Actors and institutions in Estonia

The Ministry of Social Affairs (Sotsiaalministeerium) deals with employment policy in general by preparing legislation and cooperating with the social partners.

The main institution responsible for the enforcement of employees’ rights is the Labour Inspectorate (Tööinspektsioon), whose role is to supervise compliance with the requirements of legislation regulating labour relations. The Labour Inspectorate informs employees and employers, investigates serious occupational accidents and analyses their causes, and exercises supervision. The Labour Inspectorate also monitors occupational safety and health (OSH), and puts effort into preventing ill health. Within the local inspectorates, there are labour dispute committees (töövaidluskomisjonid, LDCs), which resolve individual labour disputes (pre-court mediation). Employees also have the right to turn to the courts when their rights have been violated.

In cases of discrimination in the workplace, a person can turn to the Gender Equality and Equal Treatment Commissioner (Soolise võrdõiguslikkuse ja võrdse kohtlemise volinik), whose role is to monitor compliance with the requirements of the Gender Equality Act and the Equal Treatment Act.

In cases of collective industrial dispute, if the parties cannot reach an agreement by negotiation, they can turn to the National Conciliator (Riiklik Lepitaja).

There are no official rules regarding the representativeness of the social partner organisations at national level. According to the Trade Unions Act, a trade union must be founded by at least five employees, and a federation of trade unions must be founded by at least five trade unions. There are no such criteria for employer organisations. Collective agreements can be extended in respect of wages, working time and rest time in the case of multi-employer agreements – that is, if the agreement is concluded between an association or a federation of employers and an association or a federation of employees, or a confederation of employers and a confederation of employees. However, in January 2018, EAKL and ETKL concluded a good practice agreement on the extension of collective agreements, which sets representativeness criteria for the social partners. According to the agreement, only multi-employer agreements concluded between the most representative social partners can be extended. The most representative social partners are those with the highest numbers of members. If they have similar membership levels, the organisation that is a member of EAKL or ETKL is considered the most representative. The extended collective agreement cannot cover more than one sector or field of activity. The good practice agreement is not officially binding, but it is strongly recommended that it is followed. In November 2021, changes to the Collective Agreements Act entered into force, establishing criteria for extending collective agreements. See the ‘Extension mechanisms’ section.

About trade union representation

Trade unions operate under the Trade Unions Act and the Collective Agreements Act. The first act provides for the general rights of and bases for the activities of trade unions, and their relations with state and local government authorities and employers. The second determines the legal basis for concluding and implementing the collective agreements.

Everyone in Estonia has the right to freely found, join or not join trade unions, except members of the Estonian Defence Forces (Kaitsevägi) who are in active service.

Both trade union membership and trade union density have been decreasing over the last 10 years. The share of employees who are members of a trade union is higher among employees in the non-governmental, non-profit sector (17% in 2015) and in the public sector (12%) than in private sector organisations (5%).

Trade union membership and trade union density, 2012–2019

Notes: * Proportion of employees who are members of a trade union. ** Trade union membership of employees derived from the total union membership and adjusted, if necessary, for trade union members outside the active, dependent and employed labour force (i.e. retired workers, self-employed workers, students, unemployed people).

Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts database 2021.

Main trade union confederations and federations

EAKL is the largest trade union in Estonia and the main national-level trade union. It is also a partner in national minimum wage negotiations.

The second largest trade union organisation is TALO, which represents mostly cultural workers and public servants.

Main trade union confederations

Source: Trade union representatives

There have been no major developments in trade union membership in the past five years. The overall trend is declining trade union membership.

About employer representation

The rights and obligations of employers to establish or join employer organisations are not specifically regulated in legislation. However, the Constitution (Põhiseadus) stipulates the right to freely join such organisations. Only a few employer organisations are involved in collective bargaining. There are many business associations, which are not involved in collective bargaining.

In recent years, there have been no significant changes or developments on the employers’ side, and employer organisation density has remained stable.

