Content Of Collective Agreements Research Articles

Legal contracts in the field of private law

The article focuses on the legal nature of regulatory agreements in the field of private law. It is argued that in the economic and social sphere, the regulation of social relations is often practiced on the basis of normative agreements other than the norms of the law. It is noted that by its nature, a normative agreement expresses the conciliatory will of two or more parties to establish, modify and terminate their rights and obligations, to exercise or withhold certain legal actions.
 The examples of the material industries reveal the nature of regulatory agreements. The article focuses on collective agreements and collective agreements in labor law. The history of their appearance and scope is revealed. It is concluded that the reason for their emergence in the field of labor law was the need to resolve the confrontation between employers and employees in the field of labor relations regulation. By their structure, the provisions of collective agreements can be divided into normative and binding. Actually regulations are local norms on the main issues of labor, pay, conditions and labor protection, social and household issues. That is why not all content of collective agreements is normative.
 While revealing the importance of private-law normative treaties, attention is drawn to standard and exemplary treaties in civil and commercial law. Despite the widespread position in the theory of private law, the position of typical and exemplary contracts to the sources of law, it is noted that from the standpoint of the general theory of a normative contract it is not possible to consider typical or exemplary contracts a kind of normative contract. This claim is substantiated by the fact that standard and exemplary treaties are developed and enter into force on the basis of a unilateral legal act (for example, a by-law of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine), while a normative agreement is always a bilateral (or multilateral) arrangement of the subjects of law.
 It is concluded that it is necessary to further study the problems of application of normative treaties in the field of private law, since to other sources of branches of private law the normative treaty is not just a way of regulating social relations, but a way of self-regulation.

SOCIAL PARTNERSHIP AS A TOOL FOR INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES

The article examines the essence of the concept of infrastructural provision of territorial communities. As a result of the research, the infrastructural provision of territorial communities refers to a set of structures, buildings, systems and services that ensure the daily life of all members of the territorial community, and all the necessary facilities related to the infrastructure. The classification of infrastructure according to the spheres of service, in particular in territorial communities, is given. The division of subjects of management of infrastructural provision according to the level of their management: international, national and regional (local) levels. The main advantages of the implementation of social partnership for territorial communities are indicated. It has been established that in addition to the benefits of implementing social partnership in territorial communities, problems also arise. It is substantiated that a positive effect from the implementation of social partnership is possible only if its main principles are observed: compliance with the legislation; authority of representatives of the parties; equality of the parties in freedom of choice and discussion of issues that make up the content of collective agreements and relations; voluntariness of the parties in accepting obligations; systematic control and responsibility for fulfilling obligations. It was determined that at the level of territorial communities, the dominant field of social partnership is social infrastructure, in particular education, general secondary education and health care. Positive examples of the application of social partnership in the Kamianka-Buzka territorial community of Lviv region and in the Kutsurub united territorial community of Mykolaiv region are given. In order to intensify the introduction of social partnership in territorial communities, the following measures are proposed: it is necessary to ensure the formation of a favorable climate for conducting business on the territory of the territorial community; pay the greatest attention to projects for the development of accessible socially oriented infrastructure for people with disabilities and socially vulnerable population groups; to intensify interaction between various governmental and non-governmental organizations; ensure a change in the local policy of territorial communities.

Characteristics of the Scandinavian model of legal regulation of labor relations (on the example of Iceland)

This article considers scandinavian legal regulation of labor relation on the example of Iceland. The author analysed the basic laws governing labor relations, and concluded that Icelandic labor law works in conjunction with collective agreements. The rules and conditions of collective agreement are more adapted to specific types of organisations, unlike legislation rules of which applies to all types of organisations. Collective agreements are binding for all parties to the agreement, regardless of whether they are organizations or individuals. The responsibility for the company lie with employers’ confederations, trade unions and employees, that’s why the state doesn’t interfere in regulation of wages, working conditions and social protection, because they are mainly guaranteed by collective agreements, not by legislation. Labor disputes in Iceland are divided into “disputes of law” and “disputes of interest” and have different resolution mechanisms. “Disputes of law” concern the interpretation or application of the provisions of labor law: differences in the meaning of the statutes; provisions of individual employment contracts; provisions of collective agreements; and other legally binding provisions. “Disputes of interest” concern the establishment of new laws by agreeing on the contradictory content of collective agreements, working conditions etc. There are two stages of Icelandic procedure of labor disputes : 1) negotiations; 2) trial. Icelandic Labor Court is an integral part of the corporate structure of labor market. Labor Court is responsible for setting and creation of case law and balance industrial relations system and labor law. Another important role in Icelandic labor market is played by trade unions. By signing collective agreements with employers’ organisations trade unions strength labor market and provide employees with better working conditions that are more adapted to specified categories of industries.

