"This book gives an overall picture of the principles of Belgian industrial relations law, such as trade union freedom, the instruments for social dialogue, collective bargaining agreements and collective action. The first edition was published almost twenty years ago. In this new edition, some topics have been omitted or shortened and others have been elaborated. For instance, we opted to discuss social dialogue in the public sector. The chapter relating to the European Works Council and the European Company, on the other hand, was drastically abridged, not only because these bodies hardly exist in Belgium, but also because the relevant legislation is a faithful copy of the European directives. This publication is intended for all those who want to get acquainted with Belgian industrial relations and is certainly not an academic monograph. The number of footnotes is therefore very limited and - unlike in the first edition - bibliographical references were not included at the back of the chapters. However, a general bibliography is included, as well as a number of useful websites." -- Page 4 of cover.