Recovering from the Crisis through Social Dialogue in the New EU Member States: The Case of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia.

Recovering from the Crisis through Social Dialogue in the New EU Member States: The Case of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia.

Guardiancich, I. (ed.) (2012). Recovering from the Crisis through Social Dialogue in the New EU Member States: The Case of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia. Budapest: International Labour Organization.

The recent financial and economic crisis is the biggest economic downturn experienced in Central and Eastern Europe since the immediate post-Communist era, and its impacts were deeply felt in the four countries under review. A reduction in domestic demand, an increase in unemployment, rising public debt, and lower living standards are among the results of the economic crisis. The authors explain that the measures aimed to mitigate its impacts and accelerate economic recovery can be grouped into three categories: 1) short-term anti-crisis measures negotiated at the national level; 2) executive measures negotiated at the sectoral and firm level; and 3) fiscal consolidation measures and structural reforms negotiated at the national level. Social dialogue has played an important role in the post-Communist era in Central and Eastern Europe; first in the early years of transition, and later during the EU accession process. As the volume shows, social dialogue was used as a key mechanism in devising and implementing anti-crisis measures, particularly in the first part of the downturn. The short-term anti-crisis measures were developed with the support of the social partners and were by and large effective. Tripartite consultations and collective agreements negotiated at the sectoral and firm levels focused on the preservation of jobs and helping enterprises to adapt to the difficult economic environment. Conversely, in the second phase of the crisis, social dialogue was challenged and its role was relegated. Governments faced pressure to comply with the Maastricht criteria and with the conditions set by the international financial institutions; as a result, austerity measures were adopted, in most cases without the support of the social partners. In response, demonstrations have been organized by the social partners and other civil society organizations in order to express disapproval of the governmentimposed austerity policies. However, as the studies show, social dialogue did not break down in the four countries under review, as was the case in some parts of Western and Eastern Europe, thus illustrating a certain maturity of industrial relations in the countries concerned.

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