IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ijurrs/v32y2008i4p860-881.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Legal Expertise and the Rights of Cross‐Border Workers: Action Group Skills in relation to European Integration

Author

Listed:
  • PHILIPPE HAMMAN

Abstract

This article deals with the reconfiguration of collective action by workers who live and work in different adjoining nations in Europe, i.e. cross‐border workers. Such workers take advantage of open borders, but still rely on systems of social insurance and taxation that are not quite the same in every country. The article's central argument is that the associations representing Western European cross‐border workers — in this case study in France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland — are increasingly defending them by recourse to law, especially Community law, rather than by the militancy practised by ‘traditional’ trade unions that largely organize at the national scale. The article aims at understanding how ‘expertise’ in EC law governing transnational workers is gained and how recourse to law is developed. Cross‐border leaders focus on specialized legal activities and on lobbying the authorities of the European Community; this is their specific answer to the fact that the trade unions do not really defend cross‐border workers and that initiating action at nation‐state level is a complicated business. Finally, the article explains how a Europeanization of defence practices, which is rather original in nature and was initially ‘located’ in border areas, is being implemented and how it contributes to the ongoing debate on the multi‐scalar strategies of trade unions and social movements. Résumé Les échanges frontaliers quotidiens de personnes et de capitaux caractérisent aujourd'hui en Europe des bassins d'emploi transfrontaliers et dessinent des espaces de relations sociales denses qui ne passent plus uniquement par les territoires découpés institutionnellement, et où se forgent des identités, des manières de (se) penser et de penser son rapport à l'espace et aux enjeux socio‐économiques. C'est cet espace du travail transfrontalier qu'aborde l'article, en travaillant sur les manières dont il est parlé, représenté dans des groupes, des associations et des institutions. Le travailleur transfrontalier se définit par sa résidence et son activité dans deux espaces nationaux différents, contigus et délimités entre lesquels il opère des migrations pendulaires quotidiennes ou au moins hebdomadaires. Il bénéficie de l'ouverture des frontières, mais reste tributaire des différents régimes nationaux d'assurance sociale et de contributions fiscales, qui ne coïncident pas pleinement. Le développement et la pérennisation de ce phénomène ont généré nombre de comités de défense qui sont autant de bureaux de renseignement et de soutien juridiques, et s'expliquent par la faiblesse de l'investissement de long terme de la plupart des centrales syndicales nationales dans cette sphère transnationale. En retenant pour terrain les espaces‐frontières de la France du Nord‐Est (vis‐à‐vis du sud de la Belgique, du Luxembourg, de l'Allemagne et de la Suisse), il s'agit de comprendre comment l'investissement d'un registre d'action particulier — le recours au droit, en particulier communautaire — a permis aux responsables frontaliers non seulement de faire entendre leur voix en Europe mais aussi de se voir reconnaître comme des interlocuteurs légitimes de la question du travail transfrontalier. Un processus original d'européanisation de pratiques de défense initialement « localisées » dans les régions‐frontières est ainsi restitué.

