Abstract
The article deals with the declining union density and shrinking coverage of collective agreements in most EU/EES countries, in particular in Eastern Europe and Greece. In many countries, international organizations pushed through “structural reforms” weakening trade unions. The result is declining union density and decreased capacity to conclude sectoral collective agreements and avoid downwards derogations at company level. Even in some core eurozone countries have governments without much of social dialogue carried through “internal devaluation” to restore competitiveness. High union density (Finland) or high union mobilization capacity (France) could not prevent this development. The economic performance of a country and degree of globalization, including the absence of a national currency, appear to be more important. The Swedish (and Nordic) model of self-regulation, resting on negotiations between the labour market parties, contrasts sharply to French state regulation with its high frequency of state extension of collective agreements and minimum wages set by the state. Union density in Sweden is still among the highest in the world but has declined considerably the last twenty years, in particular among the rapidly growing share of foreign-born blue-collar workers. As a small, strongly export-dependent country dominated by large transnational groups, Swedish economy is very influenced by globalization. This has shifted the balance of power to the advantage of employers, and by that circumscribed the unions’ efforts to achieve developing jobs and improved working environment.
Highlights
A sustainable social dialogue presupposes a relatively even balance of power between trade unions and employers
Nordic industrial relations are distinguished by a high degree of self-regulation, which means that collective agreements concluded by well-organised labour market parties have a prominent position in regulating wages and other employment conditions
The Municipal Workers’ Union, which recruits members in both the public and the private sector, signed the 2020 basic agreement after negotiations, resulting in improved terms of employment for the most insecure forms of fix-term employees. Both practical nurses and health care assistants are in Sweden classified as blue-collar workers and are organised by the Municipal Workers’ Union (LO), nurses by the Swedish Association of Health Professionals (TCO) and doctors by the Swedish Medical Association (Saco)
Summary
A sustainable social dialogue presupposes a relatively even balance of power between trade unions and employers. The social dialogue at EU level does not include wages and industrial action, as they are considered national issues This has not prevented the EU court from restricting the right to strike in for example the Laval case. The bargaining parties in the Nordic countries prefer collective bargaining without the involvement of the state, in other words self-regulation under the auspices of unions and employers’ associations To protect this model, an intense social dialogue at both the national and the EU level has taken place regarding the Laval case and the introduction of a European minimum wage. Considering the degree of self-regulation and bargaining power of unions and employers, the Nordic and Continental models surpass the CEE model, the Southern European model and the Anglo-Saxon model We will see whether this has been true in the last twenty years
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