Representativeness of the European social partner organisations: Agricultural sector

This report examines the operations of social partner organisations and collective bargaining in the agricultural sector. The first part of the report provides an overview of the agricultural sector’s economic background. The second part analyses the social partner organisations in the Member States of the European Union, with the exception of Sweden, and including the newest Member States Bulgaria and Romania. This section places particular emphasis on membership of the social partner organisations, their role in collective bargaining and public policy, and their national and European affiliations. The third and final part analyses the relevant European associations, in particular the composition of their membership and their capacity to negotiate. The aim of the series of studies on representativeness is to identify the relevant national and supranational social partner organisations in the field of industrial relations in selected sectors. The impetus for these studies arises from the goal of the European Commission to recognise the representative social partner organisations to be consulted under the EC Treaty provisions. Hence, this study is designed to provide the basic information required to establish sectoral social dialogue.