Collective Bargaining in France During COVID-19: Negotiator Survey

Abstract

We collected the data for this study through the Barcovid Negotiator Survey, which is an international survey conducted among negotiators and signatories of collective bargaining agreements in five European countries. The survey was conducted to investigate the impact of the Covid19 pandemic on industrial relations. We used an online questionnaire created using Qualtrics, and fieldwork was conducted between January 16 and March 10 2023. The survey questions were designed to understand the renewal process of CBAs during the pandemic and the wider implications of the pandemic on relations between social partners.

To recruit respondents, we identified signatory parties (employee and employer organizations) for all collective agreements in the CBA Database for Austria, France, Italy, The Netherlands, and Spain, and collected their email addresses via web search. If possible, information on individual negotiators (name and professional email address) was retrieved. We sent invitations to these organizations/individuals between in January 2023, and we also sent two reminders in February and March. Invitations were sent to only the first five signatory parties involved with a CBA, and only one negotiator was contacted in case multiple signatories/negotiators were listed for one organization.