Social dialogue, said the late Jacques Delors, is "one of the foundations of a democratic society."
It was that conviction that led Delors, who began his career as a trade union representative, to make a summit of unions and employers one of his first acts as president of the European Commission.
The meeting he called at the Val Duchesse castle in Brussels on 31 January in 1985 came against a familiar backgro...
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Esther Lynch is the general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation.