ABSTRACT
In the view of the ‘sceptical’ mainstream of industrial relations research, three - interrelated - factors stand in the way of the emergence of transna tional industrial relations, and in particular of a system of genuinely supra national collective bargaining. The first is the ‘European transnational weak ness’ of the trade unions (rooted in the political, ideological and substantive heterogeneity of union interests). The second is the ‘transnational organisa tional weakness’ of the employers (based on the fact that they see no strategic benefit in organising and interacting supra-nationally for the purpose of col lective bargaining within the EU framework). And the third is ‘the suprana tional weakness’ of the European Union itself as a political entity (Ebbinghaus and Visser, 1994). In particular, corporatist approaches view this lack of a properly functioning statehood, when compared with national states, as telling evidence for the fact that a pattern of industrial relations analogous to the tripartite arrangements found at national level will not be in stalled at European level in the foreseeable future. Although movement to wards statehood might be inherent in the process of European unity, the EU’s intrinsic limitations - both as a state and as a democratic polity - serve to block the full realisation of this potential.
