Report analysis decentralisation trends in collective bargaining

A new study by the EIRO industrial relations observatory has found significant changes to wage-setting systems across Europe following the crisis. There have been developments in relation to the main level of collective bargaining, the extent of coordination. the links between different levels of bargaining as well as changes to extension arrangements and procedures for continuing agreements. Not surprising the most dramatic changes have been in Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Romania and Spain where the attacks on collective bargaining have been mainly imposed by national governments

(July 2017) The latest issue of the OECD's Employment Outlook includes an analysis of collective bargaining trends in the leading industrial nations. The report confirms the long-term decline in collective bargaining coverage and looks at the extent to which the main negotiations in each country take place at sector and/or local level. The study notes that a higher degree of coordination of collective bargaining has been an important factor in dealing with macroeconomic shocks, citing several countries as examples, including Austria, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden.

A new report from the Eurofound research agency analyses trends in collectively negotiated wages compared to productivity over the 2000-2017 period. The report says that: "From an employee perspective...applying harmonised consumer prices, wages per employee have grown more slowly than productivity since the beginning of the millennium and the gap has been widening, despite hourly wages having been more aligned." It adds that: "In most countries with available data (14 EU Member States), there has been a positive wage drift since the early 2000s, indicating that actual wages have grown more