The importance of collective bargaining in the area of wage development and negotiation of working time conditions
The aim of this project is to analyse how collective bargaining is reflected in the wage level of employees and their working time characteristics.
Most research to date agrees that collective bargaining has a positive effect on wage levels, especially for low-wage employees. However, they do not agree on the size of this influence, as it is subject to a long series of intervening factors. Similarly, in the area of working hours, the conclusions about the influence of collective bargaining are not unequivocal, and our findings indicate that while contractual working hours are shorter for employees covered by collective bargaining than for other employees, the working hours that employees actually work are not much influenced by collective bargaining. This is related to the increasing share of flexible working arrangements, in which autonomy and responsibility for the timing of work is transferred to employees, especially among workers with a high level of qualification. From the findings presented, it follows that the trade unions will have to deal with changes in the labour market and focus their attention primarily on new topics that are gaining importance and pushing the issue of wages and working hours into the background.
The study is based on the existing knowledge of the issue in foreign literature, and presents analyses of available data, especially the European Working Conditions Survey.
Outputs
International conference “Risks of the effects of the economic crisis on social conciliation, from the perspective of employees”. 12 September 2024
The significance of collective bargaining in the area of wage development and negotiation of working time conditions. Štěpánka Lehmann (RILSA)
