scholarly journals COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT - A TOOL FOR STRENGTHENING PUBLIC POLICIES IN THE AREA OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-60
Author(s):  
Florian MARIN ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Collective Agreement ◽  
Iso 26000 ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Concrete Elements

The article aims to identify and demonstrate the benefits of other tools besides those already in place, tools that ensure greater responsibility for companies, namely tools to ensure the transition of production flows towards a sustainable approach. The research method included entities representing the interest of the capital and labor determiners, in order to identify their organizational structure and concrete elements deriving from this relationship. The collection of data was based on the analysis of 52 collective agreements in force, which involved the identification of the synergy with the ISO 26000 principles. The data processing involved the organization and classification of the collective agreement clauses based on the ISO 26000 principles, following an individual analysis approach aimed to identify the synergy and compliance of the collective agreements with the ISO 26000 principles. The research highlighted a way of organizing at the level of the social partners fully adapted to the amplitude and characteristics of the environmental and social protection issues. Moreover, their work provides a concrete framework of commitments, expressed in a specific type of contract, namely the collective agreement. The latter integrates in a meaningful way the specific principles of ISO 26000, the situation that provides the collective bargaining institution as a solution to the need to make companies accountable, among others, for catalyzing the process of converting the transfer of the production flows towards the bioeconomic area. A collective agreement is a solution that does not involve the state intervention, it is immediate, and attracts binding commitments from companies to strengthen bioeconomy and social responsibility.

scholarly journals A kollektív munkaszerződés szabályozásának problémái Romániában

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 217-227
Author(s):  
Magdolna Vallasek
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Bargaining Power ◽  
Collective Agreement ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Drastic Reduction ◽  
Social Dialogue ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Definition Of

"Following the coming into force of the new Social Dialogue Act in 2011, the Romanian collective bargaining system has fundamentally changed due to the restructuring of the levels of collective bargaining and the definition of the representativeness criteria. The collective agreement is the central institution of the collective labour law, the existence or non-existence of it, the content of the agreement being of a real interest for the enforcement of employees’ interest. The new regulation significantly weakened the bargaining power of the social partners, which very soon led to a drastic reduction in the number of the concluded collective agreements. In our study, we try to point out the problematic issues of the Romanian regulation related to the collective agreement, anticipating at the same time the possible new perspectives opened up by the attempt to amend the law."

Between entrepreneurs and workers: Cleavages and compromises in rationales and policy solutions regarding ‘dependent contractors’

2021 ◽  
pp. 0143831X2110303
Author(s):  
Louis Florin ◽  
François Pichault
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Narratives ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Narrative Policy Framework ◽  
Policy Solutions ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Labour Regulation

The emergence of dependent contractors challenges the existing institutions regarding social protection and labour regulation. This article aims at identifying the political narratives that explain the emergence of New Forms of Employment (NFE) and dependent contracting along with the policy solutions proposed by the social partners at the EU and international level. By analysing policy documents from the social partners through the lens of a qualitative version of the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), the authors indentify two distinct narratives – ‘devaluation of work’ and ‘entrepreneurship and flexibility’. The authors show how these rationales lead to various policy solutions and identify oppositions and possible compromise.

Schwäche der Tarifautonomie und Legitimitätsfragen im Arbeitsrecht und im Sozialrecht

2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-236
Author(s):  
Stephan Seiwerth
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
System Change ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Security Administration ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners

AbstractSocial partners have played a privileged role in German social security administration since Bismarckian times. In 2014, a new legislation empowered the social partners to set the level of the statutory minimum wage and to demand the extension of collective agreements. This article examines the interdependence of the trade unions’ and employer organisations’ membership numbers and their involvement in state regulation of labour and social security law. In case the interest in autonomous regulations is not going to increase, the state will have to step in with more heteronomous regulation. This would incrementally lead to a system change.

Popular Belief in State Intervention for Social Protection in China

2000 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHACK KIE WONG ◽  
NAN SHONG PETER LEE
Keyword(s):  
Economic Reform ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Economic Restructuring ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
The State ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Attitude Survey ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recent Developments

The paper starts with a brief discussion of recent developments of economic restructuring of the State Owned Enterprises in China and their related reforms in social insurance and social assistance. It then reports the findings of an attitude survey of residents in Shanghai in 1996 towards the social and economic consequences of economic reform. It reveals that, despite the fact that most people feel better off with the reforms, there is still a need for the state to play a role in social protection.

scholarly journals Social partnership in ensuring decent labor remuneration

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-20
Author(s):  
Svitlana Tsymbaliuk ◽  
Tetiana Shkoda
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
Social Partnership ◽  
Partnership Development ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
Remuneration Policy ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Work Concept ◽  
Labor Remuneration ◽  
Different Levels

