The Working Conditions and Collective Bargaining of Public Employees in Colombia

2020 ◽  
pp. 208-234
Author(s):  
Diana Carolina Sánchez Zapata ◽  
Hernán Darío Vergara Mesa
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Public Employees

OSTVARIVANjE PRAVA NA KOLEKTIVNO PREGOVARANjE U REPUBLICI SRBIJI

2021 ◽  
pp. 99-112
Author(s):  
Bojan Urdarević ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Conflicting Interests ◽  
Collective Negotiations ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are fundamental rights of workers and a means of achieving a balance between the interests of workers and employers. Through collective bargaining, the parties in the collective negotiations identify common but also mutually conflicting interests and come to a common agreement. In this sense, collective bargaining can be a means of achieving a balance between, on the one hand, employers' desire for greater flexibility at work and on the other hand, the desire of employees to adapt their obligations and needs. It is important to note that the success of collective bargaining depends largely on the economic, institutional, political and legal framework in which collective negotiations between unions and employers take place. For this reason, the level of development of collective bargaining and social dialogue is different from state to state. Today, the right to collective bargaining has become widely recognized in the academic community as a key instrument for regulating working conditions and relations between employers and workers in a way that ensures fairer distribution of funds, improves working conditions and preserves the dignity of workers,but also institutionalizes industrial conflicts.

Collective working conditions for everyone?! – Collective provisions with erga omnes effect and statutory extension of collective agreements from a German law perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-174
Author(s):  
Claudia Schubert ◽  
Laura Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners

Not only in Germany but in many European states the level of coverage by collective agreements is declining. Since collective bargaining autonomy is based on the principle of voluntary membership, one of its weaknesses lies in the declining degree of organisation on both the employers’ and the employees’ side. In the long term, weak unions cannot ensure fair working conditions. As a result, collective bargaining agreements lose their inherent warranty of correctness. In the legal policy discussion, this has led to calls for the legislator. In response, in 2014 the German legislature passed the ‘Act to Strengthen the Autonomy of Collective Bargaining’ ( Tarifautonomiestärkungsgesetz) to lower the requirements for the extension of collective agreements and to introduce a national minimum wage. As this has not led to significant improvements, there are further-reaching proposals for the statutory extension of collective agreements. The extension of collective bargaining agreements to non-members does not strengthen the social partnership on the employee side. However, it is a legitimate means to avoid a race to the bottom in competing for the lowest social standard; extensions help in creating common labour standards as long as a sufficient margin is maintained for the social partners to negotiate sector-specific regulations and to shape working conditions. A legal system, which is based on rights of freedom and does not consider the freedom of association to be a solely goal-orientated right, offers limited options to strengthen the social partners through legislation. Extensions become increasingly difficult to justify, the higher the existing level of legal protection. Especially in countries with minimum wage legislation and a large amount of employee protection legislation the justification requirements increase. However, at least in Germany, to date the judiciary has not sufficiently considered these aspects. Even though international laws leave substantial freedoms to the states, all legal systems that are based on a strong and vital social partnership should be interested in obtaining and protecting the plurality of collective bargaining agreements. They should only lay down limits, where there are tendencies of eroding solidarity among workforces due to the parallel existence of several collective bargaining agreements. The associations themselves possess limited resources for extending their member base. Still, the more the individual can gain from association membership, the more likely employees and employers are to join their respective associations. Therefore, the state should demonstrate restraint regarding the regulation of labour conditions. However, such restraint will prove difficult for welfare states. Their governments will most likely opt to eliminate deficiencies through legislation, even at the price of further weakening collective bargaining autonomy. Compared to extensions, legal provisions have the disadvantage of being too general and less flexible because of the much slower adaptation process. Therefore, the main argument in favour of extensions is that they facilitate the differentiation of mandatory working conditions. To ensure their legitimation, a number of design options can be considered. Regarding this, neither European nor international law impose high requirements but existing differences between national legal systems demand custom-fit solutions.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Florida's Impasse Resolution Procedures: A Survey of Public Sector Practitioners

1988 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth M. Jennings ◽  
Steven K. Paulson ◽  
Steven A. Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Perceived Effectiveness ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Right ◽  
Impasse Resolution

Public employees in Florida have been permitted by law since 1974 to engage in collective bargaining with their employers. Along with the right to engage in collective bargaining, the law established a dispute resolution process for resolving bargaining impasses in lieu of the strike, which was strictly prohibited. This law also established the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC), which was created to oversee the process. The present study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the present impasse procedure as perceived by the concerned parties. This study was exploratory in nature and designed to provide PERC and thus the Florida Legislature with the documentation required for review of the present law. A total of 1,150 questionnaires were mailed to union representatives and public employers. A 45 percent return rate was achieved. The return was approximately equally divided between the unions and the employers. Frequency distributions of these responses and regression analyses are presented and conclusions are drawn as to the perceived effectiveness of the process.

