The Europeanisation of collective bargaining: Instruments and approaches

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The Europeanisation of collective bargaining
Instruments and approaches

• Vera Glassner
• European Trade Union Institute ETUI Research
  dept.
• ETUI Training course
• Impacts of the European crisis on working
  conditions and workers rights experiences and
  strategies
• Madrid, 18 January 2012

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Structure of this presentation

• Presentation of ETUI and ETUC
• European system of industrial relations
• Trade unions initiatives for the transnational
  coordination of collective bargaining

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The European Trade Union Institute - ETUI

• 3 Departments
• Research Applied research on socio-economic
  issues and industrial relations aiming at
  bridging academia and the European trade union
  movement.
• Education provides the ETUC and its affiliated
  organisations with a European education and
  training service, e.g. training EWC
• Health Safety Aims at promoting high
  standards of health and safety in European
  workplaces.

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Work programme 2011 - 2012

• 5 Priorities of the ETUI
• Effects of the crisis and strategies to come out
  of the crisis
• Worker participation
• Social dialogue
• Europe2020/ sustainable development
• Trade union renewal

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ETUC European Trade Union Confederation

• Exists in the current form since 1973 to bundle
  TU representation from EC countries and others
  (e.g. EFTA)
• Today 82 member organisations from 36 countries,
  4 observer organisations
• Horizontal structure 12 European Industry
  Federations on the European branch level
• Representing more than 60 million workers in
  Europe

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Aims of the ETUC

• European Integration still a goal?
• Strengthening promoting the European Social
  Model sustainable economic growth improvement
  living working conditions by promoting
• full employment,
• social protection, equal opportunities,
• good quality jobs,
• social inclusion
• Open democratic policy-making process

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European policy-making structure

• Tripartite Social Summit each spring, to assess
  employment goals set in 2000-2010 Lisbon Agenda
• European Parliament Liaison with cross-party
  Intergroup of MEPs
• Participation in advisory bodies, e.g. European
  Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the EU
  agencies for vocational training, living and
  working conditions, health and safety.
• Macro-economic Dialogue (1998) Meetings with EU
  Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN),
  the European Central Bank (ECB), the Commission
  and the social partners.

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European Social Dialogue

• EU social policy Articles 138-139 of EC Treaty
  Consultation of Soc. Partners by Commission with
  option of conclusion of autonomous agreements
• Inter-professional level between European
  peak-level organisations of labour (ETUC),
  business (BusinessEurope, UEAPME SMEs) and
  managerial higher staff (Eurocadre, CEC), CEEP
• Sectoral level in European sector dialogue
  committees for 36 sectors including the public
  sector (local regional governments)

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Workers Participation

• European Works Councils (EWCs)
• Information consultation
• Negotiation? e.g. Transnational Company
  Agreements
• Anticipation managment of change
  (restructuring!)
• Directive 1994
• for a Community-scale undertaking, gt 1,000
  employees within one Member States gt 150
  employees in each of at least two Member States
• Recast of Dir. 2009
• Important aim improved definition of
  transnational undertaking ? enhance
  implementation of Dir.!

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INSTITUTIONAL SETTING EUROPEAN SOCIAL DIALOGUE
Inter- professional
Actors
ETUC, BusinessEurope, CEEP, UEAPME, Eurocadre,
CEC
Results
3 Agreements implemented by Council
Directive Parental leave (1995), Part-time work
(1997), Fixed-term Contracts (1999) 3
Autonomous Framework Agreements
Telework(02) Work-related Stress(04),
Harassment violence at work (2007), inclusive
labour markets (2010). 2 frameworks of action
Lifelong learning (2002), gender Equality (2005)
(multi)sectoral
Institutions
36 sector committees
Actors
EIF, Europ. Employers Assoc.
Results
Autonomous SP-Agreem. e.g Silica Agreement,
Recommendations, Joint Positions
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Institutional setting for transnational CB
MNC
Actors
Nation. unions., EIF, Management, EWC
Results
IFAs International Framework Agreements (signed
by GUF global union federation) EFAs European
Framework Agreements (concluded by EWC and/or
EIF) ? By end 2008 ca. 80 agreements signed by
EWCs
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INSTITUTIONAL SETTING EUROPEAN SOCIAL DIALOGUE
Coordination of collective bargaining (wages,
working time, training, etc.)
National
Institutions
Actors
Exchange of information, common guidelines for
CB policy, including wage-setting
Results
National/sectoral trade unions, ETUC, ETUFs
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Transnational coordination of (collective
bargaining) CB policies by unions

• Why unions not employers? No interest in
  transnational coordination of wages working
  conditions!
• At European inter-sectoral level
• 1) DOORN GROUP
• Union confederations from BE, NL, LUX, DE FR
• Doorn Declaration (1997) avoid
  wage-competition by ensuring wage increases in
  line with price productivity developments
• 2) ETUC CB coordination guideline (2000)
• at European sector level Eucob_at_n European
  coordination of CB
• multi-sectoral (metal, chemical, textiles food
  sector) system for the electronic exchange of CB
  information

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CB coordination at the Europ. Sector level METAL
sector

• EMF principle on CB policy (1993) To avoid
  expected downward pressure in EMU (Europ.
  Monetary union) ?
• EMF Coordination rule Wage increases off-set
  inflation balanced participation in
  productivity gains (1998 before ETUC!)
• Other, non-wage issues Working Time Charter
  (1998), 1st Common Demand on training (2005), 2nd
  Common Demand on Precarious Employment
• Institutions
• Transnational bargaining coordination networks
  (centring around IG Metall districts)
• Eucob_at_n information exchange, reporting
  multi-sectoral!

