1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910828080203321

Autore

Meardi Guglielmo

Titolo

Social failures of EU enlargement : a case of workers voting with their feet / / Guglielmo Meardi

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Routledge, , 2012

ISBN

1-136-57589-8

1-283-85117-2

1-136-57590-1

0-203-15370-7

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (249 p.)

Collana

Routledge research in employment relations ; ; 25

Classificazione

BUS038000BUS079000BUS000000

Disciplina

337.1/42

337.142

Soggetti

Social rights - European Union countries

Europe Economic integration

European Union countries Economic conditions

European Union countries Social conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [195]-219) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Social failures of EU enlargement : a case of workers voting with their feet; Copyright; Contents; Figures and Tables; Abbreviations; Acknowledgments; Introduction; PART I. Betrayal; 1. The 'Hard Acquis' and Its Avoidance; 2 The 'Soft Acquis' and Social Dialog As Talk Show; 3 The Hoped Transfer through Foreign Investment; PART II. Exit; 4. Migration; 5 Political Absenteeism and Populism; 6 Organizational Exit and Misbehavior; PART III. Voice?; 7. The Possibilities of Trade Union Revitalization; 8 Cross-Border Experiments; 9 Other Voices; Conclusion; Annex; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Sommario/riassunto

"Is the EU enlargement the success EU institutions proclaim? Based on fifteen years of fieldwork research across Central and Eastern Europe and on migrants in the UK and Germany, this book provides a less glittering answer. The EU has betrayed hopes of social cohesion: social regulations have been forgotten, multinationals use threats of relocations, and workers, left without institutional channels to voice their concerns, have reacted by leaving their countries en masse. Yet



migration, for many, increases social vulnerability. Drawing on Hirschman's concepts of Exit and Voice, the book traces the origins of such failures in the management of EU enlargement as a pure economic and market-creating exercise, neglecting the inherently political nature of labour relations. The reinforcement of market mechanisms without political counterbalances has resulted in an increase in opportunistic exit behaviour by both employers and employees, and thereby in a worsening quality of democracy, at workplace, national and European levels. As a result of this process, the EU has become more similar to the North American Free Trade Agreement between USA, Canada and Mexico, where social rights are marginalized and economic integration does not translate into better development. "--