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Agreements

Agreements are the outcome of collective bargaining and social dialogue processes. Social partners are encouraged to negotiate and conclude collective agreements  that can then be implemented at European, national, regional, sectoral or company level.  Increasingly Union labour laws are shaped by agreements that the parties voluntarily enter into and by soft law mechanisms. 

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In this pilot project, Eurofound successfully established the feasibility of, and piloted, an EU-wide database of minimum pay rates contained in collective agreements related to low-paid workers. A conceptual and...

26 Januar 2024
Publication
Research report
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This report explores EU Member States’ legislation around the right to disconnect and assesses the impact of company policies in this area on employees’ hours of connection, working time, work–life...

30 November 2023
Publication
Research report

Eurofound expert(s)

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Christine Aumayr-Pintar is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. Her current research topics include minimum wages, collectively agreed wages and gender...

Senior research manager,
Working life research unit
Publications results (40)

Z izjemo nekaj nenadnih povečanj je v zadnjih letih sindikalno ukrepanje v državah članicah na splošno upadlo. Med pandemijo covida-19 se je ta trend nadaljeval, pri čemer ne preseneča, da so se najpomembnejši delovni spori pojavljali v sektorju zdravstvenih in socialnih storitev, izobraževalnem

07 February 2022

Digitalne tehnologije so mnogim delavcem omogočile, da svoje delo opravljajo kadar koli in kjer koli, kar prinaša prednosti in slabosti. Podatki Eurofoundakažejo, da je za zaposlene, ki delajo na daljavo, dvakrat bolj verjetno, da bodo presegli zgornjo mejo 48 delovnih ur, ne bodo imeli dovolj

09 September 2021

Eurofound od leta 2016 pozorno spremlja vključevanje nacionalnih socialnih partnerjev v oblikovanje politik v ciklu evropskega semestra. Leta 2020 je bil poudarek na njihovem vključevanju v prvih mesecih izbruha pandemije covida-19. Čeprav je pandemija pomenila velik izziv za socialni dialog

09 March 2021

Developments in information and communication technology (ICT) have been among the key drivers of change in working life over the past two decades. Specifically, telework and ICT-based mobile work (TICTM) exemplifies how digital technology has led to more flexible workplace and working time

02 July 2020

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of individuals and societies, including on the economy and labour markets, is unprecedented. The impact of the global health emergency has placed a growing number of businesses under threat, putting the jobs of more and more workers at risk and

24 June 2020

This study examines the interaction between social dialogue practices and human resources management (HRM) policies in European multinational companies (MNCs). It looks at the changing role of HRM and its interaction with European Works Councils (EWCs), which can act as a link between different

16 June 2020

This report, as part of an annual series on minimum wages, summarises the key developments during 2019 and early 2020 around the EU initiative on fair wages and puts the national debates on setting the rates for 2020 and beyond in this context. The report features how minimum wages were set and the

04 June 2020

Annual review of working life 2017 is part of a series of annual reviews published by Eurofound and provides an overview of the latest developments in industrial relations and working conditions across the EU and Norway. The annual review collates information based on reports from Eurofound’s

22 October 2018

This report examines the development of collectively agreed pay in conjunction with the development of actual compensation (‘wages’) and labour productivity in real terms. It applies both a longer-term perspective (the early 2000s to 2017) and a short-term perspective, with a focus on the outcomes

10 October 2018

This annual review covers several issues related to working time in the EU and Norway in 2015 and 2016. It is based mainly on contributions from Eurofound’s Network of European Correspondents (NEC).

16 August 2017

Online resources results (321)

Renewal of national collective agreement for tourism industry

The tourism industry is particularly complex, characterised by a high level of seasonal employment or fixed-term contracts and a high level of female employment. The sector, which has been heavily hit by the financial crisis, is very important in Italy from an economic perspective, due to the

New national agreement for construction sector provides for pay increase

The construction sector in Italy has been badly affected by the economic crisis. In 2009, there were 20,000 redundancies and investments declined by 10%. Against this background, a new national collective agreement for the construction sector was signed on 19 April 2010.

New contract agreed for non-consultant hospital doctors

In early 2009, the Health Service Executive (HSE [1]) proposed specific changes to the employment contracts of non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs). The proposed changes included a mandatory one-hour unpaid meal break, the suspension of a training grant allowance and a living-out allowance –

Court rules in favour of extension of shipbuilding collective agreement

Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2004, the Norwegian Tariff Board (Tariffnemnda) – which is the governmental body vested with the authority to decide on extensions of collective agreements – has made several rulings in favour of extension to ensure that foreign workers are paid in

First European agreement at Thales aims to improve professional development of employees

A new agreement – on a ‘Transparent annual activity discussion for mutual listening and developing professional knowledge’ (TALK (79Kb PDF) [1]) – was signed between representatives of the electronics group Thales [2] and the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF [3]) on 14 April 2010. The accord

Government and social partners agree new anti-crisis package

In February 2010, representatives from the country’s trade union confederations expressed their discontent with the implementation of the government’s anti-crisis programme and insisted on starting negotiations on a new anti-crisis package. The trade union organisations concerned were the

Social partners promote transitional employment options

On 8 April 2010, an initiative called ‘HessenTransfer’ was launched by the Hessian branch of the Confederation of German Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund Hessen, DGB Hessen [1]) and the Confederation of Hessian Employers’ Associations (Vereinigung der hessischen Unternehmerverbände, VhU [2]

Agreement at tram company includes three-way ‘employee voice’ process

Veolia Transport [1] operates a successful tram system, known as Luas [2] [Speed], in Ireland’s capital city of Dublin. Veolia Transport and the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU [3]), which have a ‘closed shop’ arrangement at the company, concluded a new collective

Agreement to safeguard jobs signed in metalworking industry

The 2010 bargaining rounds in the German metalworking and electrical industry were strongly affected by the impact of the economic crisis on the industry. In January 2010, the German Metalworkers’ Union (Industriegewerkschaft Metall, IG Metall [1]) issued a statement (in German) [2] that some 700

Progressive social plan agreed at Carlsberg Bulgaria

In February 2010, management and trade unions at Carlsberg Bulgaria [1] signed an additional agreement for a social plan as an annex to the company-level collective agreement, which has been in operation since 2009. The plan generally addresses social support and assistance for the employees. [1]


Blogs results (2)
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Minimum wages have risen significantly in 2022, as the EU Member States leave behind the cautious mood of the pandemic. However, rising inflation is eating up these wage increases, and only flexibility in the regular minimum wage setting processes may avoid generalised losses in purchasing power

15 Junij 2022
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Whatever the benefits of telework – and there are many, including more flexible working time, increased productivity and less commuting – there are drawbacks, as many of the one-third of Europeans who were exclusively working from home during the pandemic will attest. Primary among these is the ‘alw

3 December 2020

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