
ETUC, BusinessEurope and SGI Europe are not the only social partner organisations active at European level. Indeed, EU social partnership has been accompanied, supported, and also contested by other social partner organisations such as the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Sectoral social dialogue is also a central component of EU-level activity. The social partners in the chemical industry, for example, are industriALL European Trade Union and the European Chemical Employers Group. Sectoral social dialogue has produced a number of agreements that were implemented as EU law, mainly in the transport sector, and is an important source of joint opinions.
Social partners and European integration: the early years
In the mid-1980s, ETUC, UNICE and CEEP were dissatisfied with the development of their relations at European level and therefore their capacity to shape the European economy. Moreover, the three social partner organisations still struggled themselves to represent workers and employers at European level, as they were riddled with conflicts among their national members. ETUC representative Georges Debunne recalls how the social partners had already been involved in consultations on employment and social policy early on. Despite high hopes for the Permanent Committee for Employment, established in 1970, its impact was limited:
"Finalement, on a créé le Comite Permanent de I'Emploi et pour moi, c'est quelque chose d'important. Je croyais que c'était la solution. Il y avait les ministres, les patronats, il y avait les syndicats et il y avait les commissaires. Pendant des années, je me suis battu pour améliorer les systèmes parce qu'on ne pouvait pas dire qu'il y avait des négociations. C'était chacun qui venait faire son petit discours et puis le président tirait des conclusions, il y a eu quelques bagarres internes d'ailleurs. A un moment donne, on est sorti du comité permanent de I'emploi et puis ça ne fonctionnait pas. Alors nous avons pu organiser des conférences tripartites".
Source: Interview of Georges Debunne by M. Dumoulin and Y. Stelandre on 21 December 1998 / HAEU, INT615.
In the interview below, European Commission official Jean Degimbe speaks about the Tripartite Conferences (starting from 1976), which also failed to have lasting achievements.
JD: [...] À la Direction générale, comme directeur général, dès que je suis arrivé, en 1976, j’ai tout de suite réuni les partenaires sociaux, dans la semaine où j’ai pris mes fonctions ; et c’était la première fois depuis longtemps. Et puis, on a déballé. On a longuement parlé et on a promis de se revoir extrêmement régulièrement.
PT: Vous aviez des discussions tripartites et bipartites notamment sur l’emploi, mais qui avaient un peu accouché d’une souris...
JD: C’est cela. On avait essayé effectivement... C’est-à-dire qu’il y a... Je ne sais plus comment c’est né... Il y a eu... C’était après le programme d’action sociale, je ne vois plus très bien, de mémoire, le raccord...
PT: Il y a eu des sommets, un sommet sur l’emploi aussi...
JD: C’est ça ! Il y a eu un sommet sur l’emploi qui a créé le Comité permanent de l’emploi et la Conférence tripartite. Parce qu’on pensait à l’époque que la Conférence tripartite permettrait d’abord d’avoir un premier contact entre partenaires sociaux qui n’étaient pas encore très clairement à l’ordre du jour à l’époque, et le président Ortoli y tenait beaucoup..
Source: Interview of Jean Degimbe by Pierre Tilly on 13 July 2010 / HAEU, INT139.
Image Source: Jean Degimbe, Director-General of Social Affairs, European Commission. Photo: Christian Lambiotte / European Commision Audiovisual Service, P-008078/01-35A. Copyright European Communities, 1991.
Jean Degimbe (BE)
European Commission - Director General of DG V – Employment and Social Affairs 1976 -1992.
When the new Commission, headed by Jacques Delors, took office in January 1985, the social partners had been established but held little influence at the European level. Building on earlier initiatives, the Communities ushered in a new chapter of European social partnership.
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