Time in the cities - a new action field for trade unions

Working time policy has always been an essential trade union concern but it has been apparent for quite some time now that the unions are broadening their traditional policy horizon in this respect - namely, the workplace - and bringing in new perspectives on this issue. Increasingly they concern themselves not just with working time but with time itself, asking how working time interacts with and relates to non-working time and how the resulting interface, which entails far more than a mere "work-leisure" dichotomy, can be organised. How can shop-opening hours and the provision of services to the public be combined with the need for a more flexible organisation of working time? How can account be taken at one and the same time of the needs of those employed in these areas and of the wishes of the users of the services in question? How can trade unions influence the time rhythms of cities and regions in such a way as to reduce the over-hectic pace of modern life? In the search for appropriate answers to these questions the trade unions, with their experience in collective bargaining, workplace representation and structural and employment policy, are playing an increasingly important role. Their involvement in this process, as in areas such as environmental policy and women's policy, entails, however, participation in the social dialogue and cooperation with other players.