Industrial Relations and Protection of the Environment: Research Findings from a New Policy Field

Since 1991 a research group has investigated the relationship between environmental policies and the industrial relations systems in 10 European countries. It might be expected that the growing importance of the environment as a policy issue would prompt an enlargement of the traditional agenda of industrial relations systems, leading to stronger inclusion of the social partners in environmental action; but in the main, evidence of such enlargement has been sparse. The Netherlands, where works councils legislation has been used to extend collective rights for greater environmental involvement, stood out as the exception. Elsewhere, initiatives have been mostly confined to company-level voluntary agreements, with certain sectors playing a prominent role. Very few attempts have been made to develop the environmental role of industrial relations actors through legislation. A number of explanations for this relatively slow progress are explored, as are the prospects for developments in the future.