The paper focuses on the development of social partnership in the process of ensuring decent labor remuneration for employees. It highlights the development perspectives of the social partnership institute in the context of decent work concept implementation. The aim of the study is to evaluate and develop recommendations for improving the collective and contractual regulation of remuneration policy in Ukraine in view of the decent work concept. The analysis of the stages of social partnership development in Ukraine has proved that social partnership is currently characterized by features of the forming stage. Some characteristics of the development stage are also traced, but they have not yet fully manifested themselves in Ukraine. The analysis of the conditions for social and labor relations in Ukraine, the practice of collective bargaining procedures, the structure and content of collective agreements and contracts showed a low level of social partnership development and low social responsibility of social partners. The research showed that the practice of developing a compensation package at most enterprises was carried out without the participation of social partnership or with minimal participation. Existing social partnership practices cause inadequate social protection for employees and negatively characterize labor remuneration policy in terms of decent work. A number of proposals were developed to overcome the negative trends inherent in the institute of social part-nership and collective agreements at different levels. Recommendations include granting agreements the status of normative acts, regulating the procedure for concluding agreements at different levels, determining the procedure for informing employees about the content of agreements and contracts, and disseminating an ideology of social responsibility among social partners.

scholarly journals RIGHT TO DISCONNECT: french and italian proposals for a global issue

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 110-129
Author(s):  
Matteo Avogaro
Keyword(s):  
Work Life ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
Global Issue ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Increasing Process ◽  
Social Debate ◽  
The Impact

In recent years, the increasing process of digitization has gradually blurred the boundaries between work and private life. Therefore, new issues concerning workers’ protection arose. One of the main topics on this matter is related to employees’ tendency to utilize technological devices, as smartphones and tablets, to remain “connected” to their job outside ordinary business hours. In relation to this aspect, the paper addresses the debate and juridical solutions proposed and developed in France, through the Loi El Khomri, and in Italy, with the law No. 81/2017 recently approved by Parliament, to introduce a right (and/or an obligation) to disconnect in favour of digitized employees, and in order to protect workers’ private life, preventing diseases related to risk of burnout and the augmentation of stress. Furthermore, the analysis will be focused on the social debate related to the abovementioned topic. In particular, it will concern the positions assumed on this matter by main workers’ and employers’ organizations of the said countries, and their reactions to the initiatives undertaken by legislators, in order to realize a first evaluation concerning the impact of the solutions proposed. Afterwards, the attention will be cantered on praxis and tools introduced by collective agreements, in order to verify whether social partners have been able to find more efficient methods to balance work and private life, than the ones suggested by legislators. The outcome of the paper is referred to the actions that ILO could assume, on the base of the experience developed in France and in Italy, to address the future global issue of protecting employees’ work-life balance.

An Investigation of ISO 26000 and Social Responsibility Practices Applied in IT Companies

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelos Zompras ◽  
Kerstin Siakas
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Iso 26000 ◽  
Community Environment ◽  
The Core ◽  
Corporate Websites ◽  
The Social ◽  
Core Subjects ◽  
Demand Information ◽  
Primary Focus

Social Responsibility (SR) concerns the way in which organizations achieve their goals. This paper focuses on the overview of the SR as well as the endpoint of the continuous development of SR, the ISO 26000 standard and its core subjects. The aims are to give Information Technology (IT) professionals a better understanding of how to identify the core subjects of ISO 26000 relevant for their organizations and thus behave more responsible by taking actions towards sustainability. As stakeholders demand information and transparency from companies, it is imperative for companies them to report their environmental, economic, and social impact on the community. This paper examines the social responsibility reports, published from corporate websites of some the top IT companies in order to identify the issues that IT companies deal with, as well as in which issues related to the core subject of ISO 26000, they primary focus. The rest of the paper provides an overview on how IT companies can shift towards social responsibility and how they can integrate practices and technologies that benefit community, environment and stakeholders.

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.

Digital collaborative platforms: A challenge for both the legislator and the social partners in the Nordic model

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annamaria Westregård
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
New Economy ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Security Regulations

This paper focuses on the specific problems in the labour and social security legislation as it relates to crowdworkers in the digitalised new economy, analysing their place in labour market, and especially in the collective agreements which are the standard means of regulating working conditions in the Nordic model. Sweden has a binary system where a performing party is as either an employee or self-employed. The law on working and employment conditions offers only limited protection to those on short, fixed-term contracts; instead, it is social partners that have improved crowdworkers’ conditions in some industries by using collective bargaining. However, there are no collective agreements in the digital economy, or indeed for platform entrepreneurs. The complications of the parties’ positions will be analysed, especially as platforms do not consider themselves to be employers, but rather coordinators of the self-employed. It is not only labour law regulations that are important to prevent precariat among crowdworkers. It is also very important that the social security regulations adapt to the new labour market as the social security legislation is an important part of the Nordic model.

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.

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