University of Helsinki
The first seminar organized by the Academy of Finland Research Project ‘Employee Participation and Collective Bargaining in the Era of Globalization – Nordic and Chinese Perspectives’ was very successful and has deepened the collaboration between Finnish, Chinese and European scholars.
The event was hosted by Professor Jürgen Basedow, Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, and built upon ongoing research being undertaken under the leadership of Professor Ulla Liukkunen, University of Helsinki, and Professor Chen Su, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
Issues of collective labour law, such as the nature of collective agreements, collective bargaining, collective labour conflicts and employee participation were discussed from Chinese, Nordic, German, French and English perspectives. The many European and diverse points of view gave more insight, especially to our Chinese participants, on the different approaches and tensions emerging from harmonization efforts. Once again the Laval case engaged the European scholars present in lively debate.
The seminar took place in a friendly atmosphere of mutual respect which enabled a genuine exchange of ideas. The insightful presentations gave a great starting point for lively and fruitful discussion that engaged not only speakers but also the audience of scholars and practitioners.
As many speakers have expressed their satisfaction with the high-level of academic research presented and their gratitude for organizing a seminar focusing purely on labour law, the organizers has announced that a second workshop will be organized in 2015 in Helsinki.
Furthermore, the results of the seminar will be shared with a wider audience through two publications. The volume in English is to appear in 2015 with the publisher Mohr Siebeck in the “Beiträge zum ausländischen und internationalen Privatrecht”-series. In addition, Professor Chen Su is also planning to prepare a Chinese version of the book. We will keep you informed on the development of these projects.
For a more detailed account of the seminar, we invite you to visit the project website.
A detailed account of the seminar is also available in German on the Max Planck Institute website.
Author: Alice Neffe