The benefits of collective bargaining to work-life balance are revealed this Christmas in EU data which shows workers in countries with the highest levels of coverage enjoy up to a month more leisure time - without loss of pay - every year than other workers.
An analysis to coincide with the holidays by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) of Eurofound data on collectively agreed working time for full-time workers found that:
- In countries where nine in ten workers are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the average working time is 1,674 hours a year (excluding overtime).
- In countries where one in ten workers are covered, the average working time is 1,848 hours (excluding overtime).
That is a difference of 174 hours - equivalent to four week’s work based on the EU average collectively agreed working time of 38 hours per week.
Countries with highest collective bargaining coverage
|
|
Collective agreed working time |
Collective bargaining coverage (%) |
|
Sweden |
1,662 |
88 |
|
Finland |
1,662 |
89 |
|
Belgium |
1,752 |
96 |
|
Austria |
1,714 |
98 |
|
France |
1,578 |
98 |
|
Average |
1674 |
94 |
Countries with lowest collective bargaining coverage
|
|
Collective agreed working time |
Collective bargaining coverage (%) |
|
Poland |
1,848 |
13 |
|
Greece |
1,840 |
14 |
|
Romania |
1,840 |
15 |
|
Estonia |
1,856 |
19 |
|
Hungary |
1,856 |
22 |
|
Average |
1,848 |
11 |
The difference shows the need to raise the level of collective bargaining coverage across Europe.
Access to collective bargained conditions has been removed for over 3 million workers over the last two decades. The biggest falls came in Greece and Romania, two of the countries with the highest working time. The Greek government has just passed a law further extending working time.
The ETUC’s manifesto for the European elections calls for the following measures to achieve ‘Fair Deal for Workers’:
- A revision of the directives on public procurement which makes access to public funding for companies dependent on respect for the right to collective bargaining.
- An ambitious transposition of the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages at national level, targeting 80% collective bargaining coverage in every member state.
- Reduction in working time without loss of pay, including through a right to disconnect to stamp out unpaid work.
ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said:
“For too many working people across Europe, this time of year is anything but a holiday. People are working long hours for low pay when they should be enjoying time-off with friends and family.
“With a clear parallel between the number of workers whose contracts are collectively negotiated and the amount of time they have to spend at work every year, the benefit of collective bargaining is the best Christmas gift that policymakers could give to working people.
“The reduction of working time without loss of pay is proven to increase both productivity and the wellbeing of workers. These figures show that high levels of collective bargaining is the best way to achieve that win-win scenario.
“The source of the gap between wages and working conditions that exists between member states is a workers’ rights gap.
“That didn’t occur on its own. The structures allowing millions of workers to bargain collectively have been attacked over the last two decades as the result of austerity, and union-busting has been allowed to flourish.
“The misguided argument that collective bargaining was bad for the competitiveness of the economy has now been completely discredited and it’s time that policymakers addressed the consequences of past errors.
“That’s why the EU and national governments now have a responsibility to be proactive in rebuilding collective bargaining coverage, which has been proved to be good for the economy and society.
“The best way to achieve this would be to ensure that companies in receipt of public funding have to set wages and working conditions through collective bargaining.”
Notes
Source for working time statistics: ‘ Working time in 2021–2022’, Eurofound
Figures represent ‘how many hours the average full-time worker in each country should work according to the legislation and collective agreements in place. They do not consider factors such as overtime work, other forms of time off or leave (such as sick leave or parental/maternity leave) or exceptional reductions in normal working time, such as due to short-time working.’
Source for collective bargaining statistics: OECD-AIAS ICTWSS Database and the link: https://www.oecd.org/employment/ictwss-database.htm
Statistical note: Italy excluded due to statistical issues with data on collective bargaining coverage.
