Discourses and strategies on work life balance in the collective bargaining

Abstract

This article examines five hypotheses related to the development and implementation of the Work Life Balance Law through collective bargaining, and to the meaning that the notion of work life balance acquires to the different social actors. The results of the research suggest that while the European employment policy plays an «inferred effect» of this issue, it keeps a secondary place in the collective bargaining. Also while trade unions understand the notion of work life balance as a question to be managed through collective bargaining, employers place it in the domain of the individualized management characteristic of the human resources policy.