Informalization of the Labour Market  and the Female Labour Force

Tijen ERDUT*

ABSTRACT

The informal economic activities show a continuing trend while formal economic activities tend to gradually contract. Capital accumulation has become dependent on the informal economy. In this economy, the most common labour force comprises the female labour which is susceptible to all negative consequences of the informal economy which can be summarized as pauperization and deprivation. In this study the aim is to analyse the reasons and forms of the informalization of the labour market and the economic, social, political and legal consequences of this process especially for the female labour force.

Key words

Informal labour market, female labour force, employment patterns, globalization, flexibility, capital accumulation, deregulation.

* PhD, Assoc. Professor of  Labour Economics, 9 Eylül University, Izmir

The Problem of Social Exclusion and EU Policies to Combat It

Faruk SAPANCALI*

ABSTRACT

The notion of social exclusion originated during the 1970’s in France. But, exclusion discourse became widespread in other European countries in the 1980s, a period of various economic, social and political crises and the restructuring and crisis of the welfare state. In the late 1990’s, it has also become one of the central social policy matters of EU. Interest in social exclusion has grown in EU in relation to rising rates of unemployment and poverty risk, increasing international migration, and the dismantling or cutting back of welfare state. The notion of social exclusion focuses on lack of economic and social rights of citizenship, inadequate social partipication and lack of power. In recent years social exclusion has been a gradually increasing problem in EU. For this reason, the fight against social exclusion has become one of the main six objectives of the European social policy foreseen by the Amsterdam Treaty. In 2000, the European Council of Lisbon agreed on the need to take steps to make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty and social exclusion by 2010. It has also agreed that Member States’ policies for combating social exclusion should be based on an Open Method of Co-ordination combining common objectives. All Member States have committed themselves in Nice to developing their policy priorities in combating social exclusion in the framework of four commonly agreed objectives: to facilitate participation in employment and access by all to resources, rights, goods and services; to prevent the risks of exclusion; to help the most vulnerable and to mobilise all relevant bodies in that direction.

Key Words:

Social Exclusion, Poverty, Unemployment, European Union,

* PhD, Assoc. Professor of  Social Policy, 9 Eylül University, Izmir

The General Framework and Social Policy Regulations of the European Constitution

Banu UÇKAN* 

ABSTRACT

The European Union has entered a new phase with the signing of the European Constitution by the heads of states and governments of the 25 Member States on 29 October 2004. The European Constitution must be ratified by all the Member States in order to be implemented. However the ratification process came to a halt following the results of failed referendums held in France and the Netherlands, thereby suspending the possibility of implementation of the European Constitution as such for the time being. Nevertheless the ratification process of the European Constitution and efforts to cope with the crisis within the European Union have been going on.

There was no deviation from the European Union’s current neo-liberal economic perspectives within the European Constitution but important progress has been made as regards the democratic and social rights. The Charter of Fundamental Rights has been directly transferred to the Second Part of the European Constitution and the implementation of the qualified majority voting system in the social policy area has been enlarged. In this paper, the general framework of the European Constitution will be given first and then the new regulations of the European Constitution concerning the social policy area will be evaluated.

Key words:

European Union, European Constitution, Social policy

PhD, Assist. Prof. of Social Policy,Anadolu University, Eskişehir

New Trends in the Turkish Union Movement in the Process of Globalization and Alternative Proposals

Sayım YORGUN* 

ABSTRACT

Dominant supranational conditions tend to make liberal economic principles almost single standard all over the world while the tendencies to protect capital rather than labour gather momentum. Converging countries with international labour standards and the growth of increasing competition stemming from labour costs among the countries devoid of different basic labor principles have rendered working contiditions the main work field in this century.

While the union movement is being transformed due to the needs of the post-industrial society, Turkish union movement is in fact faced with a representation crisis even without being an effective part of the industrial relations. As far as the historical background of the Turkish union movement is concerned, it is even possible to point out that a union crises has not been experienced to the extent encountered in the West, owing to nonexistence of the industrialization process and democracy in pre-Republic area. With the multi-party system in 1946, the union movement started its course under legal arrangements, going through its organizing phase and enlargement process between 1946-1960; it reached a reorganization and its golden age in the 1960-1980 era. 1980 and afterwards is the third period of the Turkish union movement, reflecting noticeable distinctions within itself.

Current union structure does not meet the expectations of workers. Furthermore, it makes it formidable for them to adapt to existent conditions. This structure and external factors bring about an acceleration in the loss of members. One could safely argue that the Turkish union movement has been under the effect of local factors rather than global ones.

* PhD, Assist. Prof. of Industrial Relations, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli