Does the night shift still pay? A comparative analysis of pay-related working time provisions in European collective agreements

Abstract

Working time is one of the most common topics included in collective agreements (Besamusca et al., 2018; Besamusca & Tijdens, 2015; Tijdens, 2021a). Indeed, in most cases, it would be near impossible to interpret collectively bargained provisions on pay and other working conditions without some reference to the time frame to which they apply (Ilsøe, 2012; Piasna et al., 2024; Rubery et al., 2005). Standard working hours define the effort an employee must make to earn a full-time salary (Rubery et al., 2005). To do so, collective agreements commonly clarify not only how many hours are considered standard hours, but also define the regular operating hours within which these hours are to made, whether or not employees are entitled to supplemental payments when they work hours exceeding the agreed volume (i.e., overtime) or when they work hours falling outside the regular operating hours (e.g., night shifts, weekend work) (Besamusca et al., 2018; Gomez & Lamb, 2019; Ilsøe, 2012; Peetz et al., 2019; Tijdens, 1998, 2021a).

The BARTIME project on the monetary rewards of working time dimensions in collective bargaining and in the working population, funded by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (Project No. 101126498), studies the pay associated with three dimensions of working time arrangements in 24 EU member states: (a) the length of the working week, including part-time, overtime and the number of working days per year; (b) work outside of core working hours (9 to 5), such as shifts, evenings, weekends, and nights; and (c) the variability and predictability of working day start and end times, including on-call work and the extent to which workers have control over these hours.

This report, which constitutes deliverable 2.4 of the BARTIME project, reports the findings from a comparative analysis of provisions on standard and non-standard working times in collective agreements in EU member states, with a focus on pay. Together with a literature review on developments in bargaining on pay for working time (Besamusca, 2025) and two expert meetings with trade unionists, employers, policy makers and academics, this report asks how pay for working time is negotiated in collective agreements. These studies do not investigate working time patterns or wage levels per se: They focus exclusively on the relationship between pay and working time in collective bargaining.