This policy brief analyses Ireland's economic recovery and concludes that the narrative about fiscal austerity and internal devaluation producing an Irish growth miracle is simplistic and misleading. The author proves that the Irish economy's strong growth performance since mid-2014 can be... Find out more

This policy brief looks at how effective worker participation can make digitalisation a programme for success for companies and employees alike. The author provides a great number of good examples of negotiated solutions on the company level. Find out more

This policy brief considers the impact of online platforms on labour markets and on the employment relationship in particular. It discusses the importance of outsourcing platforms, arguing that the ‘collaborative economy’ used by the European Commission (EC) is a misleading concept, as the trend is... Find out more

Although union densities have fallen markedly almost everywhere in Europe over recent decades, many European countries still have particularly high and stable levels of binding collective bargaining coverage. The main reason is State support for collective bargaining systems. A central feature of... Find out more

This policy brief looks at the new ISO45001 draft international standard for occupational safety and health (OSH) management systems.After describing the process for international standard-setting, the brief analyses the relationship of this new proposed ISO45001 with the European Union's 1989... Find out more

This policy brief examines if and how the reformulated obligation in the Recast European Works Council Directive to report back found its way into EWC agreements by looking at survey data, results of large-scale agreement analysis and by providing examples of clauses in which this obligation is... Find out more

Concession bargaining at at workplace level has been spreading in the US and across Europe. It is often framed as a response to organisational or economic crises and therefore as a useful instrument for dealing with employment restructuring in the short term. This policy brief examines the practice... Find out more

This policy brief discusses the risks of deflation for the European economy. It critically evaluates the European economic governance for not having averted this risk and discusses how a more coordinated approach to both fiscal policy and collective wage bargaining, both aiming at national inflation... Find out more

This Policy Brief takes the measure of the EU Commission's ‘better legislation’ programme, attempting not only to identify its general thrust but also to reveal its inner contradictions. In the first three sections, the author examines aspects of the exercise taken as a whole, after which he... Find out more

International standards are playing an increasingly important role in market governance and often have a direct impact on health, safety and the environment. In most cases, these norms are defined by experts, without the participation of civil society representatives. This Policy Brief presents the... Find out more