Social Dialogue, Economic Policy, Europe

Using figures from the Eurostat statistics agency, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) shows that the price of the most basic food stuffs is still rising up to seven times faster than wages. The price of olive oil is 75% higher than it was in January 2021, while there have been substantial increases in the price of potatoes (53%), eggs (37%) and butter (27%). By contrast, the ETUC shows that nominal wages have increased by 11% in the EU and 10% in the Euro area over the last three years. The confederation has also challenged the International Monetary Fund over its analysis of wages

The Eurofound research agency regularly carries out surveys of cross-sector and sector European trade union employer organisations to confirm their representativeness for the European social dialogue. Its latest report on the cross-sector level provides an overview of the ETUC in the European Union where it has 74 affiliated organisations in all EU27 countries, of which 62 are recognised as representative at national level. The 74 ETUC members represent some 37 million trade union members, that is, approximately 22% of all employees in the EU27 and about 80% of all trade union members. The

IPSO, the main union representing staff at the European Central Bank (ECB) has published the results of a survey of employees revealing around two-thirds of workers had concerns about the ECB policy on pay, inflation and interest rates. Widely reported in the media, the union says that it was not just unhappiness about the 4% pay increase awarded to ECB employees (less than half the current inflation rate in Germany) but also the bank’s reliance on interest rises as a tool to control inflation. IPSO’s message to staff said that the ECB policy of wage moderation was in its view biased against

EPSU and HOSPEEM, the European Hospital and Healthcare Employers’ Association, have negotiated a new Framework of Actions on Recruitment and Retention. It includes aspects relating to COVID-19, work-life balance, digitalisation and health and safety. It also stresses social partners’ commitment to strengthen the attractiveness of the sector and to support a rights-based approach to recruiting migrant workers. The framework refers to existing initiatives for retention, e.g., an active ageing policy and EPSU and HOSPEEM emphasise that social partners must be involved in workforce planning

The European Commission’s annual review of Employment and Social Developments in Europe outlines some of the key effects of the pandemic on jobs, employment conditions and social dialogue. It identified uneven regional impacts with the more resilient regions sharing characteristics such as high regional productivity, high level of skilled population levels, big investment in research and development, quality local public institutions and solid digital infrastructure. The impact on national social dialogue and collective bargaining varied with countries with strong social dialogue institutions

The Eurofound research agency has published a review on industrial relations developments across Europe in the period 2015-2019. It notes concerns in some sectors that social partner requests for implementation of their agreements through European legislation have been rejected, and that better links between EU and national levels are needed. It also argues that investing in social dialogue in ‘good times’ helps to ensure that it can be depended on in times of crisis. A review of first policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic shows that social partner involvement was generally more robust in

The ETUC has published a first COVID-19 Watch briefing on social dialogue across Europe. Covering 20 countries, the briefing indicates that in most countries trade unions have been involved in various degrees in consultation and negotiation over emergency measures. This includes Spain and Italy, two of the countries worst hit by the pandemic. In France, the situation is more mixed with some limitation on trade union involvement in discussing key measures. More worrying have been the developments in Croatia, Hungary and Poland. While the Croatian withdrew plans to limit trade union and

A working paper from the European Trade Union Institute, written by former European Commission official Jean-Paul Tricart, puts the spotlight on the way that the current Commission has followed its predecessor in moving away from a 20-year approach in support of social dialogue. While launching a process aimed ostensibly at the strengthening the social dialogue, the report argues that the current Commission has chosen "at will those outcomes of social dialogue that it would promote and those that it would not, and even those that it would go all out to discourage, lampoon or oppose." This

On 17 December the European trade unions and employers in central government administrations signed guidelines on tackling violence and harassment. This extends coverage to 8.9 million public employees and civil servants in addition to the millions of workers who are already covered by the guidelines adopted in 2010 in local and regional government, hospitals, education, commerce, and private security. While not legally binding, the guidelines provide basic yet fundamental guidance on how to put in place a policy and a procedure to prevent and deal with harassment and violent acts, in close

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has published two reports on collective bargaining and social dialogue. A working paper on social dialogue in public services was published to mark the 40th anniversary of ILO Convention 151 on labour relations in the public services. It covers three of the European social dialogue committees in which EPSU is involved along with examples of how social dialogue works in Italy, Denmark and the Czech and Slovak Republics. The ILO's report on extension of collective agreements provides evidence on the important role that this process can play in reducing

The Eurofound research agency has produced a new report that looks into the links between national and European social dialogue. The report identifies some of the key challenges for ensuring an effective European social dialogue and suggests that it is "worth exploring new forms of knowledge transfer, resources provision or engagement with EU- and national-level social partners." It also says that the European Commission "might be more pro-active in promoting social dialogue, notably through its social dialogue website" and that: "Recent initiatives such as the European Pillar of Social Rights

Nadja Salson of EPSU policy staff provided some background on the social partner agreement in the European social dialogue committee for Central Government Administrations. This landmark agreement on information and consultation was signed in December 2015 and was intended to fill the gap in the information and consultation directives that had excluded public administration. The trade unions and employers jointly submitted it to the European Commission for eventual transposition into a directive by the European Council. However, the Commission then took over two years to respond, finally

The European Commission has informed the social partners in central government administrations that it will not propose their information and consultation agreement to the European Council for implementation as a Directive. This is a major blow to the trade unions and employers in the sector who signed the agreement in December 2015 specifically with a view to having it implemented as a Directive and to fill a gap in existing information and consultation legislation at European level.

A new report from the Eurofound research body has confirmed that the EPSU-led TUNED trade union grouping represents the large majority of unionised workers and civil servants in 27 of the 28 EU Member States. Its counterpart, the EUPAE employers' organisation represents 88% of the total EU workforce of 9.8 million in central government administrations. The conclusions strengthen the arguments of the social partners for the European Commission to put forward their agreement on information and consultation to the European Council for transposition into a directive.

The European Trade Union Institute has published an updated analysis of the treatment of social issues in the European Semester - the process of economic policy coordination. This reveals, for example, the extent to which the country-specific recommendations address the question of collective bargaining, with the European institutions calling for reforms in many countries, with the accent on decentralisation of bargaining despite the lack of evidence that this produces any economic benefits.