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Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining refers to all negotiations between one or more employers (or their organisations) and one or more workers’ organisations (trade unions) for determining working conditions and terms of employment, including issues related to pay and working time, and for regulating relations between employers and workers, as outlined in ILO Convention 154. A number of dimensions of collective bargaining (‘bargaining structure’) have been identified. These include coverage which refers to the percentage of employees directly affected by agreements; the level that bargaining occurs at; the scope, or range of topics encompassed by bargaining; and depth – that is the extent to which agreements are jointly implemented and reviewed.
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Nationella minimilöner i EU: policydriven tillväxt, fortsatt konvergens och ökad närhet till förhandlade löner
Under det senaste året fortsatte de nationella minimilönerna att öka avsevärt i hela EU, särskilt i central- och östeuropeiska länder, vilket fortsätter att minska de regionala skillnaderna. EU:s direktiv om minimilön har blivit en betydande drivkraft bakom höjningar av minimilönen i många länder, överstiger inflationsnivåerna och ökar snabbare än de kollektivt överenskomna lönegolven i många lågavlönade sektorer.Fyra decennier av data visar en europeisk arbetskraft som förändrats bortom igenkänning
Eurofounds arbetsmiljöundersökning 2024 visar hur digitalisering, demografi och klimatförändringar har omformat det europeiska arbetslivet under 35 år.Formande Europas sociala och sysselsättningsmässiga framtid
Europeiska unionen navigerar genom en period av djupgående omvandling – från levnadskostnadskrisen till gröna och digitala övergångar, demografiska förändringar och geopolitisk osäkerhet. I hjärtat av EU:s svar på dessa utmaningar står Europaparlamentets utskott för sysselsättning och sociala frågor. Med 60 medlemmar spelar kommittén en central roll i att säkerställa rättvisa arbetsvillkor, starkt socialt skydd och lika möjligheter i hela unionen.Eurofound collects country-level information on collective bargaining in the EU through its Network of Eurofound Correspondents. Across the EU, collective bargaining coverage is very diverse, as Eurofound research shows. About 60% of employees are covered by collective bargaining in the EU, but this ranges from 80% or more in some countries to less than 10% in others (European Commission data).
Collective bargaining, the core of organised industrial relations, takes place in different institutional settings. National systems vary in terms of the respective roles of collective bargaining and legislation in regulating the labour market, in the levels at which bargaining is conducted (cross-sectoral, sectoral, company and workplace, regional, occupational), and in the way in which negotiations at different levels may interrelate (articulation). The degrees of centralisation and coordination of collective bargaining – and especially pay bargaining – are important features of the system, with implications for both labour market and macroeconomic outcomes. The outcome of collective bargaining is typically a collective agreement. Such agreements can regulate both the procedures for relations between the signatory parties and the terms and conditions of employment of those workers covered by the agreement, such as pay and working time.
While the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union recognises the autonomy of social partners, in particular in relation to pay bargaining, EU policies nevertheless exert a significant influence on collective bargaining and the wider industrial relations system. For example, the country-specific recommendations (CSRs) in the framework of the European Semester have addressed issues such as aligning pay developments with productivity, minimum wage-setting and pay indexation systems. More generally, collective bargaining takes place within a framework which is, in part, set by EU legislation, including provisions concerning equal pay for work of equal value and the requirements of the Working Time Directive and related legislation.
European Commission: European Semesteropens in new tab
European Commission: Commission welcomes political agreement on adequate minimum wages for workers in the EUopens in new tab
European Commission: Working Time Directive (2003/88/EC)opens in new tab
Detta är ett urval av de viktigaste resultaten för detta ämne.
26 January 2024
Minimum wages for low-paid workers in collective agreements
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 measurement framework was devised, a total of 692 collective agreements – related to 24 low-paid sectors of interest – were selected to be ‘fully coded’ and representative data on negotiated minimum pay were compiled for 24 EU Member States. Based on more than 3,202 renewal texts, time series of collectively agreed minimum rates were created from 2015 to 2022 for 19 countries. This is the first time that an EU-wide data collection has provided comparative time series on negotiated pay. Key findings are is that in some countries outdated agreements contain rates below the applicable statutory minima, and that the potential of collective agreements to regulate pay generally or for employees earning higher wages than the minimum pay is not always fully capitalised on.
See also the national country reports (Eurofound papers), providing meta-data for the data collection, at the end of this web page.
30 August 2022
Moving with the times: Emerging practices and provisions in collective bargaining
This report analyses recent developments and emerging practices in collective bargaining processes and outcomes, mainly in the private sector. The report covers collective bargaining systems in 10 EU Member States and is based on cases identified through interviews with key stakeholders and negotiating parties at national level. It analyses the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic and social crisis on collective bargaining dynamics and collective agreements. It also investigates practices and innovations that have emerged in response to structural drivers such as technological change, decarbonisation and climate-neutrality policies, and workforce ageing. It assesses the capacity of collective bargaining systems to adapt to structural changes in work, production and the labour market as well as medium-term trends.
4 March 2016
The importance of collective bargaining in establishing working time in Europe
1 March 2016
Working time developments in the 21st century: Work duration and its regulation in the EU
This report examines the main trends and milestones characterising the evolution of the most important aspects of collectively agreed working time in the European Union during the first decade of the 21st century. Drawing primarily on information collected by Eurofound across all EU Member States and Norway, it focuses in particular on five sectors: chemicals, metalworking, banking, retail and public administration. The report describes the institutional regimes of regulation and assesses the evolution of agreed working hours (hours expected to be spent on work according to collective agreements or agreed between employers and employees) and usual working hours (hours usually spent in practice in work activities) between 1999 and 2014. The report points to the tension that exists between the pressure for decreased working hours in favour of a better work–life balance and fewer health problems for workers and the need for working time flexibility to meet the demands of a modern world economy.
4 November 2015
Collective bargaining in Europe in the 21st century
Collective bargaining systems in the EU have undergone a steady change since the end of the 1990s. But as businesses across Europe struggle to respond to intensifying global competition, pressure from employers for greater flexibility in collective bargaining is increasing, especially since the 2008 economic crisis. This report sets out to map developments in all major aspects of collective bargaining (apart from pay and working time, which have been analysed separately by Eurofound) over the past 15 years. In doing so, it aims to distinguish long-term trends and to identify changes brought on by the crisis. It also aims to identify the directions collective bargaining is likely to take in the coming years. The study finds a common and strong trend of convergence across the EU towards decentralisation and more flexibility in collective bargaining processes, but with significant asymmetries in the timing and pace of change.
11 September 2015
Pay in Europe in different wage-bargaining regimes
National wage-bargaining institutions are crucial in achieving pay outcomes that help to increase employment and economic growth within the context of avoiding macroeconomic imbalances within the European Monetary Union. Using a large set of empirical macroeconomic data from a variety of sources, including Eurofound and the European Commission AMECO database, this report analyses how the institutional features of national wage bargaining regimes influence pay outcomes. These features include bargaining level, type and level of coordination, use of opening clauses and the existence of wage pacts. The impact of government intervention through extension and derogation clauses and tripartite councils is also examined. The results of the study indicate that the key institutional variables of the wage-bargaining regime that influence pay outcomes are the type of coordination (how coordination is achieved) and the bargaining level.
13 April 2014
Pay in Europe in the 21st century
The issue of wages has attracted particular attention at European level since the onset of the economic crisis. Changes in economic governance, notably within the European semester, have prompted discussions on wage‑setting mechanisms. While, overall, wage‑bargaining regimes have remained relatively stable over time in many countries, the most substantial changes were seen in Member States facing more difficult economic circumstances. This report provides comparative time series on wage‑bargaining outcomes across the EU Member States and Norway, discussing pay developments against the background of different wage‑bargaining regimes and looks into the link between pay and productivity developments. It also investigates the different systems and levels of minimum wages in Europe at present, carrying out an accounting exercise through a hypothetical scenario of a minimum wage set at 60% of the median national wage (with some alternative scenarios as well for comparison) in order to benchmark and evaluate minimum wage levels and systems in Europe, and to discuss the possibilities and difficulties of coordination in this matter.
Eurofounds forskare bidrar med expertkunskap och kan kontaktas med frågor eller förfrågningar från medier.
Mária Sedláková
Research officerMária Sedláková är forskningssekreterare vid enheten för arbetsliv vid Eurofound. Hon ansvarar för att utarbeta översiktsrapporter för studier av representativitet inom olika sektorer, förvaltning och kvalitetskontroll av nationell rapportering om arbetsmarknadsrelationer, social dialog och arbetsliv, samt utveckling av ett projekt om kollektivavtal utöver lön. Innan hon började på Eurofound arbetade hon som teknisk forskningshandläggare vid avdelningen för styrning och trepartssamarbete vid Internationella arbetsorganisationen i Genève med flaggskeppsrapporten om den sociala dialogen 2022. Hon har också arbetat som forskare vid Central European Labour Studies Institute i Bratislava (2013–2020), med fokus på social dialog, kollektiva förhandlingar, arbetsvillkor och arbetssociologi. Maria har en masterexamen i statsvetenskap med inriktning mot jämförande europeisk politik från Central European University.
Christine Aumayr-Pintar
Senior research managerChristine Aumayr-Pintar är forskningschef vid enheten för arbetsliv vid Eurofound. Hon samordnar Eurofounds forskning om social dialog och arbetsmarknadsrelationer och övervakar nätverket av Eurofounds korrespondenter (NEC). Hennes huvudsakliga forskningsexpertis – som ses från ett jämförande EU-omfattande perspektiv – är inriktad på minimilöner, kollektivavtalade löner och insyn i lönesättningen mellan könen. Innan hon började på Eurofound 2009 var hon forskare i arbetsmarknads- och regionalekonomi vid Joanneum Research i Österrike. Hon har en magisterexamen i nationalekonomi och en doktorsexamen i samhällsvetenskap/ekonomi efter att ha studerat ekonomi i Graz, Wien och Jönköping.
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