The posting of workers has become a key topic in debates about how national labour relations respond to pressures from EU market making. While most prior studies have shown that national employment relations are under pressure from above (via EU regulation) and from below (due to increasing use of posting), the question is whether these pressures will lead to erosion of employment relations or adaptation at the national level. Taking the case of posting in the Danish construction sector, the article shows that, while formal institutions stay the same through minor adaptation, the increasing use of posting has led to changes in the strategies of the social partners, shifts in predominant policy arenas and the appearance of new actors on the regulatory scene. As such, we argue that conflicts regarding posting are driving a process of extra-institutional change.

■ Despite economic globalization, the liberalization of European markets and rapid technological changes, membership density in the trade unions in the metal sector in the Nordic countries remains exceptionally high compared to any other European region. The coverage of collective agreements has also remained intact, and unemployment is low by European standards. Nevertheless, the Nordic metal unions face a number of dilemmas. They all recognize a need to engage more actively in international, and especially European-level, policy-making, including the coordination of bargaining processes. Yet they fear that European regulation may undermine their national bargaining autonomy. They also recognize the need for a common Nordic position with regard to European policies; but differences in industrial structures and traditions of labour market regulation, alongside different national relationships to the European Union and Economic and Monetary Union, represent obstacles to closer cooperation between the Nordic metal federations. Moreover, a lasting problem is the winning of the support of their members for European and global activities.

■ This article examines the implementation of the first autonomous framework agreement signed by European social partners in a number of member states. Although the telework agreement states that it is to be implemented in accordance with national procedures and practices specific to management and labour, practice is often different. The approach adopted reflects the specific policy character of the telework agreement and the ongoing power struggle between unions, employers and the state.

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Partssamarbejdet i bygge-og anlægssektoren har i mange år været præget af gode samarbejdsrelationer. Siden EU-udvidelserne i 2004 og 2007 har udenlandsk arbejdskraft fra de nye øst- og centraleuropæiske medlemslande dog skabt debat om underbetaling og unfair konkurrence-ofte under overskriften social dumping. Ved overenskomstfornyelserne i byggeriet i 2007, 2010, 2012 og 2014 har udenlandsk arbejdskraft og social dumping været de helt dominerende temaer. Analysen af disse overenskomstrunder viser, at parterne faktisk har formået at skabe en aktørdrevet udvikling af overenskomsterne, der tager fat i sektorspecifikke problemstillinger, som tilstedeværelsen af udenlandske arbejdskraft rejser. Samtidig viser analysen, at temaet om den udenlandske arbejdskraft har skabt spændinger i partssamarbejdet, og at EU-domme, den økonomiske krise samt presset fra baglandet og fra politikerne både har indskrænket parternes handlerum og samtidig stillet større krav om, at de handler.