Job quality in Europe
By Janine Leschke and Andrew Watt
The ETUI has created a job quality index (JQI) in order to shed light on whether the goal of more jobs has been pursued at the cost of better jobs and how European countries compare with each other with regard to job quality. This Paper outlines some of the initial results of what will be a regular monitoring exercise.

Labour cooperation or labour conflict in the enlarged EU? Trade union responses to the rise of the automotive industry in Central-Eastern Europe
By Magdalena Bernaciak
This paper examines how Western and CEE trade unions are coping with intensifying cross-border competition. It asks what strategies they employ to increase or preserve employment levels and to improve working conditions in a transnationally competitive environment.

The "transnational collective bargaining within a European multi-level system of industrial relations" conference will take place on 20-21 February 2009 in Brussels. A call for papers has been launched.

Better defending and promoting trade union rights in the public sector.
Part I: Summary of available tools and action points
Edited by Stefan Clauwaert and Wiebke Warneck

Designed as a campaign-oriented, practical tool, the report maps out the current situation with regard to the application of and respect for trade union rights in the public sector across Europe.
It identifies persistent and existing obstacles and problems facing trade union rights, in particular concerning the freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining and the right to take collective action, as well as information and consultation rights.

This issue of Transfer identifies and analyses the main forces driving the privatisation of public services. It discusses the processes of privatisation and the consequences for the trade union movement and industrial relations in general. The wider impact on citizenship and democracy is also analysed.

This issue’s coordinators: Maria da Paz Campos Lima; Jens Lind

The network of trade union-related research institutes (TURI) has been created in order to facilitate the cooperation and exchange of knowledge between the institutes supporting the trade union movement across Europe while integrating the European dimension more naturally in their research work. It is a structural and non-thematic platform based on formal contacts between the institutes. TURI aims at helping trade union-related institutes to engage in comparative research. It is a tool for mapping expertise and it should facilitate the emergence of common projects. The network will be holding its first conference ‘The Future of Trade Union Structures and Strategies’ on 14th October in Brussels. The aim of the conference is to stimulate debate between the different national trade union related research institutions and trade union leaders, to exchange research results on different trade union structures and strategies and to deepen analysis that points towards policy implications for trade unions.

Wage differentials across sectors in Europe: an east-west comparison
By François Rycx, Ilan Tojerow and Daphné Valsamis