Providing a UK perspective on the EU's social dimension, this new text opens with a historical overview of EU social and employment policy, which is followed by chapters that focus on specific topics covered by the 'social dimension' of the European Union. These give the reader a detailed understanding of the nature of EU involvement in each area.

Michael Gold opens with a historical overview of EU social and employment policy before focusing on 'social dimension' topics such as equal opportunities and employee participation

List of Boxes, Figures and Tables p. viii Acknowledgements p. ix Notes on Contributors p. x List of Abbreviations and Acronyms p. xiii Introduction p. xviii 1 Overview of EU Employment Policy Michael Gold p. 1 EU employment policy p. 2 Stages of development p. 10 Conclusions p. 24 2 Employment Promotion Bernard Casey p. 27 Building Up employment competence p. 27 Steps to the European Employment Strategy p. 30 The Luxembourg process p. 32 Policy orientation p. 33 The Lisbon Agenda p. 35 The Strategy for Growth and Jobs p. 37 Conclusions: assessing the strategies p. 39 3 Flexicurity: Solution or Illusion? Anne Gray p. 45 A critical approach to the solution of flexicurity p. 48 The challenges of labour mobility p. 57 Responses and struggles p. 61 Conclusions: the Lisbon strategy and the quality of life p. 63 4 Equal Opportunities Helen Badger p. 66 Gender equality p. 67 National and racial equality p. 85 Employment equality: the Framework Directive p. 88 Conclusions p. 92 5 Employment Protection Edward Benson p. 93 The European Convention on Human Rights p. 94 Impact of EC legislation p. 95 Directive on collective redundancies p. 97 Directive on transfers of undertakings p. 100 Directive on insolvent businesses p. 107 Part-time workers p. 109 Fixed-term workers p. 111 Working time p. 113 Proof of employment relationship p. 116 Posted workers p. 116 Conclusions p. 117 6 Occupational Health and Safety Phil James p. 119 The changing legal bases for EC legislative action p. 119 Institutional machinery p. 122 Community activity p. 125 Legal implications of EC activity p. 133 Preventive impact of EC activity and the challenge of enlargement p. 136 Conclusions p. 137 7 Employee Participation Peter Cressey p. 139 European Works Councils Directive p. 140 Employee involvement in the European Company p. 145 Information and Consultation Directive p. 151 Conclusions p. 157 8 Social Dialogue Mark Carley p. 160 Bipartite intersectoral dialogue p. 160 Bipartite sectoral dialogue p. 174 Tripartite social dialogue p. 180 Conclusions p. 185 9 Vocational Education and Training Jason Heyes and Helen Rainbird p. 188 Training: a pattern of diversity p. 191 Promoting quality, transparency and co-operation p. 199 Social dialogue on training p. 203 Conclusions p. 207 10 Social Security Philippa Watson p. 210 The migrant employed and self-employed p. 211 Equality of treatment: men and women p. 222 Equal treatment: race p. 231 Social security and the internal market p. 231 The European citizen p. 234 General measures p. 235 Policy initiatives p. 236 Conclusions p. 236 Appendix 1 List of directives and other legal instruments cited in the text p. 241 Appendix 2 List of cases cited in the text p. 246 Appendix 3 Selected Articles from the Treaties establishing the European Union p. 256 Appendix 4 Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers p. 276 References p. 284 Index p. 301