Survey examines social partnership in enterprises
Publikováno: 22 February 2006
In October 2005, a third working conditions survey was carried out in Estonia. It is a continuation of Working Life Barometer (WLB) surveys conducted in 1998 and 2002. While the earlier WLB survey was conducted at the initiative of the Finnish Ministry of Labour [1] (FI9912129F [2]), in 2005 the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs [3] initiated the survey, which is based on a nationally representative sample of around 1,000 individuals aged 16-64 (using a 'proportional probability sample' from the population of working-age wage earners and entrepreneurs). The data were collected using structured face-to-face interviews.[1] http://www.mol.fi/[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined-industrial-relations-working-conditions/barometer-examines-industrial-relations-in-the-baltic-states[3] http://www.sm.ee/
A working conditions survey conducted in 2005 confirms that Estonia has a low level of trade union membership, accompanied by a relatively low level of collective bargaining coverage. In the majority of cases, wages, the duration of employment contracts and annual leave are negotiated individually, with only the issues of safety and working time more likely to be negotiated collectively. Workers’ involvement in the decision-making process is highest in the case of leave, followed by working time, changes in work organisation and occupational safety issues.
In October 2005, a third working conditions survey was carried out in Estonia. It is a continuation of Working Life Barometer (WLB) surveys conducted in 1998 and 2002. While the earlier WLB survey was conducted at the initiative of the Finnish Ministry of Labour (FI9912129F), in 2005 the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs initiated the survey, which is based on a nationally representative sample of around 1,000 individuals aged 16-64 (using a 'proportional probability sample' from the population of working-age wage earners and entrepreneurs). The data were collected using structured face-to-face interviews.
Among the topics covered in the 2005 working conditions survey were: employee participation, information and consultation in enterprises; employee representation and collective agreements issues; and employment relations issues. Working Life Barometer in the Baltic Countries 2002 (Juha Antila and Pekka Ylöstalo, 2003) summarises the findings on Estonia from the first two surveys. [Tööelu barometer 2005](http://www.sm.ee/est/HtmlPages/TooeluBaromeeter-aruanne16-01-2006/$file/Tööelu Baromeeter-aruanne 16-01-2006.pdf) summarises the main findings from 2005 survey and presents the main trends over 1998-2005.
Unionisation and collective bargaining
In Estonia, trade union membership is low - union density was around 11% in 2005 and membership has shown a declining trend over the country's transition period (the density was almost 100% at the end of 1980s and more than 20% in 1996). According to the survey: only a quarter of companies have a trade union present; two-thirds of respondents state that there is no trade union organisation in their company; and a 10th of respondents do not know whether there is a trade union in their company or not.
Respondents were asked to assess several statements about the trade union movement. The majority of employees agreed with the statement that belonging to the trade union does not give any advantage at the workplace. However, a majority of respondents stated that trade unions know the problems of ordinary workers and that workers can trust trade unions. A below-average number of respondents agreed with the statements that they know how trade unions operate and that trade union activity is backward-looking.
The respondents were also asked whether any collective agreements exist at their workplace. Compared with the previous surveys, bargaining coverage appears higher: in 2005, 25% of respondents state that there is a collective agreement in their company, while the figure in 1998 was only 10%. At the same time, more than half of 2005 respondents declared that they are not covered by a collective agreement and 23% did not know whether they are covered or not. The results indicate that the majority of workers are not aware what opportunities, rights and obligations collective agreements offer. At the same time, employers have seldom been forced by means of industrial action (strikes etc) to conclude collective agreements. This, it is argued, is partly because of the weak organisation of workers, and partly due to the fact that refusal to conclude a collective agreement is not seen as constituting a labour dispute (EE0309102F).
The table below outlines the issues covered by individual and collective agreements. Wages, annual leave and the duration of employment contract are negotiated mainly between each employee and employer. Occupational safety and working time are mainly the subject of collective agreements. While, as noted above, collective agreements are not widespread in Estonia, 70% of respondents state that collective agreements are implemented correctly or almost correctly. Only 5% said that in their enterprises there are problems in fulfilling such agreements.
| Issues | Individual negotiations | Collective negotiations | ||||
| 1998 | 2002 | 2005 | 1998 | 2002 | 2005 | |
| Wages | 68 | 70 | 62 | 29 | 23 | 20 |
| Annual leave | 62 | 52 | 52 | 37 | 43 | 37 |
| Duration of employment contract | 75 | 72 | 67 | 23 | 19 | 13 |
| Occupational safety | 45 | 36 | 21 | 53 | 54 | 55 |
Source: Tööelu barometer 2005, Saar Poll.
