Research project SE/D8/04 (Research action SE)
Within the civil society there exist a great many theme- or group-centred associations aiming to defend special interests through their
influence on the public authorities. The legitimacy of these associations rests on member representation. There exist many such associations:
women's movements, youth movements, environmental organisations, etc., and the trade-union movement. Each strives to represent the citizen
in its dealings with the public authorities. For several years, we have witnessed an increase in the number of associations; new groups gather
around new social themes, convinces that existing associations do not pay enough attention to current social problems.
There is one association belonging to civil society whose role is questioned: the trade union movement. In the post-war social model, this association occupied via social dialogue a major policy-supporting function. Social dialogue provided advice to politicians via the major representative organisations and it greatly legitimised social and economic decisions. Because of their great influence, unions were seen as factors of social cohesion and they played a major role both as opinion-givers and, via social dialogue, as political actors in many social problems. Several changes, affecting the economy, technology, and the social and economic environment, have caused a representativeness crisis: the basis of general solidarity has disappeared and has been replaced with solidarity within certain target groups demanding active representation, making new demands of the trade-union movement, and expecting it to supply answers to the new social problems (solidarity between active and non-active residents, redistribution of labour) and to take its own position in the framework of changing political structures (Europeanisation). In the present project:
*we study the social legitimacy of the trade-union movement as a representative of the interests of two target groups that are socially important
today (the unemployed and wage-earners working under atypical contracts) and to examine the place occupied by these groups within the
trade-union movement, the place the trade-union movement occupies for these groups within the civil society, and to what extent the
trade-union movement defends these target groups in particular against the threat of social exclusion, and protects social cohesion;
*we study the social legitimacy of the trade-union movement as a partner and defender of interests in the framework of the dialogue with public
authorities. The social dialogue system is in a crisis; increased competition and the globalisation of the economy shrink the bargaining margin at
all levels. European unification requires adaptations in the area of social dialogue and within the trade-union structures. These adaptations
require an analysis of the limits within which a dialogue can operate and a study of how the trade-union movement functions as a partner of the
dialogue.
The social and political pertinence of this study resides in the area of tensions between citizens, associations, and public authorities: research
into the role of the trade-union movement as a social cohesion factor highlights citizens' attitudes in relation to their wish to be represented via
existing or new associations. The study focusing on social dialogue aims to increase the efficiency and the impact of the dialogue system that is
the keystone of the Belgian model of social dialogue and one of its elements favouring pacification.
Een onvolledige strijd: sociale verkiezingen en democratie cijfermatig bekeken
Van Gyes, Guy Leuven: KUL, 2001 (PB5723)
De vakbond naar de 21ste eeuw: syntheserapport
Brussel: DWTC, 2001 (SP0835)
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