European integration and the paradoxical answers of national trade unions to the crises of capitalism

ABSTRACT

In their introduction to this special issue, the editors mentioned that the commodification of labour is one important feature of capitalism. Hence, the reaction of the principal organizations that represent and defend labour needed to be explored. This article focuses on Belgian and German trade unions’ apprehensions of European integration during the 1970s and sheds lights on two major findings. First, trade unions’ perceptions of European integration were very clearly influenced by the condition and the evolution of capitalism. National trade unions observed that the transformations of capitalism could not be adequately addressed by national polities and industrial relations structures. Hence, trade unions heavily insisted on the necessity of political and trade unionist European cooperation. The latter is considered a necessary intermediary to allow labour to counterbalance the new forms of capital and to regain the influence it lost nationally. The second finding is that there existed a huge paradox between this enduring rhetoric of the necessity of European integration and the willingness of trade unions to give up some of their national prerogatives. The evolving forms of capitalism made it imperative to cooperate more at the supranational level but trade unions remained very much reluctant national institutions.

KEYWORDS:

• European Integration
• trade unions
• Europeanization
• multinational companies
• DGB

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Delors, “Problématique pour un autre développement,” 35 and 43.

2. Thiemeyer, Europäische Integration, 71. In this regard, see also Petrini’s article in this special issue and his arguments around the “European rescue of capitalism.”

3. Interdependence should be understood here as the fact that countries depend on each other (economically, politically, and so on) and not as a 1970s version of the contemporary term ‘globalisation’. Kaiser and Meyer, “Non-State Actors in European Integration in the 1970s,” 8; and Otto, “DGB zur internationalen Gewerkschaftspolitik,” 108‒9.

4. Janne, Mutations de la société moderne, 29.

5. Confédération des syndicats chrétiens [Hereafter: CSC], Rapport d’activité 1977–1979, III.

6. Vetter, Gleichberechtigung oder Klassenkampf, 182.

7. Fédération générale du Travail de Belgique [Hereafter FGTB], Rapport d’activité FGTB Congrès statutaire 19–20–21 novembre 1981, Brussels, FGTB, 1981, p. 20.

8. The then chairman of the DGB wrote in 1980: ‘Diese Aufgabe aber ist in nationalem Rahmen allein nicht lösbar. Nur wenn die Gewerkschaften ihre Forderungen in Europa miteinander in Übereinstimmung bringen und zu einer gemeinsamen tarifpolitischen Strategie finden, wird eine durchgreifende Arbeitszeitverkürzung zu erreichen sein.’ Vetter, Gleichberechtigung oder Klassenkampf, 182.

9. FGTB, “Procès-verbal de la réunion du Bureau du 27 février 1973,” 27 February 1973, 8, AMSAB; and Otto, “DGB zur internationalen Gewerkschaftspolitik,” 108–9.

10. ETUC, “Procès-verbal du deuxième congrès statutaire,” 30–1, n° 740, International Institute of Social History [hereafter IISH].

11. Protokolle des 10. Ordenlicher Bundeskongreẞ Hamburg, vom 25. bis 30. Mai 1975, s.d., 175.

12. Heumann, Europäische Integration und nationale Interessenpolitik, 40.

13. CSC, Rapport d’activité 1977–1979, III; Syndicaliste CSC, 1^er décember 1973, 20.

14. My emphasis. Original in French: ‘Nous devons devenir plus européens encore.’ ETUC, “Procès-verbal du deuxième congrès statutaire,” 30–1, n° 740, IISH.

15. CSC, “Procès-verbal de la réunion extraordinaire du comité du 5 mars 1974,” 7, n° 68, KADOC – Documentatie- en Onderzoekscentrum voor Religie, Cultuur en Samenleving [hereafter KADOC].

16. Ibid., 4.

17. Protokolle des 9. Ordenlicher Bundeskongreẞ Berlin, 25. bis 30. Juni 1972, 162.

18. CSC, “Procès-verbal de la réunion extraordinaire du comité du 5 mars 1974,” 4, n° 68, KADOC; Protokolle des 9. Ordenlicher Bundeskongreẞ Berlin, 25. bis 30. Juni 1972, 162.

19. ‘Pouvons-nous, nous syndicalistes, manquer le coche […] ?’; and CSC, “Procès-verbal de la réunion du comité du 30 octobre 1973,” 7, n° 66, KADOC.

20. OECD – Liaison Committee with international non-governmental organisations, “Summary records of the meeting with representatives of the trade union advisory committee to the OECD – 14 December 1987,” February 4, 1988, 3, Microfiche RE (87). Série – RE/TUAC/CE (87) 1, OECD-Archives.

21. ETUC, “Procès-verbal – reunion du Comité exécutif – 4 juillet 1975,” July 29, 1975, addendum; ETUC, “Programme d’action européen – groupes multinationaux,” July 1977, 1, n° 562–563 and 575–576, IISH.

22. Costa v. Enel, Case 6/64, July 15, 1964, 593.

23. Protokolle des 10. Ordenlicher Bundeskongreẞ Hamburg, vom 25. bis 30. Mai 1975, 40.

24. “Europa Impulse Geben,” 2.

25. Didry and Mias, Le Moment Delors, 100.

26. OECD, “Meeting of the drafting group of the committee on international investment and multinational enterprises to be held on 3rd and 4 September 1975. Declaration by the OECD member countries on guidelines for multinationals enterprises – draft,” 28 July 1975, 1, Directors working file concerning the IME drafting group ID: F230395, OECD-Archives.

27. Dunning and Robson, “Multinational and Regional Integration,” 9.

28. Perron, “L’Europe, actrice et moteur de l’intégration européenne depuis 1950,” 78.

29. CSC, Rapport d’activité 1972–1975, XI; Debunne, “L’Europe est malade,” 1; Une économie au service de l’homme et de la société, 13.

30. The moral and economic judgement of this trend is however quite different, according to the different actors and institutions. The OECD, for instance, also considered this question from the angle of international investments and the liberalisation of exchanges. While recognizing the ‘risks inherent in the concentration of economic power in large units’, OECD members stressed that multinationals also performed ‘useful functions of transferring, and distribution internationally, the means of production represented by capital technology and human resource’. More generally, the growing economic interdependence was also seen as a ‘facteur de force et d’efficacité de nature à assurer la paix et la stabilité dans le monde’. OECD, ‘Meeting of the drafting group of the committee on international investment and multinational enterprises to be held on 3rd and 4 September 1975 […]’ op. cit.; “Résolution du Conseil relative aux activités et programme de l’organisation,” 371‒3.

31. Günter, The Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy. See also Warlouzet, Governing Europe in a Globalizing World; Petrini, Taming the Beast and Aurélie Andry, “Social Europe”, 2017 PhD thesis.

32. OECD Secretariat, “International Investment and Related Issues,” June 22, 1973, Directors working files concerning the IME and TUAC relations ID: F230392, OECD-archives.

33. Though clearly designated as the (perfidious) enemy, there is no clear definition of what a multinational is exactly. Moreover, differences in national accounting norms and practices made it difficult to have a clear view on the phenomenon, as multinationals operated in several countries. One of the first tasks of the OECD when starting to work on multinational enterprises was to establish standards in order to have access to comparable statistics among the member countries. Until this could be achieved, there remained a difficulty in exactly and precisely grasping the phenomenon of multinational enterprises. In the 1980s, many enterprises tried rather to present themselves as transnational companies, given the bad press affecting multinational enterprises, often ‘associated with greed and inequality’. Braun, “Mehr Informationen über multinationale Unternehmen,” 12; Calvin, “Defining Transnationalism,” 433; OECD, “Meeting of the drafting group of the Committee on International investment and multinational enterprises to be held on 10th‒11th June 1975. Working paper by the secretariat,” May 22, 1975, 1, Directors working file concerning the IME drafting group ID: F230394, OECD-Archives; OECD – Council, “Recommendation relating to the improvement of information on the activities of multinational enterprises, adopted by the Council at its 414th meeting on 23 March 1976,” BIAC cooperation the guidelines for multinational enterprises, ID: F230566, OECD-Archives.

34. FGTB, Syndicats, February 16, 1974, p. 12.

35. Protokolle des 10. Ordenlicher Bundeskongreẞ Hamburg, vom 25. bis 30. Mai 1975, 177.

36. Angenommene Anträge und Entschließungen des 10. Ordentlichen Bundeskongresses vom 25.-30. Mai 1975 in Hamburg, 48; Vetter, Gleichberechtigung oder Klassenkampf, 57.

37. OECD – Trade union advisory committee on multinational corporations, “Note,” 14 March 1975, 2, Directors’ working files concerning the IME and TUAC relations ID: F230392, OECD-archives.

38. Jung et al., “Aspekte der Gewerkschaftspolitik in Westeuropa,” 297.

39. Une économie au service de l’homme et de la société, 13.

40. See note 6.

41. Angenommene Anträge und Entschließungen des 10. Ordentlichen Bundeskongresses vom 25.-30. Mai 1975 in Hamburg, 48; Une économie au service de l’homme et de la société, 13.

42. Ortmann, “Kein Supermarkt für Multis,” 1.

43. CSC, “Procès-verbal de la réunion extraordinaire du comité du 5 mars 1974,” 12, Archief bestuurorganen van het Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond en van diverse diensten, n° 68, KADOC; Köpke, “Gewerkschaften und europäische Integration,” 273.

44. Angenommene Anträge und Entschließungen des 10. Ordentlichen Bundeskongresses vom 25–30. Mai 1975 in Hamburg, 32.

45. Gobin, “Consultation et concertation sociales à l’échelle de la Communauté économique européenne,” 566.

46. Debunne, “L’Europe sur le dos des travailleurs ?” 1; “Les perspectives du syndicalisme européen,” 20; and “Les syndicats face à l’Europe,” 12.

47. Une économie au service de l’homme et de la société, 54; Jung et al., “Aspekte der Gewerkschaftspolitik in Westeuropa,” 295. See also Jouan, “Narratives of European Integration in Times of Crisis.”

48. Une économie au service de l’homme et de la société, 54; “Le programme d’action: démocratisation de l’entreprise,” 17–19; Programme FGTB, April 2, 1974, 64, Available online: ftp://digital.amsab.be/archives/BE_AMSAB_144_ABVV/2_3_nationaal_bureau/0332_1946-1984_nota’s/0403_1974/1974_023_abvv_no.pdf (accessed May 7, 2016).

49. In this regard, see for instance Badel et al., “Cercles et milieux économiques,” 13–45; Bussière, “L’économique et le politique: autonomie des facteurs, autonomie des acteurs ?” 307; Renouvin and Duroselle, Introduction à l’histoire des relations internationales, 246 and following; and du Réau, L’idée d’Europe au XXe siècle, 127.

50. Bitsch, Histoire de la construction européenne, 15.

51. de Schoutheete de Tervarent, interview.

52. Leboutte, Histoire économique et sociale de la construction européenne, 101‒2.

53. See note 42.

54. Jef Houthuys, “Discours de clôture au congrès extraordinaire de l’OE/CMT,” May 31, 1974, Archief bestuurorganen van het Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond en van diverse diensten, n° 68, KADOC; CSC – Bureau, “Rapport de la réunion du 13 février 1973,” 3‒4, Archief bestuurorganen van het Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond en van diverse diensten, n° 66, KADOC.

55. Angenommene Anträge und Entschließungen des 10. Ordentlichen Bundeskongresses vom 25.-30. Mai 1975 in Hamburg, 47; “Projet de déclaration du front commun syndical,” October 7, 1980, 25. Available online: ftp://digital.amsab.be/archives/BE_AMSAB_144_ABVV/2_3_nationaal_bureau/0332_1946-1984_nota’s/1542_1980/1980_051_abvv_no.pdf .

56. Benthien, “Direktwahl zum Europäischen Parlament,” 494; CSC-Bureau, “Procès-verbal de réunion,” August 26, 1975, 11, Archief bestuurorganen van het Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond en van diverse diensten, n° 69, KADOC.

57. Delors, “Problématique pour un autre développement,” 35.

58. Debunne, “Un cancer,” 1; Debunne, “Édito,” 1; and Gayetot, “Cache-cache,” 1.

59. Huitième Rapport général sur l’activité des Communautés européennes en 1974, XI.

60. In Germany, the mergers recorded by the Bundeskartellamt rocketed in 1969‒71. A yearly average of 231 mergers were recorded in this time period, compared to only 37 per year in the period 1958‒1968. “Kein Mittel gegen Konzentration in der Wirtschaft,” 254; Unternehmenskonzentration und Wettbewerb, 15.

