Collective bargaining in the public sector: ILO survey – for affiliates to follow up

At its recent conference the International Labour Organisation (ILO) acknowledged trade union accusations of attacks on public sector workers’ pay and conditions as well as government action to undermine collective bargaining in both Greece and Romania. In the case of Greece the ILO is organizing a high-level mission to the country to investigate the matters further. In the case of Romania, the government there has been asked to work with an ILO technical team to review the recent changes to the Labour Code and collective bargaining legislation to ensure they comply with ILO convention 98

The International Labour Organisation has issued a report critical of the attacks on trade union and collective bargaining rights. In response to complaints bought by the ADEDY civil service confederation, GSEE private sector confederation and GENOP-DEI power sector trade union, it concluded: "While deeply aware that these measures were taken within a context qualified as grave and exceptional, provoked by a financial and economic crisis, the Committee found that there were a number of repeated and extensive interventions into free and voluntary collective bargaining and an important deficit

The International Labour Organisation has published two new reports on collective bargaining in the public services. The first is a working paper that provides an overview of collective bargaining arrangements across the European Union. Information on all 28 countries is included and the ILO categorises 23 as having some form of bargaining while in five countries unilateral government decisions determine pay and conditions. The second report cites several collective agreements from around the world as examples of how to promote constructive approaches to labour relations. This report