I submitted my PhD entitled ‘German and British Labour Law in a European Context following European Union Enlargement’ in June 2010. The thesis was successfully examined in November 2010.
The subject of my PhD was a comparison of the responses of German and British trade unions to the challenges posed by the recent enlargements of the European Union. More specifically, it focused on the manner in which trade unions are reacting to the changing economic and labour market conditions in Germany and the UK following the enlargements. I employed a comparative method when analysing the responses of trade unions in order to determine the impact that these responses are having on new Member State workers availing themselves of their free movement rights under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Overall, my thesis provides clarity on trade union behaviour and on the different roles that trade unions adopt when they respond to changing regulatory and opportunity structures. Particularly following the European enlargements many of the problems facing trade unions have their origin in European developments. The tensions that exist in the area of collective labour law between national and European systems of regulation due to the European Union’s policy of europeanisation are often simplified. In order to understand the consequences and effects of europeanisation on national trade unions my thesis develops a new model for studying aspects of europeanisation. The model systematically breaks down the concept of europeanisation in order to achieve clarity on its content and effects. This allows for an assessment as to the opportunities that europeanisation may offer trade unions in their responses to the effects of the recent European enlargements. The usefulness of this new method is not just limited to the subject-matter of my thesis; it can be used more widely to understand the effects of europeanisation on non-state actors.
However, apart from looking at how trade unions respond to the challenges of European enlargement and the new Member State workers my thesis also contributes to the general literature on trade unions and europeanisation in the field of collective labour law.
I am currently expanding my doctoral thesis by examining how trade unions have responded to the challenges of EU enlargement in 2004 and 2007 in Austria, Ireland and Sweden.