Barcovid Local Kick-Off Meeting Visegrad Countries - October 14, 2021​

14 October 2021, 13:30 – 15:30 CEST

The BARCOVID project (“The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Collective Agreements in Europe”) project aims to understand the specific effects of the ongoing pandemic situation on the collective bargaining process and outcomes in 32 countries, including the Visegrád countries Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The project aims to answer three main research questions:

1. How have the COVID-19 crisis, the state-imposed measures and their consequences affected the industrial relations landscape in these countries?
2. Have the COVID-19 consequences affected the renewal of collective agreements, and if so, how have signatories, bargaining levels and covered enterprises/organisations changed?
3. Have the COVID-19 consequences affected the clauses negotiated in collective agreements regarding hiring and firing, wages, occupational health and safety, use of digital technologies (e.g. teleworking), work organisation and surveillance?

Aim of the workshop: This kick-off meeting aims at offering the first insight into these issues with the support of country-level experts and negotiators, followed by a discussion of all participants. At the end of the workshop, we strive to better understand the country-specific bargaining situation, as well as potentially identify newly negotiated collective agreements in each country.

Language: English, interpretation in Hungarian, Polish and Slovak provided.