Across the EU, member states with low collective bargaining rates are in the final stages of transposing a Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages strengthening collective bargaining.
While there are “some positive steps more remains to be done” was the message coming from Uni Europa’s special conference on Collective Bargaining held in Brussels during June.
SIPTU Deputy General Secretary, Ethel Buckley, representing Ireland at the conference highlighted the challenges facing workers who want to organise a Union in their workplace.
“In Ireland, we are dealing with the legacy of bad English laws and some bad American employers who deny workers their right to collective bargaining,”
Ethel Buckley said as she urged a far-reaching implementation of the EU Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in Ireland.
She added: “Ireland has the infrastructure for sectoral collective bargaining but for unionising employers participation is voluntarily and some opt to veto industry-wide bargaining.
The Government’s report on the EU Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages would eliminate that veto. That’s really good but it’s not enough. We also need protections about discrimination and victimisation”
After hearing testimonials from a variety of countries, the ETUC General Secretary, Esther Lynch, moderated a panel debate with UNI Europa Regional Secretary, Oliver Roethig, Director in the EU Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Maria Luisa Cabral and former MEP, Agnes Jongerius, on the role of EU institutions in strengthening collective bargaining.
Lynch called on the European institutions to keep supporting collective bargaining in Europe: She said: “A clear democratic majority emerged from the European elections to double down on the path taken by the European Commission during the last mandate. We expect the next Commission and Parliament to put pressure on member states to promote collective bargaining with ambitious national action plans.”