‘Collective Autonomy in the European Union’ explores the question of collective autonomy by investigating the relationship between collective bargaining and legal regulation and its current evolution in the national contexts and in the EU internal market. The thesis aims at achieving a comprehensive understanding of the notion, function and exercise of collective autonomy and collective bargaining, and it argues that collective autonomy and collective bargaining in contemporary Europe present challenges that alter their basic features. To this end, the thesis undertakes a multifaceted analysis integrating three perspectives: a theoretical perspective analysing and combining the conceptual elements of collective autonomy and collective bargaining as defined in industrial relations theories, labour law theories, and in the discourses on global labour rights; a comparative perspective analysing how collective autonomy and collective bargaining have found legal regulation in the Italian and Swedish labour law and industrial relations contexts; a cross-border perspective examining how the EU regulation of the internal market freedoms of establishment and to provide services impacts on the features of collective autonomy and collective bargaining.By combining elements of international, European and comparative labour law, EU internal market law, and industrial relations, this thesis explores the unique features of collective autonomy and collective bargaining as socio-economic mechanisms having a normative power, whose functioning is however influenced by legal dynamics. Eventually, it examines the transformation that the foundations of collective autonomy and collective bargaining undergo in relation to the challenges deriving from both the processes of company-level decentralisation and the dynamics of the cross-border scenarios in the EU internal market. Ultimately, the thesis contributes to advancing the understanding of the foundations of collective autonomy and to exploring its operations beyond national borders. (Less)

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Collective Autonomy in the European Union: Theoretical, Comparative and Cross-border perspectives on the Legal Regulation of Collective Bargaining

►M4 Commission Regulation (EC) No 2083/2005 of 19 December 2005 L 333 28 20.12.2005 ►M5 Council Directive 2006/97/EC of 20 November 2006 L 363 107 20.12.2006 ►M6 Commission Regulation (EC) No 1422/2007 of 4 December 2007 L 317 34 5.12.2007 ►M7 Commission Regulation (EC) No 213/2008 of 28 November 2007 L 74 1 15.3.2008 ►M8 Commission Decision 2008/963/EC of 9 December 2008 L 349 1 24.12.2008 ►M9 Regulation (EC) No 596/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 L 188 14 18.7.2009

Public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts

Buying social justice: Equality, government procurement, and legal change : Book review

Through a cross-national comparative study of local government ‘best practice cases’ of socially responsible procurement in Denmark, Germany and the UK, this article critically examines the role of...

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Tackling precarious work in public supply chains: A comparison of local government procurement policies in Denmark, Germany and the UK

his study aimed at examining the competitiveness of SMEs when they are being assisted particularly having an access to public procurement contract. Descriptive and exploratory designs were used. Convenience sampling technique was applied to select 91 respondents. The findings of the study revealed that on the competitiveness of SMEs in Ghanaian economy with access to public contract, SMEs have the ability to be flexible in their operations and their adaptability to changes either accidental or unexpected. It was also revealed that SMEs serve as a force for economic diversification and can act as the main engines for growth and development. The study also revealed that SMEs have the advantages in the form of innovation, employment, spatial benefits and the potential for decentralized supply opportunities. On issue of preferential treatments accorded SMEs in Ghana based on the Public Procurement Act 663, the study revealed that procurement officers/entities are not required to give SMEs concerns an equitable opportunity to compete for contracts and it does not provide any specific laws or articles relating to SMEs. The margins of preference found in the Public Procurement Act 663 is designed to give preference to local suppliers and contractors (irrespective of the nationality of the proprietor) competing with foreign suppliers and contractors not specifically for SMEs in Ghana. It was clear that there are no small business set-aside programs provided for SMEs in the Public Procurement Act 663 and its does not have any exemption from bid and performance security. It is recommended that the procurement policy and the Act 663 should be reformed to reflect preferential treatment for all the SMEs in Ghana to enhance their competitiveness in the economy.

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMES) accessibility to public procurement: SMES entity perspective in Ghana

This article analyses different types of labour clauses in public procurement regulation that have been enacted in Germany, a coordinated market economy that has experienced a ‘neoliberal drift’ in...

Collective bargaining, minimum wages and public procurement in Germany: Regulatory adjustments to the neoliberal drift of a coordinated market economy:

Öffentliche Auftragsvergabe in Deutschland

MiloG Mindestlohngesetz Federal law on minimum wages Introduction Public Procurement – i.e. the purchase of goods and services by public sector bodies – accounts for nearly one fifth of GDP in the European Union (European Commission, 2012). In Germany, public procurement by general government and state-own utilities is estimated to account for about 17% of GDP (OECD, 2011). However, as no verified and compiled data exists that includes all levels of government, all types of purchases (especially low value purchases), all fields of procurement (e.g. construction, IT, rescue services, or catering) and all those institutions that fall under the scope of public procurement regulations in Germany, this is but a vague estimation and has to be taken with caution. 1 Undoubtedly though, public procurement accounts for an important amount as well as a wide range of goods and services purchased. Until the reform of 2004 European regulations were largely characterized as neoliberal and focused on competition and the creation of the single market without focussing on social criteria (Rolfstam, 2009). In the beginning of the 20th century – and especially during the negotiations of a new Directive on public procurement, a debate on social standards in the economically based process of tendering gained momentum Seeing that public procurement is based in competition and market building these goals, however, are only taken into account up to a certain point and if they are treated rather restrictively. Against the background of the history of NPM like-reforms, privatization and outsourcing since the 1980ies on the one hand and the politisation of dismantling public services on the other hand, social considerations in public procurement have attracted a growing interest among social scientists. With public procurement being a rather new field of concern in social sciences, knowledge on the extent and the characteristics of social criteria in public procurement in national perspective is still rather scarce. In this regard, the working paper aims to provide an overview of the development and the current situation of social criteria in public procurement regulations at national as well as subnational level in Germany. It shall thereby provide a starting point for future research as well as facilitate further. Being directed at scholar studying public procurement from a social science perspective and aiming at an introductory overview of developments and criteria the paper, however, leaves aside a detailed 1 For the Federal State of Hamburg, this was among others …

Public Procurement as Social Policy? An introduction to social criteria in public procurement in Germany

Public administration is an important force influencing equality in today’s society. Like budgetary choices, public procurement has increasingly gained attention as a means to promote equality. Yet...

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Fulfilling its promise? Strategic public procurement and the impact of equality considerations on employers’ behaviour in Scotland

The ability to engage with empirical research in a meaningful way is a vital skill for public administration (PA) students and graduates. Yet, while research methods are essential skills for PA stu...

Eva Katharina Sarter

Papers

Collective bargaining, minimum wages and public procurement in Germany: Regulatory adjustments to the neoliberal drift of a coordinated market economy:

Öffentliche Auftragsvergabe in Deutschland

Public Procurement as Social Policy? An introduction to social criteria in public procurement in Germany

Fulfilling its promise? Strategic public procurement and the impact of equality considerations on employers’ behaviour in Scotland

The power of collaboration: Reflections on a collaborative approach to teaching research methods in public administration: