1. (December 2014 – November 2016, EC grant VS/2014/0533)
Multi-Employer and Single-Employer Bargaining: Outcomes of the WIBAR-3 Project
(December 2014 – November 2016, EC grant VS/2014/0533)
Maarten van Klaveren
AIAS-UvA
BARCOM meeting
Amsterdam
30 March 2017

2. Why WIBAR3? On the relevance of Multi-Employer Bargaining (MEB)
Main advantages
MEB takes wages and working conditions largely out of inter-firm competition
MEB expels less productive producers, allows employers to concentrate on ‘high road’
MEB extends bargaining coverage to vulnerable groups less wage inequality
MEB demands less bargaining or transaction costs, in particular of SMEs
Question marks
MEB may hamper globalisation / international competition
MEB may hamper competition in international markets
And: what is an industry? Demarcation lines disappear: global value chains; new platforms related to new technology, ‘sharing economy’ (Uber, Airbnb, etc.)
5-Dec-18

3. Outline of WIBAR-3 project
Industries and Countries
5 industries: metal and electronics manufacturing, wholesale, retail (jointly commerce), ICT, transport and telecom
23 EU countries (EU28 excl. CY, LU, MT; CR, GR)
Objectives
identify bargaining patterns (MEB/SEB), parties and cases
identify bargaining preferences of individual employees
identify characteristics of companies related to industrial relations: industry/country; ownership; size; growth/decline of employment
Web-based survey
completed by 8 WIBAR3 researchers between July 15 – April 16
Information about 23 * 5 industry/country combinations * 5 largest companies = 575 companies
230 largest commerce companies in 23 countries: 108 foreign-owned MNEs (47%); 73 home-based MNEs (32%); 49 domestic firms (21%), totalling 14.6% of employment (4.7% in wholesale, 19.6% in retail) in
5-Dec-18

4. Trade union density (TUD), Collective bargaining coverage (CBC), Multi-employer Bargaining (MEB) and administrative extension (E1,2,3) in 18 countries, latest available data
Retail
Wholesale
TUD
CBC
MEB
Austria* 9*
99*
100
Belgium [E1]
25* 99 98
Czech R. [E2] 2*
55*
98*
Denmark 40
50*
10* 34
France [E1] 1*
90* 82 68
Germany [E2] 10 93 6 42 81
Hungary [E3] 5* 6*
Ireland [E3]
16*
18*
Italy* 86 80
Lithuania [E3] 3*
Netherl. [E2]
11* 95 31 94
Poland [E3]
Portugal [E2]
97*
Romania
22*
Slovakia [E2] 23 ? 38 79
Spain [E1]
68*
Sweden
28* UK
13*
5-Dec-18

5. Multi-employer (MEB and single-employer (SEB) CLAs in retail, 18 countries, latest available data, ranked according to CBC levels
5-Dec-18

6. Thank you for your attention   (reports under ‘outcomes’)
Questions? Today +
(reports under ‘outcomes’)
05 December 2018