European Labour Movements in Crisis : From Indecision to Indifference

In this book, Prosser argues that labour movements respond to European integration in a manner which instigates competition between national labour markets.

It bases its hypothesis on analysis of four countries – Germany, Spain, France and Poland – and two processes: the collective bargaining practices of trade unions in the first decade of the Eurozone and the response of trade unions and social-democratic parties to austerity in Southern Europe.

In the first process, although unions did not intentionally compete, there was a drift towards zero-sum outcomes which benefited national workforces in stronger structural positions.

In the second process, during which a crisis resulting from the earlier actions of labour occurred, lack of solidarity reinforced effects of competition. -- .