Collective bargaining is a key element of labour relations, as well as a fundamental part of democracy and an essential piece of the European Social Model. Recently, the important role of social dialogue and collective bargaining has been rediscovered at the EU level. The Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages aims to explicitly strengthen collective bargaining, setting an ambitious target of 80% collective bargaining coverage in Member States. However, over two-thirds of Member States fall far short of this target, and the picture of European collective bargaining is mixed at best.
In this context, our study attempted to uncover why some countries in the EU have low or very low levels of collective bargaining coverage and propose policy recommendations to promote collective bargaining effectively.
Based on a theoretical overview and case study analysis of ten selected Member States, the study elaborated on the key factors influencing the performance of collective bargaining systems. We then developed high-level policy recommendations based on the comparative analysis of the cases in focus. Among other things, we urged the EU policymakers to improve the monitoring frameworks – so crucial in the light of quantitative targets set out in the Directive. Specifically, we suggested to:
- Develop a centralised monitoring system for tracking bargaining coverage rates across EU Member States to mitigate the scarcity of up-to-date and comparable data; and
- Elaborate measures of bargaining quality that go beyond the narrow concept of collective bargaining coverage and integrate them into a mixed-methods composite index or dashboard (for example, modelled on Eurofound’s Industrial Relations Index).
Read the full study report here!
