Erne, RolandRolandErne2015-05-052015-05-062015-08Labor Historyhttp://hdl.handle.net/10197/6533Until very recently, European employers and political leaders denied the need for any coordination in industrial relations at EU level. In 2011 however, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a new European economic governance regime that makes EU member states labor policies subject to multilateral surveillance procedures. This paper analyzes this 'silent revolution' from above and assesses organized labor's responses to this challenge. It shows that the EU's new governance regime does not follow the classical model of a federal state, but rather the governance structures of multinational corporations that control their local subsidiaries through the use of whipsawing tactics and coercive comparisons. European trade unions and social movements difficulties in politicizing European economic governance are thus best explained by the ability of the new supranational EU regime to nationalize social conflicts.enThis is an electronic version of an article published in Labor History, 56(3): 345-368 (2015). Labor History is available online at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0023656X.2015.1042777Euro crisisEuropean economic governanceSix-PackWage bargainingBargaining coordinationTrade unionsCollective actionPoliticizationJournal Article56334536810.1080/0023656X.2015.10427772015-05-01https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/