The Euro crisis and debate about economic governance has brought the issues of wage determination and collective bargaining into sharp focus. Representatives of the European Central Bank, European Council and European Commission have been quick to call for wage moderation, to argue that the public sector should set an example for the private sector, to suggest that there should be greater decentralisation of bargaining and to call into question systems of wage indexation. However, as a series of recent documents from the Commission and Council show, there is no clear evidence to back up any of these assertions.
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Wages, collective bargaining and economic governance
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Wages and economic governance
{{This is a special issue of the newsletter to highlight the debate around collective bargaining, wage determination and economic governance. That debate is set to intensify in the autumn as the European Commission and European Council investigate the relationship between wage determination, collective bargaining structures and competitiveness. The ETUC aims to be at the centre of the debate arguing that wages cannot be simply reduced to a factor that needs to be controlled to improve competitiveness or tackle macroeconomic imbalances. The role of public sector pay is particularly important
Collective bargaining seminar discusses economic governance
Participants at the EPSU collective bargaining seminar in Belgium last month had the opportunity to discuss economic governance and the coordination of collective bargaining policy with experts from the ETUC and IndustriAll, the new European trade union federation created from the merger of the metalworkers (EMF), chemical workers (EMCEF) and textile workers (ETUF:TCL). A report of the meeting is on special website created by the ETUI who coordinated the seminar. Read more at > seminar website (EN)
ETUC Collective Bargaining Survey 2011 and economic governance
This year’s ETUC survey on collective bargaining is particularly important because of the vital information it can help provide that will help the ETUC in its intervention in the debate on wages and economic governance. This year’s questionnaire includes a number of specific questions on collective bargaining structures and wage determination. EPSU urges its affiliates to contact their national confederations and encourage them to complete the survey and include information on the public sector. Read more at > EPSU (EN)