BARSERVICE

Project Description

BARSERVICE is a European research initiative designed to deepen understanding of industrial relations in the services sector at a time of significant structural change, characterised by persistent low-wage pressures, job instability, and pronounced gender and migrant-worker segregation.

As services account for a growing share of employment in Europe, yet often display fragmented bargaining structures and high levels of informal or undeclared work, the project addresses the need for robust, comparative evidence on how collective bargaining operates across key service subsectors.

BARSERVICE maps collective bargaining systems in commerce, finance, social care, and publishing, examining which employers and workers are covered by collective agreements, the roles of trade unions and employers’ organisations, social partners’ perceptions of bargaining processes, and the prevalence of undeclared work.

Drawing on a coded and analysed database of approximately 72 collective agreements, the project investigates provisions on wages, job security, working hours and scheduling, training, gender equality, and the effects of digitalisation and the COVID-19 pandemic on bargaining structures.