Martin Vranken

Book Reviews : WORK AND SOCIAL POLICIES IN THE NEW EUROPE By George Spyropoulos and Gabriel Fragnière (eds), with a Postface by Vasso Papandreou. European Interuniversity Press, Brussels, 1991, 199 pp., ECU25 (paperback)

the interpretation of the statutory personal grievance procedure. The substantive provisions relating to personal grievances remain substantially the same under the Employment Contracts Act, but the enforcement of these provisions is now considerably different. An additional tribunal has been placed between the parties and the court. All matters must now first go to the Employment Tribunal, and the Employment Court has in effect become a court of appeal on employment matters. Although these bodies will develop their own jurisprudence, there has been no suggestion that past precedents will not remain authoritative where appropriate. Although the area of dismissals is likely to remain relevant, because there will always be a demand for the legal procedures, the future for redundancy agreements is not so clear. It seems unlikely to be a growth area in employment law. This is because while existing redundancy agreements will be enforced, the negotiation of future redundancy agreements will depend on the bargaining strength of the union or individual workers. This has been considerably weakened under the legislation and this fact, combined with record levels of unemployment, means that few if any employment contracts will contain redundancy provisions. While this section may remain legally relevant, once the existing awards and agreements expire there will be little demand for these legal remedies. The section of the book that may be least affected by the Employment Contracts Act is the part dealing with the state sector. The Employment Contracts Act will apply to the state sector, including state-owned enterprises. There have been changes, however, in the education and health sector that will have some effect on the provisions analyzed in this section. Those seeking