In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic also presented collective bargaining with particular challenges. Instead of normal negotiations about wages or working hours, in a number of sectors the focus was initially on collective agreements to secure employment and to increase the statutory short-time allowance. From summer 2020, however, the normal negotiations have picked up again. The unions have also called for (warning) strikes in numerous collective bargaining disputes. A total of around 342,000 working days were lost in 2020 due to labour disputes, according to the new ‘labour dispute balance’ of the Institute for Economic and Social Sciences (WSI) of the Hans Bockler Foundation.
Read on: in German. Read on the report: in German.
For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.