What role do big corporations play in the economic well-being of the European Union? A non-standard view of Eastern Europe

Ognian N. Hishow

The global economic crisis caused demand in the European Union (EU) to drop to low levels. In order to mitigate the effects of the crisis, stimulus packages were hastily put up in the old member states (OMS). A considerable part of the spending was directed to the financial and banking sectors as it was concluded that these were systemically important. In addition, the core sector of Europe’s industry, car production, also received significant financial support.

Both the banking sector and the automotive industry play a crucial role in the new member states (NMS) of the EU. Hence one would expect that spending on banks and automotive firms in Western Europe, where the OMS are located, is what would have kept Eastern Europe’s economy, where most of the NMS are located, afloat during the crisis. Yet that assumption is wrong; the money that has gone to the big international European corporations has largely benefited them alone. To see why, it is important to consider how the economic integration of the NMS was conducted.

Working for a Social Protection Floor

Ellen Ehmke

Andreas Bodemer

Worldwide, 75% of the population have no or insufficient access to social security provision. Despite the long record of social security as a human right, which is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Art. 22, 25) and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (Art. 9), its implementation has been widely disregarded.

Many pretexts have been given to excuse this severe injustice. Prominently, the competitiveness of a globalised economy has allegedly caused a scarcity of financial resources available for social policies. On the one hand, the assumed negative effects of social security on economic growth have served as reason to cut back globally. On the other hand, during and after the economic crisis of 2009/2010 many observers confirmed the benefits of wide-ranging use of existing social security structures.
 

Supporting Dissent versus Being Dissent



Steven Toff

Jamie McCallum

When the Occupy Wall Street movement (OWS) began on September 17th 2011, few could have predicted the wave of occupations that would soon sweep the rest of the country and indeed much of the world in what has been referred to as the American Fall. While it remains to be seen how this inchoate movement will mature, it has so far exceeded everyone’s calculations - it is the first time since the 1999 anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle that tens of thousands in the US are taking to the street for economic reasons. Average Americans, many of whom have long understood the moral and economic turpitude at the root of Wall Street, are now expanding that stance to make a wholesale critique of neoliberalism and questioning some of the most foundational principles of capitalism. Despite its occasional penchant for protest and militant action, and its position as nearly the sole organization comprised of the US working class, the labor movement has been unable to mobilize itself or recruit others in the cause against rising income inequality and the erosion of democratic protections for workers. Now that the OWS movement has raised the issue, built a movement base, and reached out to labor, there remains a looming question: how will unions respond to the call?
 

Decent Work 2.0

Frank Hoffer

Last month, Juan Somavia, the long serving Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) announced his departure in 2012.
 

As head of the ILO, he introduced the Decent Work Agenda in 1999 to re-focus the ILO and make it relevant for the 21st century.
Twelve years later, the concept of ‘Decent Work’ is firmly established in the global debate and as an objective of national policy. It appears in many documents of the multilateral system, the G20 and national policy fora. It generates millions of Google hits. It is the subject of much academic research and debate. It is enshrined in several ILO Conventions and Declarations, and the international trade union movement introduced the annual Decent Work Day to campaign for workers’ rights. ‘Decent Work’ is so ubiquitous in ILO documents that some cynics say: "Decent Work is the answer, whatever the question!"
 

Will Decent Work survive the departure of the Director-General who coined the term and so successfully marketed it? Should it survive? The answer to the former question is one of the unknowns of “Realpolitik”. The answer to the latter depends on the assessment of what Decent Work means and how it should evolve.

New Economy vs. Old Ways

Goran Lukić

New buzz-words are entering into the traditional economic landscape of industrial relations. Managers and politicians who want to be in touch with new economic trends are using terms such as 'green economy', 'renewable energy' and 'corporate social responsibility (CSR)'. Another concept that is being touted as a 'big idea; is 'fair-trade' or 'Creating Shared Value (CSV)'. It seems that these terms are being translated into real action. According to an HSBC Global report, 19% of anti-crisis measures in France were put into the renewable energy sector in 2009, while 13% of Germany's 2009 anti-crisis measures were put into green investment and green tax reform. Q-Cells, a manufacturer of photovoltaic cells, which has its headquarters in the German city Bitterfeld-Wolfen, began its operations in 1999 with 19 employees, and soon had more than 1 000 people on its payroll.[1]

According to Fairtrade International (FLO), the fair-trade industry is booming. The sales of Fairtrade-certified products grew by 15% between 2008 and 2009. In 2009, Fairtrade-certified sales amounted to approximately €3.4 billion worldwide. There are now 827 Fairtrade-certified producer organisations in 58 countries, representing over 1.2 million farmers and workers. In addition to other benefits, approximately €52 million was distributed to communities in 2009 for use in community development.