Making Europe work-the struggle to cut the workweek

The launch of the Euro on 1 January 1999 has increased the pressure for EU-wide wage restraints and further flexibilization of labour markets. In the run-up to the European Union summit in Cologne, Dutch ministers Zalm (finance) and De Vries (social affairs and employment) urged their EU colleagues to Europeanise government intervention aimed at keeping wages down, so that profits will go up and (supposedly) more jobs will be created. The OECD (1999: 17) has also said, in a special report about the EMU, ‘There is no guarantee that EMU will set forces in motion that would automatically lead to a better functioning of Euro area labour markets. The sooner countries implement policies that foster greater labour market flexibility, the more they will be to absorb future shocks.’ But ‘the fight for Europe is in full swing’ (Dornbusch, 1997), because in several European countries, most importantly France,1 there are trade unions, social movements and parts of the political left that oppose such policies, and propose a shorter workweek and/or an increase in purchasing power instead. The European Union is facing very high unemployment, and two antagonistic social logics are counterposed to each other (Coutrot, 1997: 40).