ABSTRACT
Labour relations in Eastern Europe are too much in a state of flux for any meaningful longer-term predictions to be made. A joint “European Labour Relations” project, accepted, in particular, by the EU member states, could have a unifying effect, and eases the attitude of emphasising national differences that has far prevailed. Most Western European countries have a differentiated system of levels of collective bargaining negotiations, which are also used to varying extents. The situation is quite different in the USA and Japan, where negotiations are conducted in an extremely plant/company-related manner. The difference in status accorded to labour relations and that of the trade unions within them could hardly be more drastic between Europe and the USA. The relationship between labour relations and the political representation of workers, especially in the form of social democracy, is being called into question with the dissolution of the Keynesian welfare state and the renaissance of liberal market policy.