Social partnership in ensuring decent labor remuneration

The paper focuses on the development of social partnership in the process of ensuring decent labor remuneration for employees. It highlights the development perspectives of the social partnership institute in the context of decent work concept implementation. The aim of the study is to evaluate and develop recommendations for improving the collective and contractual regulation of remuneration policy in Ukraine in view of the decent work concept. The analysis of the stages of social partnership development in Ukraine has proved that social partnership is currently characterized by features of the forming stage. Some characteristics of the development stage are also traced, but they have not yet fully manifested themselves in Ukraine. The analysis of the conditions for social and labor relations in Ukraine, the practice of collective bargaining procedures, the structure and content of collective agreements and contracts showed a low level of social partnership development and low social responsibility of social partners. The research showed that the practice of developing a compensation package at most enterprises was carried out without the participation of social partnership or with minimal participation. Existing social partnership practices cause inadequate social protection for employees and negatively characterize labor remuneration policy in terms of decent work. A number of proposals were developed to overcome the negative trends inherent in the institute of social part-nership and collective agreements at different levels. Recommendations include granting agreements the status of normative acts, regulating the procedure for concluding agreements at different levels, determining the procedure for informing employees about the content of agreements and contracts, and disseminating an ideology of social responsibility among social partners.

Social dialogue: Achieving trust relationships between social actors in the labor market

Subject. This article discusses the issues related to social dialogue and the practice of collective bargaining agreements in the Central Federal District regions. Objectives. The article aims to test the methodology for evaluating collective agreements in order to determine the level of development of labor relations at the regional level. The article also intends to make recommendations on improving collective agreements within the region framework. Methods. For the study, I used a content analysis, integrated, logical, and comparative approaches, and the social and labor relations theory basics. Results. The article proposes some recommendations for setting a minimum total efficiency ratio and increasing the proportion of legal rules that improve the situation of social partners. Conclusions. Based on the quantification of the content of collective agreements at the regional level through the content analysis of the Social Partnership section, the article concludes that the practice of concluding regional collective agreements in the Central Federal District of Russia is uneven.

Comparing collective bargaining agreements for developing countries

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to fill several knowledge gaps regarding the contents of collective agreements, using a new online database. The authors analyse 249 collective agreements from 11 countries – Benin, Brazil, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Peru, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda. The authors research to what extent wage and other remuneration-related clauses, working hours, paid leave arrangements and work-family arrangements are included in collective agreements and whether bargaining topics cluster within agreements.Design/methodology/approach– The authors use the web-based WageIndicator Collective Bargaining Agreement Database with uniformly coded agreements, that are both collected and made accessible online. The authors present a quantitative multi-country comparison of the inclusion and contents of the clauses in the agreements.Findings– The authors find that 98 per cent of the collective agreements include clauses on wages, but that only few agreements specify wage levels. Up to 71 per cent have clauses on social security, 89 per cent on working hours and 84 per cent of work-family arrangements. The authors also find that collective agreements including one of these four clauses, are also more likely to include the other three and conclude that no trade off exists between their inclusion on the bargaining agenda.Research limitations/implications– Being one of the first multi-country analyses of collective agreements, the analysis is primarily explorative, aiming to establish a factual baseline with regard to the contents of collective agreements.Originality/value– This study is unique because of its focus on the content of collective bargaining agreements. The authors are the first to be able to show empirically which clauses are included in existing collective agreements in developing countries.

