Documents Ribarova, Ekaterina 13 results

"Industrial relations transformation in the framework of European Union standards: the case of BulgariaThis article reviews the impact of European Union long-term strategies on industrial relations standards at both international and national levels – the latter with a particular focus on Bulgaria. Such strategies have the aim of enabling the European economy better to compete on the international stage, but they also present direct challenges to the labour market and to the industrial relations institutions at a time when these are already under severe pressure as a result of the global financial and economic crisis. The author discusses several issues which are problematic in the extension of EU-wide strategies to Bulgaria, particularly as regards their impact on the labour market, with the latter also undergoing transformation in the process of recovery and adaptation to European-style structures and approaches. The article concludes that there needs to be better integration between European and national level systems if long-term strategies are to have a chance, but that resistance and fear may act as an effective block on the potential success of trans-nationalisation. "

"Trade unions in the new market economies in Europe have already been playing their roles in the political, economic, social and sometimes cultural transitions for more than twenty years. Sometimes they have had to take painful decisions, in the course of which they have been confronted with obstacles. If workers are not very satisfied with their trade unions, the main question is the identity of the most important reasons for that – are they external or internal to the trade unions? The new challenges to trade unions, caused by globalisation and European integration, require more radical internal changes than was the case in the early 1990s. The priorities, approaches, structures and styles of trade union leaders are, in contrast, similar to those inherited from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Ultimately, the decline in trade union influence has been caused rather more by their slow and difficult adaptation to the technological, economic and demographic changes afoot than by the crisis and the difficulties of protecting an older workforce and old working conditions. "

"This article is based on the INFORMIA study which investigated the nature and extent of information and consultation (I&C) arrangements in four EU Member States (Bulgaria, France, Ireland and Italy) and one candidate country (Croatia). The study analysed not just the I&C procedures arising from the transposition of Directive 2002/14/EC on information and consultation of employees, but also other arrangements of longer standing, such as European Works Councils (EWCs) and the I&C procedure on occupational health and safety issues. It examined the application of I&C arrangements in the participating countries, with a particular focus on rights, responsibilities, methods of electing employee representatives, and the scope of I&C arrangements. Finally, the study examined whether any of the enterprises surveyed had made use of I&C procedures as part of their strategies for dealing with the global economic crisis. "

"The DIRECT Project, promoted by the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), is focused on trends in direct employee participation in six EU Member States. Its aim is to determine the extent of direct participation in these various countries; to compare different national trends; to analyse the reasons for the development of direct participation; to identify the impact of direct participation on the employment relationship at company level; and to promote the positive impact direct participation on employee representation and industrial relations at the company level. "