Trade Unions: essence and functions LPSK lawyer Jolanta Cinaitienė

Legal basis Labour Code; Civil Code; Law on trade unions.

Peculiarities of a trade union as an juridical person Public juridical person; Juridical person of limited civil responsibility; Social partner status; Constitutional trade union status.

Trade union rights Organizational; Functional; Exceptional; Jurisdictional; Parity; Right to participate in the employer’s decision- making; Advising; Control and monitoring

Right to Collective bargaining (I) ILO Convention No. 98 on right to organize and collective bargaining ILO Convention No.154 on collective bargaining National legal acts; Course of collective bargaining;

Stages of negotiations Introduction; Collective negotiations; Coordination of the draft collective agreement; Presentation of the coordinated draft to the meeting (conference) of the employees to confirm; Signing the collective agreement.

Introduction Presented in written form with clearly formulated requirement; The representatives of the employees and employers agree on the beginning and order of negotiations; If not agreed about the beginning of negotiations they start within 2 weeks after the presentation of the introduction.

Collective bargaining The commission is set up on the principle of the paritet (equality) of the parties; Activities of the commission are reflected in the minutes; Negotiations are conducted in straight way and without delays; The parties have the right to receive all information related to negotiations;

Confirmation of the draft collective agreement If the meeting (conference) of the employees confirms the draft collective agreement it is signed by the representatives of the employer and employees; If the draft is not confirmed Negotiations start from the beginning Initiation of the Collective dispute Concilliation commission Labour arbitration The court of the third parties

Employees’ meeting (conference) MEETING All employees are invited to participate; It is legal in case not less than a half of the enterprise employees participates. CONFERENCE The delegates are invited to participate; It is legal in case not less than two thirds of the delegates participate.

Employees’ meeting (conference) In case the number of the participants is insufficient within 5 days another employees’ meeting or conference is organised; The decisions are made by the secret or open voting and by the majority votes.

End of the collective negotiations The collective negotiations are considered finished when: - new collective agreement is signed; - the disagreement protocol is signed with indication of the measures proposed by the parties to remove disagreements and the new terms to renew negotiations; - one of the parties informs in written form about withdrawal from the negotiations.

Collective agreement Applies to all employees of the enterprise; Cannot contradict the valid legal acts; Cannot establish the conditions worsening the situation of the employees comparing with that established by the legal acts;

Branch collective agreement Signs the central trade union organisation and the employers’ organisation; Labour Code Art. 50 part 4 establishes what is fixed in the branch collective agreement; Is valid only after registration in the agreement register at the ministry of labour and social affairs within 20 days from its conclusion. The minister of labour and social affairs can extend the area of its application by the request of the parties.

Problems of the employers’ organisations Employers’ organisations avoid to commit responsibility and functions in the labour relations; In the public sector it is not clear which institution fulfils the employer’s function, whom to negotiate with;

Right to render proposals to the employer and to the state and municipal institutions (II) Implementation of the advisory right; Aim – to achieve the employer’s and employees compromise that ensures economic success of the employer and as good as possible satisfies the employees’ interest; Consultation; Consent to dismiss the member of the trade union representative body; Proposals to the state institutions.

Trade union right for information and consultation (III) Consultation: Directive 94/45/EEB; Labour Code. Information: Employer presents information; The state institutions present information.

Trade union right to strike (IV) Legal regulations; Presented proposals on alterations of the Labour Code; Correspondence to the international legal acts; ILO Conventions; European social charter.

Other trade union rights (V) Right to demand to annul the decisions of the employers; Right to lodge the complaint to court against the employers’ decisions; Right to carry out non-state control over observation of the labour laws and the collective agreements;

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