Social dialogue
23 Mart 2023
Social dialogue can be defined as negotiations, consultations, joint actions, discussions and information-sharing involving employers and workers. Well-functioning social dialogue is a key tool in shaping working conditions, involving a variety of actors at various levels.Read more
Social dialogue can be defined as negotiations, consultations, joint actions, discussions and information-sharing involving employers and workers. Well-functioning social dialogue is a key tool in shaping working conditions, involving a variety of actors at various levels. It balances the interests of workers and employers and contributes to both economic competitiveness and social cohesion.
Recent updates
Patterns and trends in social partner involvement in times of crises
Meeting of the Employment Committee (EMCO)
Representativeness of the social partner organisations: Civil aviation sector
EU context
TopSocial dialogue is a key principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights proclaimed in 2017. The emergence of new debates on social justice, democracy, the quality of work and new models for labour relations have been challenging traditional industrial relations and social dialogue systems.
Read moreSocial dialogue is a key principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights proclaimed in 2017. The emergence of new debates on social justice, democracy, the quality of work and new models for labour relations have been challenging traditional industrial relations and social dialogue systems.
Thirty years after the historic inauguration of European social dialogue at Val Duchesse in Brussels, the European Commission relaunched the process of a new start for social dialogue at a high-level event bringing together social partner organisations from across Europe on 5 March 2015. European social dialogue is an instrument of EU social policy, contributing directly to shaping EU labour legislation and policies.
On 25 January 2023, the Commission proposed a Council Recommendation on 'strengthening social dialogue in the EU' and published a new Communication on reinforcing and promoting social dialogue, ‘harnessing its full potential for managing fair transitions’, as announced in the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan.
- Eurofound blog: From Val Duchesse to Riga: how to relaunch social dialogue?
- European Commission: Commission sets out concrete actions for greater involvement of social partners at national and EU level
- European Commission: The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan
Research
TopPolicymakers need solid evidence to understand the changes taking place in the labour market and to respond to the changing dynamics of industrial relations in Europe.Read more
Policymakers need solid evidence to understand the changes taking place in the labour market and to respond to the changing dynamics of industrial relations in Europe. Eurofound uses data and analysis drawn from its network of correspondents in the EU Member States and Norway to map trends and patterns and to point to examples of well-functioning social dialogue at both European and national level.
Eurofound research investigates aspects such as worker participation, collective bargaining, employee representation and industrial relations at all levels. It examines the extent to which industrial relations have adapted to the emergence of multinational organisations.
Eurofound has produced a large body of work extending over 40 years that has charted the many and changing facets of social dialogue in Europe at various levels: company, national, European and international.
In recent years, Eurofound has conducted in-depth analyses of various issues at the heart of social dialogue, such as:
- employee involvement and participation
- pay and reward systems
- company-level social dialogue
- fraudulent contracting of work
- social partner involvement in preventing labour trafficking in the EU, and in the European Semester process
- the concept of representativeness at national, international and European level
Representativeness studies
Eurofound’s representativeness studies carried out across multiple sectors, following a mandate from the Commission in 2006, provide the basic information needed for the setting up and functioning of the European sectoral social dialogue committees.
- Publication series: Sectoral social dialogue
Regularly updated resources
- EU PolicyWatch database: Maps policies related to different crisis contexts (such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine or the twin -transition) and records for each case the form of social partner involvement.
- European Industrial Relations Dictionary: Developed in 2005 as an online reference tool for policymakers and practitioners, the dictionary is a valuable storehouse of information on employment and industrial relations in the EU.
- Country profiles: These working and living country profiles provide relevant contextual information on the structures, institutions and regulations underpinning working life in the EU Member States and Norway and at EU level.
Key outputs over the years
Publications & data
TopThe sections below provide access to a range of publications, data and ongoing work on this topic.
- Publications (706)
- Veri
- Ongoing work (8)
Publications
Eurofound publications come in a variety of formats, including reports, policy briefs, blogs, articles and presentations.
Involvement of the national social partners in the European Semester 2017: Social dialogue practices
Publication 6 Mart 2018Mapping varieties of industrial relations: Eurofound’s analytical framework applied
Publication 29 Ocak 2018Representativeness of the European social partner organisations: Central government administration
Publication 17 Kasım 2017Veri
Related data on this topic are linked below.
- Database: EU PolicyWatch
- Data: European Company Survey - Data visualisation
- Data: Database of wages, working time and collective disputes: The database aims to provide researchers and policymakers with quantitative and qualitative information on these topics across all Member States and Norway from 2000 to the present.
Ongoing work
Research continues in this topic on a variety of themes, which are outlined below with links to forthcoming titles.
In the course of the programming period 2021–2024, Eurofound will continue regular monitoring of social dialogue, including through the EU PolicyWatch database.
Other topics addressed include:
- Monitoring of the role of national social partners in the European semester and analysis of quality and effectiveness of their involvement
- Summary of discussions on capacity-building social dialogue to support a meaningful and effective social dialogue
- Research on industrial relations covering topics related to both social dialogue and working life developments, including updates on collectively agreed pay
- Representativeness studies on a variety of sectors to provide the European Commission required information to assess the representativeness of European sectoral social partner organisations.
MEMBER OF THE NETWORK OF EU AGENCIES
Eurofound is an agency of the European Union