COLLECTIVE RIGHTS IN THE LABOUR LAW OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
COLLECTIVE RIGHTS IN THE LABOUR LAW OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to suggest a reflection on the European model of industrial relations, which is understood as the (possible-and it is still in its consolidation phase-) configuration of a supranational dimension of industrial relations. Starting by introducing the fundamental elements of the legal, political, economic and social integration that characterize the European project, this paper continues reflecting on the dimensional complexity that exists at the moment that the European Union's social law is analyzed as a space for the recognition and development of fundamental social rights, especially of those of a collective nature. The rights to freedom of association, collective autonomy, strike and collective bargaining find a particular development in the peculiar community dimension that is worth being analyzed. In the absence of a constitutional framework similar to those existing in the national legal systems of member States, the recognition and development of these fundamental rights acquire particularly interesting specific characteristics which make it possible to imagine a European model of industrial relations, even though its most critical and problematic aspects. This model, which is in constant evolution and dialectic (and sometimes confrontation) with the different national models of industrial relations, achieves a very encouraging expressive level in the development of different kinds of autonomous and free collective bargaining, which constitute -particularly in a transnational dimension- the ultimate boundary of the collective autonomy that is regulated in regional terms. Therefore, this paper seeks to open a window to the European Union and thus contribute to a global discussion on the internationalization of industrial relations and the structure of fundamental social rights in supranational terms.

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