SEAD
SEAD supports employers and trade unions in Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia to strengthen social dialogue and shape policies addressing the socio-ecological and digital transformation of the automotive industry.
Project Description
The SEAD project is a European initiative designed to support a just and sustainable transition in the automotive industry by strengthening social partner capacity and promoting evidence-based social dialogue in Central Europe.
Against the backdrop of rapid automation, digitalisation, and decarbonisation, the project addresses the challenge of ensuring that industrial transformation is accompanied by inclusive labour-market governance and effective collective bargaining.
SEAD maps EU-level and national policy frameworks in the automotive sectors of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, identifies gaps in social partner engagement and collective bargaining coverage, and analyses how key labour-market issues such as reskilling and upskilling, job quality, work intensity, and employment security are addressed in social dialogue processes and collective agreements.
The project combines policy analysis with participatory methods, including workshops, foresight exercises, tailored training modules, and network events, to strengthen the strategic planning capacities of trade unions and employer associations.
By convening national and EU-level organisations, particularly trade union federations and employer associations in the metal and automotive sectors, SEAD facilitates mutual learning, knowledge exchange, and the use of wage-setting and collective-agreement databases.
Anchored in a Theory of Change framework, the project seeks to position social dialogue as a central driver of the automotive industry’s socio-ecological and digital transition.
WageIndicator Foundation contributes by leading the analysis of collective agreement data, managing communication and dissemination activities, supporting the design of knowledge-sharing tools, and participating in strategic planning workshops with social partners in the Czech, Hungarian, and Slovak automotive sectors.
Objectives
Project Partners
- Lead partner: OS KOVO (Czechia) - project coordinator.
- Lead policy and dialogue analysis - Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI, Slovakia).
- Data and dissemination lead - WageIndicator Foundation (Netherlands).
- National social-partner organizations: MGYOSZ (Hungary), Vasas Szakszervezeti Szövetség (Hungary), Zväz strojárskeho priemyslu SR (Slovakia)
- Associate partners: IndustriAll Europe (EU-level trade union federation), CEEMET (Council of European Employers of the Metal, Engineering and Technology-based Industries).
Publications
SEAD - Enhancing socio-ecological dialogue in the automotive industry
Role WageIndicator
The WageIndicator Foundation leads the analysis of collective-agreements data, manages communication and dissemination activities, supports the design of knowledge-sharing tools and contributes to strategic-planning workshops for social partners in the Czech, Hungarian and Slovak automotive sectors.
The project was initiated with a kick-off meeting held on 6–7 October 2025 in Prague, Czechia, marking the official start of activities.
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