Full Length Research Paper

Social dialogue in areas and times of depression: Evidence from regional Greece

Theodoros Koutroukis¹* and Lefteris Kretsos²

1University of Aegean, Chios, Greece.

2Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: thkoutr@uom.gr. Tel: +30 2310 574066, +30 6932 276177.

Accepted 31 March 2008

   Abstract

Social Dialogue (SD) constitutes one of the most popular tools for establishing effective cooperation between social partners and one of the most highlighted formulas for resolving social conflicts and disputes in nowadays. Nevertheless, the progress, which has been made so far, was not always encouraging and it seemed that the euphemism around the term is greater than the results of its implementation. In many cases stakeholders and partners could not overcome their traditional stances on certain issues and as a result they could not consolidate their positions to mutual and genuinely participatory governance schemes. Such cases were examined here. In essence the article examines the distinct nature of SD at the local level and the pressures exerted to SD procedures by broader economic restructuring exercises and reforms.

Key words: Social partnership, social dialogue, local partnership schemes, participants.