Database of coded collective agreements in selected low-paid sectors

This database provides access to the coded content of collective agreements from selected Member States and Norway. It presents an overview of the main topics and sub-topic covered in collective agreements beyond the topic of pay and compares how they have changed over time.

The database was developed by Eurofound as a part of the project ‘Collective bargaining beyond pay’ (2023-2025). It analyses and compares 94 collective agreements across three low-paid sectors (manufacture of food, leather, textiles and clothes; residential and social care; retail) in 11 EU Member States - Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia - and Norway. The research builds on Eurofound’s database of collective agreements related to low-paid workers, collected for the Agency’s pilot project on minimum wages and looks ‘beyond’ wage-setting at other topics featured in the collective agreements. Over 13,000 clauses were coded, analysed and grouped into key topics and sub-topics. The database shows how these topics have developed over time by comparing two versions of the same collective agreement, valid in 2015 (or closest year available) and in 2022 (or lates year available). Collective agreements were selected base on the sub-sample available in the Database on minimum wages for low-paid workers in collective agreements prior to its 2025 update.

The following experts at Eurofound can be contacted for questions relating to the database.

Mária Sedláková

Research officer

Working life research unit

Mária Sedláková é investigadora na unidade de Vida Profissional da Eurofound. É responsável pela elaboração de relatórios de síntese para estudos de representatividade setorial, gestão e controlo de qualidade de relatórios nacionais sobre relações laborais, diálogo social e vida profissional, e desenvolvimento de um projeto sobre negociação coletiva para além da remuneração. Antes de ingressar na Eurofound, trabalhou como investigadora técnica no Departamento de Governação e Tripartismo da Organização Internacional do Trabalho, em Genebra, no Relatório Emblemático do Diálogo Social de 2022. Trabalhou também como investigadora no Instituto de Estudos do Trabalho da Europa Central em Bratislava (2013–2020), com foco no diálogo social, negociação coletiva, condições de trabalho e sociologia do trabalho. Maria é mestre em Ciência Política com especialização em Política Europeia Comparada pela Universidade da Europa Central.

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Relatório de investigação

19 December 2025

Collective bargaining beyond pay: An analysis of collective agreements in selected low-paid sectors

This report analyses and compares the content of 94 collective agreements in three low-paid sectors – manufacture of food, leather, textiles and clothes; residential and social care; and retail – across 11 EU Member States and Norway. The report examines how collective bargaining regulates working conditions beyond wages and how these topics have evolved between 2015 and 2022.