Description

This issue of TRANSFER is devoted to labour relations in the United States (US), with specific emphasis on the activities of trade unions within the regulatory regime established in the US, and on the nature of reform at present underway within the labour movement. Recent debate in Europe has focused on the nature of the regulatory regime under construction within the European Union. At its most straightforward this debate revolves around the central question of whether the regulatory regime of the European Union involves the importation of characteristics of the American model or whether it is an amalgam of features of the regulatory regimes of the different member states. This issue of TRANSFER sets out to explore this question by identifying the key characteristics of the US model and assessing the scope of activity available to US trade unions.

With eight main articles and numerous shorter contributions and book reviews on the subject, this issue of TRANSFER aims to improve the - often patchy - knowledge of American labour relations among European social scientists and practitioners, and to stimulate debate on unions� strategies for the future on both sides of the Atlantic.

Coordinators

Table of contents

Editorial

Main articles

• Jeremy Waddington: Introduction: Trade unions and labour relations in the United States
• Lawrence Mishel: Living standards trends in the new economy era: what can we learn?
• Paula B. Voos and Haejin Kim: High performance work systems in the U.S. context
• Harry C. Katz: Recent developments in U.S. collective bargaining and employment practices
• Richard W. Hurd: Contesting the dinosaur image - the U.S. labor movement's search for a future
• Lee Adler and Lowell Turner: Awakening the giant: the revitalization of the American labor movement
• Robert B. McKersie: Labor's voice at the strategic level of the firm
• Alfredo Hualde and Miguel Angel Ramírez: The impact of the NAFTA treaty on wage competition, immigration, labor standards and cross-border co-operation

News and background

• High road partnerships: Building-blocks of a new approach in American trade unionism?
  Andrew Watt
• World social order and global civil society: an assessment of international standards of justice
  Wolfgang Weinz
• Marks and Spencer's closure plans and trade union responses
  Lionel Fulton
• European Commission adopts employment package 2001
  Andrew Watt

Book reviews

• Review of recent publications on the topic of 'Restructuring American Unions'
  (Martin Behrens)
• Lowell Turner, Harry C. Katz and Richard Hurd (eds)
  Rekindling the Movement. Labor's Quest for Relevance in the Twenty-First Century (Jon Erik Dølvik)
• Paul Osterman
  Securing prosperity. The American labor market: how it has changed and what to do about it
  (Paul Teague)
• Saul A. Rubinstein and Thomas A. Kochan
  Learning from Saturn: Possibilities for Corporate Governance and Employee Relations
  (Alex Colvin)
• Henry Milner and Eskil Wadensjö (eds.)
  Gösta Rehn, the Swedish model and labour market policies. International and national perspectives
  (Andrew Watt)
• Wade Jacoby
  Imitation and Politics: Redesigning Modern Germany
  (Beate Sissenich)
• Jacques le Goff
  Droit du travail et société - 1. Les relations individuelles de travail�
  (Christophe Vigneau)
• Michael Bachner
  Die Rechtsstellung des Europäischen Betriebsrats nach französischem und deutschem Arbeitsrecht im Spannungsverhältnis zwischen europäischer Normsetzung und nationaler Arbeitsrechtstradition
  (Norbert kluge)
• S. Deery and R. Mitchell
  Employment Relations: Individualisation and Union Exclusion - An International Study
  (Thomas Klikauer)

Reports

• The E-Union: International Conference on Union Growth, Toronto, 30 April- 1 May, 2001
  (Otto Jacobi/Jeremy Waddington)
• LO Norway National Congress, 5-11 May 2001
  (Kristine Nergaard, Espen Løken and Jon Erik Dølvik)
• 'The European Company and workers' involvement: its importance for labour and business', ETUI Forum, 14 May 2001, Brussels
  (Martin Hutsebaut)
• European Summer University in Schloss Genshagen near Berlin, 8-9 June 2001
  (Susanne Hildebrandt)
• 'New Horizons for Collective Bargaining in Europe', 4th EMF Collective Bargaining Conference, Oslo , 20/21 June 2001
  (Jochen Gollbach)
• 6 th European Regional Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association, 25 to 29 June, 2001, Oslo
  (Kevin O'Kelly)
• Conference 'Labour, employment and social policies in the EU enlargement process: changing perspectives and policy options', 28-30 June, 2001, Baden, Austria
  (Eva Belabed)
• ETUC-ETUI-ETUCO seminar on the co-ordination of collective bargaining, 30 August-1 September 2001, Sintra, Portugal
  (Penny Clarke / Emmanuel Mermet)