Diversified strength of workers’ voice in Central and Eastern Europe
Katarzyna Skorupinska-Cieslak, University of Lodz
European Union enlargement to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) significantly increased the heterogeneity of industrial relations in the EU. Weakness of social dialogue and industrial relations in CEE countries in comparison with the old EU-15 was visible in the lack of statutory forms of workers representation at company level, lower coverage of collective bargaining, lower trade union density and the absence of sectoral collective agreements. The initial “catching-up” process in these countries slowed down during the economic crisis. Reforms and austerity measures implemented during the crisis resulted in the fact that particular components of industrial relations in CEE countries have become similar. Based on the analysis of statistic data from the Eurostat, AMECO, ILO, OECD and ICTWSS databases, I examine the scope of convergence of CEE countries in the area of industrial relations in relation to the EU average. The construction of Employee Participation Index adapted to the specifics of industrial relations in eleven CEE countries, made it possible to determine the differences in the strength of workers’ voice in these countries. The highest value of this index for Slovenia results mainly from the highest coverage of collective bargaining among CEE countries, the level of ‘unionization” as well as the best indicators regarding the functioning of works councils (i.e. rights, potential range).