Respondents’ opinions about how negotiations should take place were also sought. Two-thirds of respondents stated that they prefer individual wage negotiations. Only 16% of respondents think that wage negotiations should be conducted together with colleagues, while 5% favour trade union involvement and almost a 10th think that wages should be determined by the social partners at the national level. In the case of duration of employment contracts, respondents prefer individual negotiations (67%) and 48% of respondents prefer individual negotiations over annual leave. On occupational safety and health and working time issues, the preference is to negotiate collectively. The survey indicates that workers’ involvement in the decision-making process is highest in the case of leave, but also when working time, changes in work organisation and occupational safety issues are discussed.
Employee representation
In Estonia, employees may be represented by a trade union representative, a 'workers’ trustee' elected by non-unionised workers, or both of them together. According to the Employees’ Representatives Act (which entered into force on 16 July 1993), the workers’ trustee is an employee of an enterprise who is elected by a general meeting of employees who do not belong to a trade union, in order to represent the employees in labour relations with the employer. The Estonian system is very unusual among EU Member States, as it provides for the parallel existence of both trade union and non-unionised representatives in a company, with both of them having the right to conclude collective agreements.
One fifth of survey respondents say that there is a trade union representative in their company, and almost the same proportion of respondents do not know whether such a representative is present or not in their company. Some 65% of employees state that there is no trade union representative in their company. The situation with regard to the presence of non-union workers’ trustees is quite similar: 9% of respondents say that there is trustee in their company, 70% state that there is no trustee and 21% of respondents do not know whether there is a trustee or not.
As the importance of employees’ representatives is relatively modest, respondents were asked to whom they turn if some kind of work-related problems arise. A majority of respondents (68%) turn to their direct supervisor, 21% turn to other managers and 10% of respondents do not share job-related problems with anybody. Only 3% of respondents turn to the company’s trade union organisation, 2% of respondents to the workers’ trustees and 1% to a central trade union organisation. Some 3% of employees will turn to the Labour Inspectorate (Tööinspektsioon) or to the labour dispute commissions. While it comes to trust in these various channels, the majority of respondents trust labour inspectors and labour dispute commissions (65% in both cases) (EE0403102T). Some 28% of respondents state that they trust trade unions, and 32% each trust trade union representatives and workers’ trustees.
These results are in accordance with a study entitled Employee participation: case study of Estonian companies published in November 2005 (EE0512103F). This found that in general participation is seen as an important issue, but in most cases it is limited to consultation on organisational questions. The intensity of participation depends not on the existence of employee representatives but on the interest of managers in the issue.
Commentary
The general findings of WLB survey indicate that companies in Estonia are doing well and the optimism of employees has grown, with most working people having no fear of losing their job. Respondents stated that loss of their present job or transfer to different work is unlikely; only one 10th of employees feared losing their job, which is half the figure in 1998. Some 96% of respondents believe that they will definitely or probably get a new job corresponding to their skills and experience if they lose the present one. In 1998, only 55% of those interviewed thought so. Workers' enthusiasm is explained by very favourable economic conditions - real GDP growth has been 7%-8% per year over the last four-five years. The unemployment rate has declined from 14% to 7%.
Among the other topics covered in the 2005 working conditions survey were: worker and workplace profile, working contracts, working time, salary developments, intensification of work, physical and mental stress, telework and use of information technology.
WLB surveys give valuable information on working conditions, but they are based on a relatively small sample size, which does not allow strong conclusions to be drawn on the situation and developments on the Estonian labour market. Despite this weakness of the WLB survey, it is the best source of information about different aspects of working conditions that other surveys do not cover, including issues of unionisation, collective negotiations and employee representation. Another advantage of these surveys is their continuity. (Kaia Philips and Raul Eamets, University of Tartu)
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (2006), Survey examines social partnership in enterprises, article.
