Voss, Eckhard

Building on the analysis of national apprenticeship systems in the 2018 Eurofound report Adaptation of national apprenticeship systems to advanced manufacturing, this report summarises the results of 14 case studies of good practice in the manufacturing sector in five EU Member States (Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland and Italy) and two countries outside Europe (Australia and the United States).

Apprenticeships combining alternating periods at the workplace and in training institutions are well suited to providing young people with an entry point into the labour market and to supplying enterprises with skilled workers. This report examines apprenticeship systems and practices in the manufacturing sector in five EU Member States (Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland and Italy) and two countries outside Europe (Australia and the USA), exploring reform processes in response to new skill requirements arising from technological change.

The study looks at the articulation and the complex multi-level links between European and national levels of social dialogue. It examines the factors that facilitate as well as those that hinder the successful engagement of national social partners and their ability to promote their own interests effectively.

Social dialogue still matters in Europe. Recent EU-level policy debates have highlighted that, particularly since the 2008 crisis, the emergence of new debates on social justice, democracy, the quality of work and new models for labour relations have been challenging traditional industrial relations and social dialogue systems. The main objective of this comparative study is to gather information on how social partners in the EU28 and Norway have responded to the many new political, legal and social challenges that have arisen in recent years.

Collective bargaining systems in the EU have undergone a steady change since the end of the 1990s. But as businesses across Europe struggle to respond to intensifying global competition, pressure from employers for greater flexibility in collective bargaining is increasing, especially since the 2008 economic crisis.

Micro and small companies constitute the backbone of private business in Europe, accounting for nearly 99% of all enterprises, more than half of total employment in the private sector and an even greater proportion of new jobs. Despite their crucial place in the economy, there has been little research on micro and small companies, particularly in terms of the implementation of fundamental workers’ rights – such as health and safety at work – and the positive role of social dialogue in striving for good working conditions and industrial relations. Given this knowledge gap, Eurofound undertook a research project aimed at investigating industrial relations and social dialogue in micro and small companies. The research was based on various information sources, including a review of Eurofound’s earlier research and other literature on the topic, a comparative evaluation of contributions from 28 national correspondents and 10 case studies of good practice in micro and small companies in five countries.

The Hager Group is a family-run company based in the German Saarland with approximately 10,000 employees worldwide. The company offers a complete range of systems, solutions and services for energy distribution in buildings, including security solutions as well as electrical installations supplies for larger-scale projects in the field of industry and infrastructure. The Hager company is characterised by a strong German-French corporate identity with equally strong production facilities on both sides of the border. This cross-border corporate culture was also a major driving force for the establishment of the Hager SE in 2007.

Strabag is a multinational building and construction company. It operates in three areas: building construction and civil engineering; road construction; and tunnelling and services, in more than 500 locations worldwide. In 2009, Strabag SE had 75,500 employees, of which more than 80% worked in Europe. The Strabag SE was officially registered in the company register of Klagenfurt in Austria on 12 October 2004 as one of the first European Companies and was the first one based in Austria. However, the conversion of the Strabag AG Holding into a SE only came into force in May 2006 due to legal problems and procedures.

This report seeks to investigate the contribution played by social dialogue structures in boosting the quality of work and employment. Focusing in particular on national experience in six Member States, and the situations of the construction and healthcare sectors, it provides an overview of major framework conditions from both a European and national perspective, presents key findings from existing research and national working conditions surveys, as well as giving an overview of examples of good practice at company level and of the results of case studies carried out as part of the research for this report.

Headquartered in Utrecht/The Netherlands with subsidiaries in Germany, Italy and Finland, Equens is a full-service payment processing company offering services in payment and card processing and a European leader in this business segment. The transformation of Equens N.V. into an SE was concluded in July 2008 by a merger with the German subsidiary. This also reflects the strong European vision of the company. As a financial payment processor in an increasingly European market, the company follows its aims to become a truly European service provider. The case of Equens reflects the search of transnational operating companies for options to harmonise and simplify their governance structures including the practice of employee involvement and participation.