Following the conclusion of the first research phase of the EU co-funded project on “Collective bargaining and environmental responsibility – challenges and perspectives for transport and public sector”, CERP,the project partners have started the second phase of this analysis, which will last until the end of September.
The first phase of the analysis of national and European legal frameworks identified important differences in collective bargaining between EU Member States and candidate countries. Starting from the fact that there is no EU-level regulation on collective bargaining, the differences between countries are significant.
For example, while Spain has a dual industrial relations system with trade union and works council representation and explicit recognition of the right to collective bargaining with collective agreements at each sectoral, regional, local or company level, Portugal and Greece have national collective agreements covering all employees, and Poland, while also having collective agreements, acknowledges that it has a very low proportion of employees covered by these agreements.
On the other hand, the two candidate countries (Serbia and North Macedonia) acknowledge that collective bargaining is almost non-existent in their countries.
In the absence of regulated collective bargaining (that which takes place between employers and workers’ representatives, in a direct and mutually binding manner) for the EU, social dialogue becomes more important. The social dialogue is governed by Articles 151 to 154 of the TFEU, which set up various systems for consulting the social partners and on certain issues, which do not always have to be submitted to the Council and Parliament for approval, and which are far from being real negotiations between the parties.
The aim of the second phase of the analysis is to identify the impact of European green transition policies on collective agreements and sectoral agreements negotiated at national and sectoral level in the public and transport sectors; highlight the respective innovations or measures introduced in the negotiations in this respect; and identify the scope of the measures implemented and the role and contribution of the social partners in facilitating the transition to a low-carbon economy.
These national reports will be presented, analysed and discussed at a research group meeting in November, where the collective findings will be synthesised and reflected upon, and the next directions of the project will be determined, to achieve the objective of improving industrial relations experience to contribute to environmental responsibility in Europe.
These national reports will be presented, analysed and discussed at a research group meeting in November, where the collective findings will be synthesised and reflected upon, and the next directions of the project will be determined, in order to achieve the objective of improving industrial relations experience to contribute to environmental responsibility in Europe.
The Newsletter #2 is also available on the following link.
