EU Sources - First assessment of national Action Plans to promote collective bargaining - May 31, 2026

The ETUI published a policy brief providing a first assessment of the national Action Plans to promote collective bargaining, which, according to the European Minimum Wage Directive, have to be established in EU Member States with a collective bargaining coverage below 80%. The deadline for submission of the Action Plans was the end of 2025. Of the 18 countries which were obliged to submit an Action Plan by that date only 12 have done so at the end of May. The main finding of the ETUI analysis is that, first, most Action Plans mainly focus on ‘soft measures’ such as awareness creating and improving the quality and availability of data on collective agreements rather than on more-far reaching institutional changes to support sectoral bargaining; and that, second, most of them are formulated in vague and non-committal language which may also hamper their effectiveness. National government commitment remains an essential prerequisite for the effectiveness of national Action Plans.

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More information: https://www.etui.org/newsletters