61. “Les multinationales,” 2; CSC-Comité, “Procès-verbal de réunion,” May 28, 1974, 5‒10, Archief bestuurorganen van het Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond en van diverse diensten, n° 68, KADOC.

62. Vetter, Mitbestimmung – Idee, Wege, Ziel, 134.

63. CSC-Comité, “Procès-verbal de réunion,” October 30, 1973, 7, Archief bestuurorganen van het Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond en van diverse diensten, n° 67, KADOC.

64. See note 38.

65. See note 37.

66. Degryse and Tilly, 1973‒2013. 40 ans d’histoire de la Confédération européenne des syndicats, 17‒20.

67. Pasture, Christian Trade Unionism in Europe Since 1968, 96‒106.

68. Degryse and Tilly, 1973‒2013. 40 ans d’histoire de la Confédération européenne des syndicats, 23.

69. Barnouin, The European Labour Movement and European Integration, 36‒40; “Protokoll der 19. Sitzung des Bundesvorstandes,” September 3, 1974; DGB-Bundesvorstand, “Kurzprotokoll über die 16. Sitzung,” January 31, 1977, DGB Archiv – Abteilung Vorsitzender, n° 492, Archiv der sozialen Demokratie.

70. “Protokoll der 11. Sitzung des Bundesvorstandes,” September 4, 1973, 748‒9.

71. Pasture, Christian Trade Unionism in Europe since 1968, 126‒7.

72. Jouan, L’européanisation des syndicats belges et allemands, 298‒301.

73. Gobin, Consultation et concertation sociales à l’échelle de la Communauté économique européenne, 153.

74. Barnouin, The European Labour Movement and European Integration, 47; CSC-Bureau, “Procès-verbal de réunion,” September 25, 1979, 3‒4, Archief Robert D’Hondt, n° D244, KADOC.

75. ETUC-Executive committee, “Procès-Verbal – réunion du 26 septembre 1975,” 26 September 1975, 6, ETUC, n° 562–563, IISH.

76. Kirchner, Trade Unions as a Pressure Group in the European Community, 164.

77. Interview of the author with Andrée Debrulle; Degryse and Tilly, 1973–2013. 40 ans d’histoire de la Confédération européenne des syndicats, 66; Dølvik, Redrawing Boundaries of Solidarity?,142–5; Kirchner, Trade Unions as a Pressure Group, 26.

78. Dølvik, Redrawing Boundaries of Solidarity? 149.

79. Fetzer, “Industrial Democracy in the European Community,” 283.

80. There were, of course, different standpoints: the Belgian FGTB was more keen than the German DGB to consider the transfer of competence regarding collective bargaining to the European level. Fetzer, “Europäische Strategien deutscher Gewerkschaften in historischer Perspektive,” 304; and Lauschke, “Syndicats allemands, syndicats français et l’Europe sociale dans les années 1970,” 33.

81. Jouan, L’européanisation des syndicats belges et allemands, 486‒7.

82. See Fetzer, “Industrial Democracy in the European Community”; and Engelen-Kefer, Kämpfen mit Herz und Verstand, 101.

83. Dølvik, Redrawing Boundaries of Solidarity? 149; CSC-Bureau, “Procès-verbal de la réunion du 12 octobre 1982,” s.d., 1‒3, Archief Robert D’Hondt, n° D246, KADOC.

84. Gobin, Consultation et concertation sociales à l’échelle de la Communauté économique européenne, 28 and 135.

85. Milner, Comparative Employment Relations, 87.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fonds National de la Recherche scientifique [Aspirant FNRS].

Notes on contributors

Quentin Jouan

Quentin Jouan holds a PhD in contemporary history (Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium) and is currently working as a consultant at Deloitte, focusing on strategic and operational challenges of government’s organizations. From an academic point of view, he is a guest lecturer at the University of Namur (Belgium) and a scientific collaborator at the Université catholique de Louvain. Quentin’s main research interests relate to the study of the impact of European integration on national polities.