German pacts for employment and competitiveness Concessionary bargaining as a reaction to globalisation and European integration?

2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 026-044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heiko Massa-Wirth ◽  
Hartmut Seifert
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Collective Agreement ◽  
Work Organisation ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Works Council

This contribution deals with company-level pacts for employment and competitiveness (PECs) under the German collective bargaining system. Due to the introduction of collectively agreed opening clauses and the associated decentralisation of the collective bargaining system, the social partners at the company level now have greater opportunities to negotiate company-specific adjustments in the areas of compensation and working conditions. Currently, in return for – generally fixed-term – employer guarantees concerning location and job preservation, PECs have been negotiated in about one in four companies with a works council. The new ‘pacts’ increase internal flexibility in the firm by extending the leeway for a flexible adjustment of working time, work organisation and remuneration. A survey of works councils, conducted by the WSI, provides understanding of the economic and institutional factors which influence the spread and composition of these concessionary agreements. Alongside a commitment to social partnership on the management side, the presence of a sectoral collective agreement is an important prerequisite for ensuring, first of all, that the employer agrees to employment guarantees in exchange for the employee concessions and, secondly, that these management pledges are actually observed in practice.

Support for Sunshine Bargaining in Florida: A Decade Later

1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-50
Author(s):  
Jonathan P. West ◽  
Richard C. Feiock
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Demographic Factors ◽  
Predictor Variables ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Attitudinal Factors ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Open Meeting

Collective bargaining with public employees in Florida is conducted in the sunshine. This empirical study examines support for sunshine bargaining (SB) in Florida and the effects of open meeting requirements on negotiations. Perceptions of the pros and cons of open bargaining are reported, and the effects of predictor variables on support for SB are analyzed. Findings show substantial support for open bargaining and suggest the need for revisions in generalizations reported in the literature concerning the consequences of public participation on negotiations. Experience-based attitudinal factors were more powerful than level of participation or demographic factors in explaining support for SB.

Factory Politics in Britain and the United States: Engineers and Machinists, 1914–1919

1985 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-85
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Haydu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Work Practices ◽  
Organization Of Production ◽  
American Trade

The priorities of British and American trade unions center predominantly on the economic rewards received by union members. Collective bargaining and strikes typically focus on how much employers must pay for labor (in wages, pensions, and other benefits) rather than on how the labor, once purchased, may be used. Basic decisions regarding the organization of production are not considered by most unionists as legitimate issues for negotiation. Disputes over working conditions do arise, of course, but rarely concern securing for labor the rights of management. They involve instead efforts to protect jobs and work practices from encroachment by employers or poaching by other unions. In short, labor's goals are largely economistic, defensive, and sectional.

Unionized Professionals and the Scope of Bargaining: A Study of Nurses

ILR Review ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 396-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen M. Ponak
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Registered Nurses ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
The Other ◽  
Mail Questionnaire ◽  
Inservice Education ◽  
Common Assumption ◽  
Professional Goals ◽  
The Common

This study examines the common assumption that unionized professionals will seek to expand the scope of negotiations to include issues reflecting distinctly professional concerns. Two questions are posed: Do professionals distinguish professional collective bargaining goals from more traditional bargaining objectives and, if so, do they view these professional goals as more or less important than the traditional ones? The author asked a sample of unionized registered nurses to appraise in a mail questionnaire an array of collective bargaining goals. Half the goals reflected traditional objectives subsumed under wages, hours, and working conditions; the other half reflected professional concerns, such as inservice education. The results show that these nurses differentiated professional from traditional goals and attached more importance to the former. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Crisis-related collective bargaining and its effects on different contractual groups of workers in German and Belgian workplaces

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadja Doerflinger ◽  
Valeria Pulignano
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Works Councils ◽  
Permanent Workers

This article investigates the effects of crisis-related collective bargaining on different contractual groups of workers. Comparing four workplaces of two multinationals in Germany and Belgium in the recent economic crisis, the authors observe that Belgian unions could protect some temporary workers’ jobs and when the crisis endured, the jobs and working conditions of the permanent workforces. In contrast, temporary jobs in the German workplaces were not protected and later on, the works councils had to concede on the permanent workers’ working conditions to safeguard their jobs. This is explained by the intersection of institutional and firm-level differences which interacted to offer (or not) resources to unions to enforce protection.

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