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4 most active inter-regional EMF networks
(founded 1997)
Regions Countries
Scandinavia Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark
Coastal District Sweden, Denmark u. IG Metal district of Hamburg
Vienna Memorandum Group Austria, IG Metal District Bavaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary
Central-western Europe Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and IG Metal District North-Rhine Westphalia
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Chemicals, textiles and food/agriculture/tourism

• EMCEF (chemicals), ETUF-TCL (texiles) and EFFAT
  (food, agriculture, food) are forming with EMF
  Eucob_at_n network.
• Wage coordination rule (inflation, productivity)
  of less relevance due to heterogeneity, limited
  use of overall productivity
• Various resolutions on qualitative issues such
  as working time, training etc.
• No inter-regional cross-border networks

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UNI Europa Graphical Finance

• European wage guideline in graphical sector
• Common criteria for the analysis of professional
  skills in graphical sector
• Collective bargaining network at UNI graphical
  (early 1990s) however, not clustered
  according to regions as in metal sector
• In finance sector no wage guideline
• Resolutions on training, gender equality etc.
• UNI Finance CB coordination network (2002), only
  ex-post information, rather decentral, weaker
  role of ETUF

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EPSU public sector

• Epsucob_at_n collective bargaining network
• European wage bargaining coordination rule
  (inflation, productivity)
• Resolutions on working time, gender equality,
  training, equal pay, trade union rights etc.
• CB network in engery sector in central and west
  Europe

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Unions views on functioning of cross-border
coordination

• CONFLICT not so much from structural differences
  of the industrial relation systems varying
  normative notions and practices, e.g. the
  considered legitimacy of warning strikes.
• Bargaining de-centralization undermining of
  collective agreements in Germany by opening
  clauses considered as problematic ? discrepancy
  between officially negotiated wage rates
  reported to the EMF Eucoban System and the real
  wage development on the company level!

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Unions views on functioning of cross-border
coordination

• Competitive pressures generally not considered as
  a hindering factor for cross-border coordination
  with respect to wage competition, NMS well
  integrated into EMF CBC approach
• Topics considered as important for transnational
  coordination training, e.g. comparisons of
  training and apprenticeship systems flexicurity
  social and economic policy issues addressed by
  the Northern member organisations in particular

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Challenges to cross-border bargaining coordination

• Declining practice to declare collective
  agreements binding for all employers within one
  sector or groups of sectors
• Declining employer densities
• Declining union densities
• ? shrinking bargaining coverage rates across
  Europe

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CB coverage rates in the EU (EC 2011)
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Net union densities (EC 2011)
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New challanges to cross-border coordination of
CB

• Economic crisis trend towards re-nationalisation
  of union strategies, e.g. seeking state support
  to tackle effects of the crisis vie public
  short-time working schemes etc.
• Tended to weaken cross-border initiatives of
  unions
• Need for wage bargaining coordination to counter
  wage restraint macro-economic imbalances
  increased BUT
• Limited resources directed to national levels
• Limited use of coordination guidelines in
  recession (inflation participation overall
  productivity)

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New challanges to cross-border coordination of
CB

• Debt-crisis in Eurozone and beyond limits
  governments room for manoeuvre and spurres their
  austerity drive ? increasing pressure on wages
  in private and public sector.
• New framework for EU Economic governance
  increases need to coordination wage setting
  across border to ensure stable, balanced and
  socially equitable growth.

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Nominal compensation (per employee, annual
-change), AMECO
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Real compensation (per employee, annual
-change), AMECO
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Index nominal ULC 2000-2011 (AMECO)
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Positions current accounts, 2008, 2011, GDP
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Conclusions cross-border coordination of CB

• Divide Western Europe where sector-level CB is
  predominating and New Member States where CB is
  decentralised
• General long-term trend towards decentralisation
  of wage-setting national, inter-sectoral level
  wage bargaining state-imposed wage setting
  declining
• Importance of institutional supportive features
  that ensure high coverage of coll. agreements,
  i.e. extension rules practice, obligatory
  membership employers assoc., high union density
• Structures for employee participation mostly in
  large (multinational) companies, to a much lesser
  extent in SMEs micro-enterprises (lt 10
  employees)

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Conclusions European SD lobbying EU
institutions

• European social dialogue at sectoral level ? more
  important for sectors subject to regulatory
  initiatives of the Commission (e.g. Chemical
  sector, telecommunications)
• Lobbying ETUC some of the EIFs, such as EFBBW
  in the construction sector
• Participation in process of law-making ? ETUC
  (e.g. EWC Directive, Inf. Consultat. Dir.
  (2002) Working time Dir. review etc.
• Transnational trade union action demonstrations,
  strike-actions (often coordinated by the EIFs)
• ? Interest representation participation in
  policy-making at European level a highly complex
  process (division of labor between ETUC, EIFs,
  different instruments) that presupposes the
  unification articulation of (diverging)
  national interests!

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Resources

• Topic-based webpage www.etui.org
• Various publications for different target
  groups most of them are free to download, e.g.
  Benchmarking Working Europe report, Policy
  Briefs, WP, Reports, Books
• Journals Transfer European Review of
  Labour and Research (published by Sage), viermal
  im Jahr SEER Journal for Labour and Social
  Affairs in Eastern Europe (viermal im Jahr),
  HesaMag (zweimal im Jahr)
• Online Information on worker participation
  www.worker-participation.eu and database on
  European Works Councils (EWCs) www.ewcdb.eu
• Newsletters Collective Bargaining, Just
  Transition, Worker participation, HesaMail,
  SETUP
• ETUI documentation centre and labourline database
  www.labourline.org
• Events, e.g. Monthly Forum
• Networks for provision of expertise, e.g. TURI (
  www.turi-network.eu )
• Traineeships, guest research stays, visitor
  groups