Suggested Citation

  • Philippe Hamman, 2008. "Legal Expertise and the Rights of Cross‐Border Workers: Action Group Skills in relation to European Integration," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 860-881, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:32:y:2008:i:4:p:860-881
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2427.2008.00821.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2008.00821.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2008.00821.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wolfgang Streeck & Philippe C. Schmttter, 1991. "From National Corporatism to Transnational Pluralism: Organized Interests in the Single European Market," Politics & Society, , vol. 19(2), pages 133-164, June.
    2. Brenner, Neil, 2004. "New State Spaces: Urban Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199270064, Decembrie.
    3. Christian Zeller, 2000. "Rescaling Power Relations between Trade Unions and Corporate Management in a Globalising Pharmaceutical Industry: The Case of the Acquisition of Boehringer Mannheim by Hoffman—La Roche," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(9), pages 1545-1567, September.
    4. Keith Abbott, 1997. "The European Trade Union Confederation: Its Organization and Objectives in Transition," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 465-481, September.
    5. Gary Marks & Liesbet Hooghe & Kermit Blank, 1996. "European Integration from the 1980s: State‐Centric v. Multi‐level Governance," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 341-378, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Geneviève Zembri-Mary & Virginie Engrand-Linder, 2023. "Urban planning law in the face of the Olympic challenge: Between innovation and criticism of exceptional urban regeneration," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 38(4), pages 369-388, June.
    2. Steven Tufts, 2007. "Emerging Labour Strategies in Toronto's Hotel Sector: Toward a Spatial Circuit of Union Renewal," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(10), pages 2383-2404, October.
    3. Navé Wald & Douglas P. Hill, 2016. "‘Rescaling’ alternative food systems: from food security to food sovereignty," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(1), pages 203-213, March.
    4. Kevin Fox Gotham, 2014. "Racialization and Rescaling: Post-Katrina Rebuilding and the Louisiana Road Home Program," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 773-790, May.
    5. Simin Yan & Anna Growe, 2022. "Regional Planning, Land-Use Management, and Governance in German Metropolitan Regions—The Case of Rhine–Neckar Metropolitan Region," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-24, November.
    6. Andrew Clarke & Lynda Cheshire, 2018. "The post-political state? The role of administrative reform in managing tensions between urban growth and liveability in Brisbane, Australia," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(16), pages 3545-3562, December.
    7. Federico Savini, 2013. "The Governability of National Spatial Planning: Light Instruments and Logics of Governmental Action in Strategic Urban Development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(8), pages 1592-1607, June.
    8. Juliana Hurtado Rassi, 2020. "Gestión conjunta de ecosistemas transfronterizos: la importancia del trabajo articulado entre los Estados para la conservación de los recursos naturales. Análisis del caso particular de la “Reserva de," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 1241, October.
    9. Xiaobo Su, 2013. "From Frontier to Bridgehead: Cross-border Regions and the Experience of Yunnan, China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1213-1232, July.
    10. Bernard Jouve, 2007. "Urban Societies and Dominant Political Coalitions in the Internationalization of Cities," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 25(3), pages 374-390, June.
    11. Natalie Papanastasiou, 2017. "The practice of scalecraft: Scale, policy and the politics of the market in England’s academy schools," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(5), pages 1060-1079, May.
    12. Fricke, Carola, 2014. "Grenzüberschreitende Governance in der Raumplanung: Organisations- und Kooperationsformen in Basel und Lille," Arbeitsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Grotheer, Swantje & Schwöbel, Arne & Stepper, Martina (ed.), Nimm's sportlich - Planung als Hindernislauf, volume 10, pages 62-78, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    13. Naomi Prachi Hazarika, 2020. "Spaces of Intermediation and Political Participation: a Study of KuSumpur pahadI redevelopment project," CSH-IFP Working Papers 0016, Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi, revised Jul 2020.
    14. Cavicchia, Rebecca, 2023. "Housing accessibility in densifying cities: Entangled housing and land use policy limitations and insights from Oslo," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    15. Jacob Salder, 2020. "Spaces of regional governance: A periodisation approach," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(6), pages 1036-1054, September.
    16. Sjur Kasa & Anders Underthun, 2010. "Navigation in New Terrain with Familiar Maps: Masterminding Sociospatial Equality through Resource-Oriented Innovation Policy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(6), pages 1328-1345, June.
    17. Justus Uitermark, 2014. "Integration and Control: The Governing of Urban Marginality in Western Europe," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1418-1436, July.
    18. Zeynep Ceren Henriques Correia, 2018. "Air Maidans, Can It Be?," Societies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-6, September.
    19. Arnouts, Rikke & van der Zouwen, Mariëlle & Arts, Bas, 2012. "Analysing governance modes and shifts — Governance arrangements in Dutch nature policy," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 43-50.
    20. Matthias Bernt, 2009. "Partnerships for Demolition: The Governance of Urban Renewal in East Germany's Shrinking Cities," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 754-769, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:32:y:2008:i:4:p:860-881. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0309-1317 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.