Needs and Possibilities for Changing the Legal Regulation of Collective Agreements in the Context of Labour Law Reform

The implementation of the flexicurity policy and the wish to come out of the crisis have led to changes in the role of collective agreement in the EU States within a short period of time-mainly in the content of collective agreements as well as in relations between labour laws and contracts at different level. The question is to which extent the legal regulation of collective agreement corresponds to such changes and makes them possible. Based on the above, the article aimed to study as to which extent the current Estonian legal regulation of CAs needs to be improved in order to secure the new role of CAs. Under the elements of the renewed role of CAs, the author views furnishing of the generally phrased norms of the labor law, agreeing on derogations from the imperative law to the detriment of the employees, as well as regulating the working conditions of atypical employees, and the new issues mainly regarding promotion of economy and employment.

Negociações coletivas e legislação estatal: uma análise comparada da regulação da relação de emprego de fins dos anos de 1970 ao plano Real

Este artigo apresenta uma análise do conteúdo normativo de acordos coletivos em comparação com a legislação estatal, com o objetivo de verificar se, e em que medida, as negociações coletivas de trabalho criaram regras não previstas no amplo conjunto de normas estatais que caracteriza o sistema brasileiro de relações de trabalho. Trata-se de um estudo empírico com base em dados de unidades de negociação da indústria do Rio Grande do Sul, no período entre 1978 e 1995. A evidência sugere que as negociações coletivas fortaleceram-se na sua função regulatória, fazendo crescer o conjunto de direitos dos empregados, ao mesmo tempo em que também propiciaram o ajuste de regras de interesse dos empregadores.

Shaping the bargaining agenda. The Audit Commission and public service reform in British local government

This article examines the role of the Audit Commission (AC) in local government collective bargaining. While the AC has no official role in such bargaining, it has a role in monitoring the performance of local government services. In this role the AC has a clear potential, in the context of the government's ‘modernization’ agenda – as manifested in its ‘Best Value’ regime, for influencing both the content of collective agreements, and the process of collective bargaining, where these are seen to conflict with other Best Value objectives – particularly in relation to external competition. The research conducted involved a content analysis of AC inspection reports on human resource services and longitudinal case studies of two local authority union branches' experiences of Best Value and the role of the AC. The findings from the inspection reports indicate that, while the AC is actually acting to promote activities that could be seen as supportive of union bargaining agendas, notably in relation to equality type issues, they are also supporting service externalisation and thereby acting to limit the scope of their impact. The reports also indicate that, despite there being prescribed ‘best practice’ for local government employment relations (‘social partnership’ with unions), the AC is not promoting any such engagement with unions. Evidence from the case studies add weight to these observations: the AC, in one case, was deeply suspicious of an attempted union management agreement on procurement, while in the other, the AC made no criticism of the costly effects that externalization had on union-management relations.

Industrial Relations and the Regulation of Employment in Europe

Employment has been at the core of numerous bipartite and tripartite bargaining processes across Europe since the early 1990s. This focus on employment has caused changes in bargaining processes and in the content of collective agreements. This article examines the impact of the adoption of employment as a priority in collective bargaining in the Member States of the European Union. It argues that, in the context of the European integration, industrial relations play an increasing role in the regulation of employment issues, but that collective bargaining on these issues is more and more shaped by external political and economic constraints.

Trade unions in Greece: change and continuity1

Trade unions in the Greek system of industrial relations (the system of wage and employment regulation, the bargaining structure and behaviour) have shown signs of change and modernisation since the late 80s and the early 90s. The question is whether the model of industrial relations that was dominant in the 70s and 80s, (state-controlled compulsory arbitration, conflict-oriented collective bargaining, political-party-dominated trade-unionism) has given way to a modem model of industrial relations (development of bipartite regulation, consensus-oriented collective bargaining, more union independence vs. the state and the party rivalries). To explore the prospects of modernisation of Greek trade unions we will discuss changes in the bargaining behaviour (content of collective agreements, strike activity, performance etc.) and the bargaining structure at the national, branch and company level. The role of new labour legislation in modernisation is also discussed. The influence of the Delors initiative for European social dialogue is taken into account as a factor that shaped the behaviour of the major social partners in Greece. The prospects for modernisation are finally evaluated in the context of the restructuring of the Greek labour market and the difficult convergence criteria for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The process of modernisation is taking place in conditions of rising unemployment, increasing labour market segmentation, real wage cuts and deindustrialisation, which may buttress elements of continuity in Greek industrial relations.