industrial relations in european union countries and recent developments

Industrial relations in European Union countries and recent developmentsRoberto Pedersini

TAIEX Workshop on Social Dialogue in Ukraine Kiev 5-6 December 2013

DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI E POLITICHE

Industrial relations in EU countries and recent developmentsTAIEX Workshop on Social Dialogue in Ukraine, Kiev 5-6 December 2013

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Comparing industrial relations systemsIt can be useful to look (at least) at three elements:• Actors – the structure, ideology, and strategy

of representation• Institutions – the (legal and collectively

agreed) rules that define the scope of industrial relations (IR), the actors’ entitlements and prerogatives, the structure and functioning of IR processes, the effectiveness of the outcomes of IR processes

• Outcomes – the content of the actual regulation of employment relations through IR, with both distributive and regulatory implicationsDIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI

E POLITICHE

IR systems in the European Union: ActorsThere are quite diverse IR systems in the European Union, along the various basic dimensions:Actors• ‘Multi-organisation’ representation systems

prevail, both on the union and the employer sides

• Union density levels range from around 70% in Nordic Countries to less than 10% in LT, FR and EE

• Employer density levels are regarded to be high, in most of cases over 50%, with lower levels in a number of CEECs and UKDIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI

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DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALIE POLITICHE


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Source: European Commission (2011), Industrial Relations in Europe 2010, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, p. 18



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IR systems in the European Union: Institutions and processesInstitutions and processes• Multi-employer bargaining prevails in EU-15

countries (plus SI and RO), single-employer bargaining characterise most EU-12 countries and UK

• Legal extension mechanism are often present but widely used only in a minority of countries (AT, BE, FI, FR, LU), with a significant impact of the crisis in certain cases (EL, ES, PT)

• Collective bargaining coverage rates range from 80% and above in Nordic and Continental Europe (including ES, FR and SI and with the exception of DE) to less than 20% in Baltic countriesDIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE SOCIALI

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IR systems in the European Union: OutcomesOutcomes• Wage moderation is an emerging feature of

recent years, which was reinforced by the economic crisis. Collectively agreed pay increases in 2011 and 2012 were negative in real terms in a number of EU countries.

• Wage freezes and even wage cuts were introduced as part of austerity measures in the public sector in 2010-2013 (CY, EL, ES, IE, IT, UK, LT, LV)

• Organisational and working time flexibility continue to be key topics of collective bargaining, including within restructuring efforts



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Major trends in IR in the European Union• Weakening of the trade union capacity to represent

labour, as indicated by the decrease in density levels. Difficulties concern especially the service sector and young workers

• ‘Rationalisation’ of union and employer representation: mergers and streamlining

• Decentralisation of collective bargaining, with the segmentation of regulation and protections and the decrease in coverage rates

• Reduction in conflict levels, with exceptions in some sectors (like public services) and episodic (?) upsurges

• Challenges from the internationalisation of the economy: business strategies and union solidarity



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The Varieties of IR systems within the European Union• There is a common EU-wide supportive institutional

framework: economic competitiveness and social cohesions (the European social model)

• With different IR traditions and ‘models’:• Voluntarist vs. Organised• Low institutionalisation vs. High institutionalisation• Antagonistic vs. Participatory• Decentralised vs. Centralised/Coordinated• Business unionism vs. Competitive unionism

• Anglo-Saxon, Nordic, Continental, Mediterranean, Eastern and Central European

• Benchmarking and mutual learning is possible, but the strength of the national systems is crucial importance of institutional and capacity building



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The future of the European social model: Macro coordination and micro cooperation• IR are often regarded as an essential element of

European social model because the can provide a contribution to macro economic coordination and micro cooperation at the workplace level, supporting both economic competitiveness and fairness

• There are different views about the stability of IR within such model:• Stability of IR institutions with consolidation, as they

provide competitive advantages for enterprises (varieties of capitalism)

• Stability of IR institutions, but with decreasing inclusiveness (dualisation processes)

• Relative stability of IR institutions with changes in the objectives they serve (substantial neoliberal convergence)

• Erosion of IR institutions and deregulation (formal neoliberal convergence)



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Concluding remarks


• Over the latest decades, changes in the institutional framework of the European countries have accumulated (in IR, market regulation, including in the labour market, corporate governance…)

• Actors, unions and employers alike, operate in this changing environment to retain their regulatory capacity or to gain more freedom

• IR are nowadays more driven towards ‘competitiveness’ than it used to be

• The stability and consolidation of the European social model will also depend on the capacity of IR to continue to support ‘solidarity’ among the workforce and ‘fairness’ between workers and employers

• But such capacity is linked to the continuing promotional and supportive role of public policies and institutions


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Further information

• European Commission,Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion:Industrial Relations in Europe, http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=575&langId=en

• European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions:http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/• European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO)• European Working Conditions Observatory (EWCO)• European Monitoring Centre on Change (EMCC)



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http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=575&langId=en

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=575&langId=en

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/



industrial relations in european union countries and recent developments

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european union countries

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eu countries

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