Collective Bargaining and Renewals in Estonia During COVID-19

Abstract

As for the report on Turkey, also in this case the WageIndicator Collective Agreements Database has been utilized as a primary resource for analyzing Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs). The database, built by the WageIndicator Foundation (WIF), offers a comprehensive collection of annotated CBAs from around the globe. As of April 2023, it contains 2300+ CBAs in 27 different languages, originating from 67 countries. The database provides a unique opportunity to closely examine and compare agreements across countries, industries, and different bargaining levels.

For more detailed information on the coding scheme and variables used in the annotation process, the WageIndicator Collective Agreements Database Codebook (Ceccon and Medas, 2022) can be consulted as a reference. Given the lack of survey data on Baltic countries and the scarce availability of agreements, this report focuses on the information available in the CBA Database on 19 collective agreements signed in Estonia after the explosion of the pandemic. In what follows, we investigate for each agreement: i) the number of signatories, ii) the type of signatories; iii) whether direct reference is made with respect to the pandemic for what concerns the process of agreement renewal.