Support for trade unions to increase coverage by collective agreements
The project is based on the need to respond to one of the fundamental provisions of European “Directive (EU) 2022/2041 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union”, which imposes a duty on member states, in the case that the collective agreement coverage rate is lower than 80 %, to ensure via legislation or consultation with social partners, favourable conditions for social dialogue and the conclusion and expansion of collective agreements and to develop action plans to increase the coverage of collective agreements.
The project focuses on two fundamental aspects that have the potential to increase the coverage of collective agreements.
The first part of the project will analyse the situation at the European level with particular emphasis on effective measures and strategies for the support of the growth of the trade union membership base and increasing the scope of the coverage of collective agreements in five EU countries. The aims will be to identify requirements concerning legislative amendments and examples of good practice with the potential of transferability to the Czech social dialogue and collective bargaining systems.
The second part of the project will be devoted to barriers to the entry of new members to trade unions. The low coverage of collective agreements in states with prevailingly decentralised collective bargaining is due largely due to the declining membership of trade unions – in workplaces where unions are not present or where they are weak, it is not possible to conclude collective agreements. The analysis will also consider the position of basic trade union organisation officials, including the barriers that lead to disinterest in terms of taking up this function.
The analysis will result in the formulation of recommendations for the Action plan to support collective bargaining. This will concern primarily changes to the current system for the funding of trade union activities according to section 320a of Act No. 262/2006 Coll., the Labour Code in terms, for example, of the support of recruitment strategies at the basic organisation level, the support of the full registration of collective agreements for the needs of their further assessment, etc.
The results of the project will assist in terms of determining the relevant indicators for the needs of the Action Plan to support collective bargaining, the compilation of which has been imposed on EU member states by the directive of the European Parliament and the Council on adequate minimum wages (Directive (EU) 2022/2041 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union).