On 12 November 2013, four trade unions representing social work employees in Lithuania signed an agreement to set up a joint union committee. The purpose of the committee is to prepare and negotiate a collective agreement between social work employees from budgetary social service agencies and local authorities in the municipalities. The joint committee will organise joint campaigns and try to influence the negotiation process and improve the content of the agreement.
Joint committee
On 12 November 2013, four unions which represent social work employees signed an agreement to establish a new joint union committee. They are the Lithuanian Education Trade Union (LŠPS), the Lithuanian Civil Servants Trade Union (LVTPS), the Federation of Lithuanian Public Service Trade Unions (LVPPF), and the Care and Social Workers Trade Union (SSDPS ‘Solidarumas’). The committee’s task is to prepare and negotiate a sectoral collective agreement between social work employees from budgetary social service agencies and local authorities in the municipalities. The parties have agreed the following.
- Trade unions shall provide two representatives each for the joint committee.
- The committee will have the power to appoint and remove negotiators for the sectoral collective agreement and direct their activities.
- Where appropriate, the committee shall organise joint campaigns and make efforts to influence the negotiation process and enhance the content of the sectoral collective agreement.
If all efforts to arrive at a compromise have been exhausted and sectoral collective agreement negotiations have failed to produce satisfactory results, the unions will coordinate a collective dispute. A committee entitled to call a strike will be set up in accordance with the procedure laid down in union statutes.
The parties also agreed that these provisions are effective from the moment of signature, that any party can withdraw from the joint committee, and that other trade unions may join it.
Other unions invited to join
Other trade unions operating in the social work sector have been publicly invited to join the joint committee. They include the Joint Trade Union (JPS), the Lithuanian Labour Federation (LDF), the Lithuanian Trade Unions’ League (LPL) and the Lithuanian Trade Union of Employees Providing Social Services (LSPTDPA).
Inga Blaziene, Institute of Labour of the Lithuanian Social Research Centre