Following a short introduction by Jeremy Waddington (co-author of the special issue), three authors from the issue will present their article (http://journals.sagepub.com/toc/trsa/24/2).

The Editor of Transfer, Maria Jepsen, will chair the sessions:

Trade unions and the sovereign power of the state. A comparative analysis of employer offensives in the Danish and Irish public sectors

By Imre Szabó, UCD

Discussant: Roberto Pedersini, University of Milan, Italy

Social protests, discontent and politics in southern and eastern Europe: trends, patterns and polarisation

By Maria da Paz Campos Lima, Lisbon University, Portugal, and Antonio Martín Artiles, Autonomous University Barcelona, Spain

Discussant: John Geary, UCD

Direct democracy and trade union action

By Roland Erne, UCD and Markus Blaser, Florence, Italy

Discussant: Ronaldo Munck, DCU

All are warmly welcome!