The situation of the trade unions in Europe is complicated. Unemployment, precarious employment, the increase in social inequalities and the rise of right-wing nationalist parties pose serious challenges for them in most countries. It is true that their possible courses of action at national level have evolved very differently in the wake of the crisis management policies adopted within the EU since 2008, so that many of them must have gained the impression that they are battling in different worlds. However, in this increasingly disjointed European trade union landscape, there are at the same time some very striking transnational challenges. One of the most important concerns collective bargaining systems which in a number of European countries have more and more been exposed to similar threats. This crucial basis of trade unions’ institutional power is at increasing risk of being hollowed out and being driven into a precarious state of dependency on changes of policy approaches of governments.

In principle, from a labour point of view it would be desirable if the trade unions were in a position to increase the rate of unionization to such an extent that they could increase the rate of coverage by collective agreements through their own autonomous bargaining strength. However, overall trends in union density over past decades demonstrate that, for the time being, this is more than unlikely to happen. Deep and rapid structural changes on the labour markets have undermined the traditional bastions of trade union power.

Against this background it used to be a widely shared view in many EU countries that the functioning of independent collective bargaining systems must to some extent be guaranteed by additional support from the state. This support can take a number of very different forms and is by no means identical with direct interventions in the wage-setting process. On the contrary, even in countries like Sweden with strong trade unions it is the state that establishes strong protective and participative labour standards, thus providing for a ‘shadow of the law’ which protects autonomous bargaining. However, it also follows from this that under certain circumstances, the reduction or withdrawal of this state support can cause serious damage to the whole bargaining system and wage-setting process.