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BMAN31090 Comparative Industrial Relations
To what extent does the current EU framework provide the basis for the reconciliation of social and economic rights in the areas of EU freedoms, posting of workers and industrial action? Discuss with reference to the situation in at least three of the core countries.

Introduction:
Since the formation of the European Union in the 1950s, there has been a constant tension between the market aim of the union and social policy. The enlargement of the EU in 2004 and 2007 deepened even further these misalignments and in some respects it can be argued that a tension between new and old Member States started to emerge.
Arnholtz and Mailand (2013) argues that the social dimension of the EU is as old as itself. Nonetheless it was not until the early 1980s that the European Union started to gradually develop a genuine social dimension to complement economic integration. This social dimension includes directives that are considered to be 'hard-law' as well as 'soft-law' which deal with aspects such as 'Open Methods of coordination' and the voluntary agreements of social partners.
The aim of this paper is to discuss the implications of economic and social policies in the European labour market. In order to get the argument across, the emphasis will be put on four major legal cases that were interpreted by the European Court of Justice and the implications of the rulings on several member states. The cases known as the 'Laval-quartet' will delve deep into the topic of the posting of workers (PWD) and the imbalance of the social and economic freedoms within the EU. The cases offer a comprehensive explanation of the arguments that the ECJ put forward, and also the responses of public and private institutions (from both the employer's and employee's perspective) from core countries