Employer organisation membership and density, 2012–2019

Notes: * Percentage of employees working in an establishment who were members of an employer organisation in 2013 that were involved in collective bargaining in 2019. n.a., not available. OECD/AIAS ICTWSS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts.

Main employer organisations

The only employer organisation recognised as a national-level social partner is ETKL. Its members include associations as well as enterprises. Although there are no representativeness criteria set in Estonia, ETKL is the largest employer organisation involved in collective bargaining and the only employer organisation involved in national-level collective bargaining. Hence, it is considered to be a national-level social partner.

The most prominent business associations in Estonia are the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Eesti Kaubandus-Tööstuskoda) and the Estonian Association of SMEs (Eesti Väike- ja Keskmiste Ettevõtjate Assotsiatsioon). Neither of them take part in collective bargaining, and they both concentrate on developing entrepreneurship and the economy as a whole.

Main employer organisations and confederations

Source: Representatives of the organisations

The data on employer organisation density are scarce. However, there has been an overall upward trend in the membership level of these organisations in recent years. Nevertheless, the share of employer organisations involved in collective bargaining has remained very low, as there are only a few such organisations.

The system of tripartite concertation is not specifically regulated in Estonia. The social partners take part in the consultation phase of drafting legislation. In addition, the social partners are members of the supervisory boards of the Estonian Health Insurance Fund (Eesti Tervisekassa, EHIF), which is responsible for managing health insurance, covering the costs of health services, paying sickness benefits and participating in the planning of healthcare; the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund (Eesti Töötukassa, EUIF), which is responsible for public employment services and for implementing active labour market policies; and the Estonian Qualifications Authority(Kutsekoda), which is responsible for developing the professional qualifications system in Estonia. In the case of the EUIF, for example, the social partners make proposals about the rate of unemployment insurance premium and approve temporary employment programmes.

There are also often many temporary tripartite working groups, committees or other groups formed to discuss specific topics or issues (for example, immigration and the immigration quota, caring for dependent relatives, the Welfare Development Plan 2016–2023).

In addition, since 2018, the social partners (EAKL and ETKL) and the government have re-established tripartite meetings; these take place two or three times per year. These meetings are used for discussing relevant topics at the time and as a platform for the social partners to raise the most important topics on their agendas.

Main tripartite and bipartite bodies

Since 2007, Estonia has had a dual channel of employee representation: employees can be represented by a trade union and/or an employee trustee. Employee representation is regulated by the Trade Unions Act and the Employees’ Trustee Act. Trade union representatives are elected from among the trade union members, and employee trustees are elected by the employees at a general meeting of the company. Both may be present in a given company at the same time; however, the trade union has an automatic right to take part in collective bargaining and collective dispute resolution. If no trade union exists in the company, the trustee has the right to conclude agreements or represent employees in collective dispute resolution. Employee trustees mainly operate in the area of information and consultation procedures. Trade union representatives are also allowed to participate in this process, regardless of whether a general representative is present.

Employees are also represented by a working environment representative, who is a representative for OSH issues: they monitor the implementation of OSH measures, participate in the investigation of occupational accidents or diseases, inform employees, and so on. In a company with 10 or more employees, the employees elect one working environment representative from among themselves. If an enterprise employs fewer than 10 employees, the employer is required to consult with the employees on OSH matters. In addition, in companies with 150 or more employees, the employer is obliged to set up a working environment council, which must comprise an equal number of representatives designated by the employer and representatives elected by the employees (altogether at least four members). The Labour Inspectorate has the right to demand that a working environment council also be set up in a company with fewer than 150 employees depending on the hazards present and the number of occupational accidents and cases of occupational disease in the enterprise. The council regularly analyses the working conditions in the company, participates in preparing the company’s OSH development plan and investigates occupational accidents. The rights and obligations of the working environment representative and council are stipulated in the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Töötervishoiu ja tööohutuse seadus).

Regulation, composition and competences of the representative bodies