Social Regionalism in the Global Economy by Blackett Adelle;Lévesque Christian;

Author:Blackett, Adelle;Lévesque, Christian; [ADELLE BLACKETT & CHRISTIAN LéVESQUE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2011-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

THE INFLUENCE OF ILO STANDARDS AND PRINCIPLES ON FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

The third trend in the evolution of labour law in Central and Eastern European countries relates to the liberalization of the industrial relations systems. Chronologically, this trend was the first to emerge, given that each of the former communist countries experienced political changes well before economic reforms. It is not surprising, therefore, that in the period between 1989 and 1993 most of these countries undertook a first wave of labour law reforms that focused on collective labour relations. Such reforms drew inspiration from ILO Conventions Nos. 87 and 98, as well as the doctrine of the ILO supervisory bodies on freedom of association and collective bargaining.

ILO standards do not, it is true, constitute an established system of worker representation. In keeping with Convention No. 87, the basic principle is that workers and employers shall be left free to establish organizations of their own choosing. This principle has been interpreted by the ILO supervisory bodies as precluding the state from imposing a given organizational structure. Similarly, the imposition by law of single union representation has been held to be inconsistent with the principle of freedom of association, though this principle does not exclude single union representation when it is agreed to by the workers concerned. Another important feature of ILO doctrine is the absolute priority accorded to trade unions in the matter of collective bargaining, while non-union plant level work councils or enterprise committees have extensive powers to collaborate and actually negotiate important day-to-day issues on behalf of the workers they represent. For example, in Germany pay bargaining is an exclusive trade union prerogative, while work councils negotiate on issues such as the organization of working time and have to be consulted when an employer is contemplating dismissals. Under EC Law, workers’ representatives must be consulted on issues such as transfer of enterprises and collective dismissals.

Thus practically all the reforms in the former communist countries were aimed at establishing collective representation and collective bargaining structures largely modelled on the prevailing industry-based structures in Western Europe. To a large extent, the German model served as a reference. It should be observed, however, that the efficacy of this approach has not yet been confirmed in practice, since industry-based collective labour relations are as yet insufficiently developed in most Central European countries. This has led to the relocation of the core of industrial relations interactions either upwards to the central level or downwards to the enterprise level, where there is some scope for conflict between trade unions and nonunion staff representative bodies.

The extension of collective agreements has also been a thorny issue in these countries. While in keeping with ILO Convention No. 98 it is a basic rule that collective agreements shall be voluntary and bilateral, the ILO supervisory bodies have taken the view that collective agreements can be extended to third parties provided they have been negotiated by truly representative organizations of both workers and employers. Extension of agreements is widely used in countries such as Belgium, France and Germany, unlike in the Scandinavian countries.

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