Working life country profile for Slovenia
This profile describes the key characteristics of working life in Slovenia. It aims to provide the relevant background information on the structures, institutions and relevant regulations regarding working life.
This includes indicators, data and regulatory systems on the following aspects: actors and institutions, collective and individual employment relations, health and well-being, pay, working time, skills and training, and equality and non-discrimination at work. The profiles are systematically updated every two years.
There are no national data (official or unofficial) on strikes in Slovenia. The main reasons for collective action have been wage cuts and wage arrears. Mechanisms for resolving collective disputes are included in collective agreements. However, there are no data on their use.
The right to strike is regulated by the Strike Act (Zakon o stavki, Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 23/1991). This act defines a strike as an organised stoppage of work by workers for the purpose of exercising economic and social rights and interests arising from work. Workers may freely decide to participate in a strike. The Strike Act specifies that a strike can be organised in a company or other organisation, in a part of an organisation, in a branch of the economy or as a general strike.
The right to strike for workers in organisations that perform activities of special importance for military defence can only be exercised under the following conditions: to provide a minimum level of work that ensures the security of people and property or is an irreplaceable condition for the life and work of citizens or for the functioning of other organisations; or to ensure the performance of Slovenia’s international duties.
Workers participating in a strike maintain their basic rights from their employment relationship, except the right to pay. They retain their rights to a pension and disability insurance in accordance with the regulations on these matters. Financial compensation during a strike may be granted if this is provided for under a collective agreement or general legal document (see Eurofound, 2002).
Developments in industrial action, 2013–2019
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | Source | |
| Working days lost per 1,000 employees | 14.9 | n.a. | Labour Force Survey 2012 | |||||
| Percentage of establishments experiencing strikes | n.a. | 16% of establishments in the private sector | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | 1% of establishments in industry | European Company Survey 2019 |
Note: n.a., not available.
Collective dispute resolution mechanisms
Article 18 of the Collective Agreements Act stipulates that:
collective labour disputes are settled peacefully through negotiation, mediation and arbitration, and in accordance with the Labour and Social Courts Act (Zakon o delovnih in socialnih sodiščih, Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, Nos. 2/04 and 61/04) before the competent labour court
the disputes are settled in accordance with this law if a procedure for dispute settlement has not been determined in the applicable collective agreement
The Collective Agreements Act distinguishes between procedures for the settlement of interest disputes through mediation or arbitration and those for the peaceful settlement of disputes on rights.
Article 87 (on the resolution of collective disputes) of the Collective Agreement for the Retail Sector stipulates that the parties to the agreement agree that the collective disputes should be resolved in accordance with the procedure determined by the law on collective agreements.
Since 2010, the predominantly used mechanism of dispute resolution has been mediation; before then, it was arbitration. All mechanisms for collective dispute resolution are introduced voluntarily. In a qualitative study by Stanojević and Kanjuo Mrčela (2014), a representative of employers in craft and entrepreneurship reported on the introduction of mediation as an instrument for conflict resolution in their collective agreement.
Individual dispute resolution mechanisms
Article 5 of the Labour and Social Courts Act stipulates that the labour court is competent to rule on individual (as well as collective) industrial dispute issues. The aspects covered include employment contracts; rights, obligations and responsibilities ensuing from the employment relationship between the worker and employer or their legal successors; rights and obligations ensuing from the relations between the worker and the user undertaking; the employment procedure; industrial property rights and obligations ensuing from the employment relationship; work of children younger than 15; work of apprentices, pupils and students; scholarships; voluntary apprenticeships; and other issues determined by law.
Use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms
There are no data related to alternative dispute resolution mechanisms (arbitration and mediation).
