Employment Relations is Europe

The topic of this week’s blog post is Employment relations in Europe. The European Social Model being one of the main concepts. There are many different forms of the European Social Model but they are all based on the same universal ideology/principles that focus on the degree of equity in society. That people have the right to education, health care, social protection etc. In regards to the employment side of things, employees have more of an opportunity to participate in the organisation/enterprise that they work in. This participation could include the right to a high level of job security, ability to influence decisions that affect them and right to representation. The model also places a big emphasis on employee commitment; the participation levels are so high because employers want to encourage employees to have a higher level of commitment to their organisation.

This unit – international employment relations – is all about globalisation and the impact of it to employment relations practices on global convergence. The European social model worked well for Europe post world war II. However, since the rise of globalisation the model has faced some criticism that it needs to be reformed. I found this video of YouTube (link at the bottom if anyone is curious) by the EPP Group who reported on the effect of globalisation on the European social model. The host/narrator Jill Bewsher reports from the EVP-ED group hearing on the future of the European social model. This report interviews various people from the panel of experts and their opinions of what needs to be done in order for Europe to survive in the global economy. Because there is such a high level of unemployment, poverty and low birth-rates (and also a lot of old people) people are questioning the viability of the European social model. 

The EVP-ED held a hearing on the future of the social model and what they could do to be able to compete in the global economy. The experts from the panel talk about the problem being how to combine the social model with the economic needs, people are afraid of too much market – therefore it is important to create indicators and to give examples in order to increase public trust in a necessity in reforming the social model. I agree with this, the public will play a big part in the reform of the social model, so gaining there trusts is simply vital. The question is how? Some will be opposed to reform because they fear the repercussions (especially when they are so used to the model they have now), but reform is necessary because the world is changing and Europe needs to figure out a way to remain competitive in the global economy whilst at trying to maintain the values and principles of the social model.  Maintaining the values and principles of the current social model is key to the survival of the social model.

http://youtu.be/aIZJ0BPZpJc