Collective bargaining in the hotels and tourism sector

The Czech-Moravian Trade Union of Catering, Hotels and Tourism carries out an annual assessment of the terms of collective agreements concluded with companies, which it then uses as a basis to formulate collective bargaining requirements for the following year. The results of the 2006 assessment show that the scope and structure of commitments contained in collective agreements have been preserved in comparison with 2005, and that there has been no reduction in the quality of the separate points of agreements.

Trade Union of Catering, Hotels and Tourism

The Czech-Moravian Trade Union of Catering, Hotels and Tourism (Ceskomoravský odborový svaz pohostinství, hotelu a cestovního ruchu, CMOS PHCR) covers employees in all fields, including catering, temporary accommodation, tourism and recreational services. In 2006, according to the trade union’s data, representatives of the union were active in some 30 companies, employing a total of 4,100 employees (1,000 of whom were trade union members).

The activities of CMOS PHCR in particular cover labour law, financial and organisational advisory services on matters such as wages and social affairs, employment, as well as working and living conditions. The latter area specifically includes work health and safety, collective bargaining and areas related to professional training and education, and other humanitarian, social, cultural and sporting activities. CMOS PHCR is a member of the largest central trade union organisation in the Czech Republic – the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (Ceskomoravská konfederace odborových svazu, CMKOS) – as well as the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT) and the International Union of Food Workers (IUL). CMKOS has concluded a higher level collective agreement for the period between 1 July 2004 and 31 December 2006 for the tourism and catering industries sector with its social partner in the field, the Czech Confederation of Commerce and Tourism (Svaz obchodu a cestovního ruchu Ceské republiky, SOCR CR). According to CMKOS data, in 2005, this collective agreement covered a total of 1,397 employers, which are also SOCR members, with a combined total of 24,500 employees (of whom about 870 workers are members of CMOS PHCR) and was effective for 21 member organisations of the union.

Company-level collective agreements in 2006

In 2006, a total of 23 company-level collective agreements were concluded by member organisations, which is three agreements less than in 2005.

In terms of cooperation between the parties to the agreements, attention was focused on negotiations concerning the provision of financial data to union organisations. More detailed provisions in this area were negotiated in about 95% of all concluded collective agreements, which is similar to the 2005 results. All collective agreements concluded in 2006 contained obligations for employers in relation to discrimination during the performance of trade union activities, the creation of suitable conditions for trade union activities and establishing procedures for dealing with employees’ complaints.

Employee remuneration forms part of all the concluded collective agreements. Wage increases, irrespective of any achieved financial indicators, were included in 80% of agreements, which is a similar result to that observed in 2005. In general, this was covered by increasing the average nominal wage by an average of 2.9%. In terms of the level of wage tariffs, a year-on-year increase of about 8% was found in the minimum tariffs of all levels. Time-based wages were agreed in 96% of the agreements, generally in combination with task-based wages (in 9% of the concluded agreements). Wage provisions taking account of overtime for certain groups of employees, of up to 150 hours a year, were included in 74% of the collective agreements.

As for other working conditions and employee rights, the length of working hours was covered by nearly all of the agreements, and provisions to extend holidays by one week were included in all finalised collective agreements. Nearly 70% of agreements included provisions to increase entitlements to severance pay above the level set by the Labour Code. Company-level collective agreements also contained other provisions such as those relating to barriers in the workplace, the establishment of social funds (in 35% of agreements) and health and safety measures in the workplace.

Expectations for 2007

Changes in relation to collective bargaining are expected to emerge in 2007, with the new Labour Code due to come into effect (CZ0605029I). In particular, it will be necessary to agree on amendments to nearly all collective agreements so that individual provisions do not contravene the new legislation. These changes place considerable demands on the preparations of negotiators for parties to agreements, particularly in the area of labour law.

Jaroslav Hála, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs