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Industrial relations

Trade unions, employer organisations and public authorities all play a role in the governance of the employment relationship. They are interlocking parts in a system that operates at European, national, sectoral, regional and company level. In recent years, as technology and forms of work evolve within a constantly changing economic environment, industrial relations systems have faced critical challenges.

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    Recent updates

    Eurofound research

    Over 40 years, Eurofound has developed as a key centre of expertise for monitoring and analysing trends in industrial relations. This includes linkages between European and national-level social dialogue. Drawing on the knowledge of its Network of Eurofound Correspondents in the EU Member States and Norway, it has captured developments in all Member States and in the EU as a whole. 

    Eurofound has produced a range of comparative analyses, articles and case studies across the EU and Norway in the area of industrial relations, as well as regularly updated databases on related topics.

    Research maps and discusses key dimensions and indicators relevant to industrial relations systems in Europe in the 21st century. Another thread of research looks at how social partners in the EU and Norway have explored new topics, tools and innovative approaches to respond to the many new political, legal and social challenges that have arisen in recent years.

    Pay and working time continue to be areas of high interest and are reviewed annually. One strand of the recent pay update focuses on statutory minimum wage levels across the EU while another focuses on collective wage bargaining

    Since 2006, Eurofound has been carrying out studies on the representativeness of European sectoral social partner organisations, as mandated by the European Commission. These studies are designed to provide the basic information needed for the setting up and functioning of the European sectoral social dialogue committees.

    Resources

    Key outputs

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    This report examines the average weekly working hours across Europe in 2021 and 2022. It covers important developments resulting from legislative reforms in collective bargaining at national or sectoral level...

    24 October 2023
    Publication
    Research report
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    The 2023 annual review of minimum wages was prepared in the context of unprecedented inflation across Europe. While this led to hefty increases in nominal wage rates in many countries...

    29 June 2023
    Publication
    Research report
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    As part of its mandate to promote dialogue between management and labour, Eurofound has monitored and analysed developments in industrial relations systems at EU level and in EU Member States...

    11 December 2020
    Publication
    Flagship report

    EU context

    In this context, the European Commission in 2015 launched a ‘new start’ for European social dialogue. In a joint statement in June 2016, the Commission, Council of the European Union and social partners underlined its fundamental role as a significant component of EU employment and social policymaking.

    In September 2023, Commission President von der Leyen announced a social partner summit with European social partners in Val Duchesse in 2024 to address labour and skills shortages, echoing the summit on social dialogue at the same location almost 40 years ago. 

    Eurofound expert(s)

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    Ricardo Rodriguez Contreras is a research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound and focuses on comparative industrial relations, social dialogue and collective bargaining...

    Research manager,
    Working life research unit
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    Victoria Cojocariu is a research support officer for the representativeness studies in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. She is responsible for the management of the research...

    Research support officer,
    Working life research unit
    Publications results (516)

    Three years after the adoption of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), this report reviews the quality of the social partners’ involvement in 2023 in the ongoing implementation of reforms and investments funded by that initiative. It also examines the quality of their involvement in the prepa

    26 February 2024

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the furniture sector.

    08 December 2023

    Previous Eurofound research developed three complementary tools to examine the dynamics of industrial relations and compare how national industrial relations systems are faring in terms of quality and change over time.

    05 December 2023

    In the EU, non-compliance with statutory or negotiated minimum wages averages 6.93% or 1.3%, depending on the statistics used. The lowest national estimate is 0.01% in Belgium and the highest is 11.59% in Hungary.

    27 November 2023

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the woodworking sector.

    21 November 2023

    This study provides information to allow for an assessment of the representativeness of the national and supranational social partners at cross-industry level in the EU.

    09 November 2023

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the professional football sector.

    26 October 2023

    After a long period of price stability, inflation has made a remarkable comeback in the EU. While nominal wages picked up in 2021 and 2022, real wage growth has remained below inflation, affecting mainly low-income groups.

    06 September 2023

    The 2023 annual review of minimum wages was prepared in the context of unprecedented inflation across Europe. While this led to hefty increases in nominal wage rates in many countries, it was in many cases not enough to maintain workers’ purchasing power. Based on developments over the last decade,

    29 June 2023

    This publication comprises individual country reports on developments in working life in each of the 27 EU Member States and Norway in 2022, based on national research and survey results. The topics covered include the policy responses of governments to inflation and how inflation has featured in

    05 May 2023

    Online resources results (1688)

    Does privatisation improve sickness absence policy within companies?

    Although the transfer of responsibility for sickness policy to the individual employer under the terms of the Sickness Benefits Act (ZW) led to a reduction in sickness absence in the Netherlands in 1995 and 1996, it has not improved sickness absence policy within companies. According to an August

    Labour market segmentation affects union density

    According to a recent survey, conducted in April 1997, the density of trade union membership amongst Greek workers appears to be falling. This finding has sparked fierce criticism of the unions, which are blamed by many media commentators for this process. Nevertheless, declining rates of union

    Setback for new national social pact

    The budget proposed by the Belgian Government for 1998 has greatly disappointed the social partners. Although the Government had asked them to conclude a new social pact to encourage employment, they believe that it has not allocated enough resources to finance one. The partners themselves had

    Disagreement over pay fuels tension between Government and unions

    The process of social dialogue has underlined the strong disagreement between the Greek Government and the employers' associations on the one side and the unions on the other regarding the impact of increases in real wages over the coming years. Because the areas for agreement are already extremely

    Plans for a collective agreement in computing

    In October 1997, negotiations for a collective agreement covering salaries and working conditions in the computing industry are about to start. They will cover about 10,000 employees working in software and will be conducted by the Union of Salaried Employees (Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten

    Strike wave across Greece may herald end of social calm

    Unions all over Greece and in almost every sector of the economy have scheduled a series of strikes for October 1997 and for the first half of November which may reverse a climate of peace, as far as strikes are concerned, which has prevailed from 1990 until today.

    Conference on employment, pay and working time

    France's tripartite "national conference on employment, pay and working time" was held on 10 October 1997. The agenda was very full, ranging from youth employment to working time by way of pay policy. Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's most dramatic decision was a bill to implement a 35-hour working

    Preparations for upcoming incomes policy negotiations have started

    The Finnish social partners started the preparatory negotiations concerning the next comprehensive incomes policy solution on 30 September 1997. The discussions took place in Helsinki under the lead of the Prime Minister, Paavo Lipponen.

    Women's trade union fights for its independent status

    The National Union of Female Workers (Kvindeligt Arbejderforbund i Danmark, KAD) is the only purely female trade union in the world and a relatively large affiliate of the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO), representing 90,000 workers across the public and

    Renewal of chemicals agreement centres on working time

    Bargaining over the renewal of the collective agreement for the Italian chemicals industry started in September 1997. The trade unions' platform of demands contains innovative proposals for the management of working time, which is seen as a way both to create new jobs and maintain current employment


    Blogs results (18)
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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 June 2022
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    In the context of the ongoing trend of a fall in collective bargaining coverage, and recent calls at EU level to promote collective bargaining coverage as an instrument to support fair and decent wages, new data from Eurofound’s fourth European Company Survey (ECS) show that two-thirds of workers

    28 October 2020
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    The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is having drastic consequences for the world of work. In most European countries workers who are not delivering essential ‘frontline’ services are being asked to stay home. Unfortunately many are out of work, while many of those who are not are minimum-wage and low

    1 April 2020
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    As one of their ‘100 days in office’ initiatives, the new European Commission intends to propose an initiative for an EU minimum wage. The aim is that by 2024 every worker in the EU should earn a fair and adequate wage, no matter where they live.

    15 January 2020
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    Trade unions in many EU Member States face the issue of declining membership. This is a fundamental challenge for organised labour, but it is premature to speak about the redundancy unions: when it comes to important decisions affecting the workplace, restructuring being one, trade unions remain a

    20 November 2019
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    The International Labour Organization (ILO) met for the first time 100 years ago, and right at the top of the agenda for discussion for this new specialised UN agency was the 8-hour working day. This discussion subsequently resulted in the Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, which stated that ‘The

    12 November 2019
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    The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work last year documented the case of a Dutch temporary work agency that hired workers of various nationalities to work for a construction company in Belgium. The wages were suspiciously low, and the Belgian Labour Inspectorate believed that EU law

    17 July 2019
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    The votes have been cast, tallied and declared and we can now see the political landscape of the new European Parliament. It is a complex picture: there has been growth of far-right and populist parties, but well short of what was projected, and at the same time there has been a boost for pro

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    Seniority entitlements have largely been on the decline since the 1990s, and have been gradually phased-out from legislation in Europe, as well as in collective agreements. However, it would be premature to dismiss seniority-based entitlements as a thing of the past, as they remain in force across

    17 April 2019
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    In this blog piece, originally published in Social Europe, Karel Fric and Camilla Galli da Bino look at the issue of discrimination against men in the workplace in Europe, and the current lack of research in this area.

    1 May 2018

    Upcoming publications results (9)

    This report reviews the quality of the national social partners’ involvement in the implementation of the reforms and investments shaping the digital and green transition in the context of national policymaking. These reforms and investments stem mainly from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

    March 2025

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the extractive industries sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective par

    November 2024

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the construction sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participatio

    November 2024

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the chemical sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participation in

    November 2024

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the road transport sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participat

    November 2024

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the postal and courier activities sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effec

    November 2024

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the graphical industry. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participation

    November 2024

    This publication comprises individual country reports on developments in working life in each of the 27 EU Member States and Norway in 2023, based on national research and survey results.

    June 2024

    The 2024 annual review of minimum wages presents the most recent rates of national minimum wages and recalls how they were set and agreed upon during 2023. It includes information on minimum wages set in sectoral collective agreements in countries without national minimum wages.

    June 2024

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