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CBC Rapport 2005 EN The Coordination of Collective Bargaining in Europe Annual Report 2005 Maarten Keune Senior Researcher European Trade Union Institute EUROPEAN TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION CONFEDERATION EUROPEENNE DES S Y NDICATS J o h n M o n k s , G e n e ra l S e c re ta ry B o u le v a rd d u Ro i Alb e rt II, 5 • B œ 1 2 1 0 B ru x e lle s • Te l: + 3 2 2 2 2 4 0 4 1 1 Fa x : + 3 2 2 2 2 4 0 4 5 4 / 5 5 • e -m a il: e tu c @ e tu c .o rg • w w w .e tu c .o rg 1 1. Introduction Exchange of information on the practices and outcomes of collective bargaining and wage formation is of ever greater interest to trade unions in Europe on account of ongoing economic integration. Increasingly they use such information as a reference to develop their bargaining strategies in their own countries and to coordinate it with developments elsewhere. It enables them to deal better with the increasing economic integration of Europe and to learn lessons from their colleagues in other countries. In some cases it also helps them to argue against employer and government strategies when they refer to developments abroad in support of their demands at home. All in all, such information allows trade unionists to cope more effectively with issues like competitive wage dumping, sectoral bargaining, collective bargaining in multinationals, etc. This report provides information on collective bargaining around Europe, focusing on the period 2002-2005. By and large, the report presents the answers given by national trade unions from 23 European countries to a questionnaire enquiring about wage developments, wage expectations and a number of qualitative aspects of collective bargaining. It also uses other data sources to complete the picture. The report aims to provide the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), as well as national and sectoral trade unions, with some of the information required to strengthen their knowledge of bargaining practices and outcomes in Europe, and to facilitate the European coordination of collective bargaining. 2. The bargaining context: slow growth and high unemployment. In the past four years, the context for collective bargaining in Europe has been, above all, one of low economic growth. In the period 2002-2005, the economy of the EU25 grew by 1.5 percent per year (Table 1) and the present year of 2005 is forecast to produce exactly this figure. This means that, although growth picked up somewhat in 2004, it has decelerated again in 2005. Examining the data in more detail, however, a division 2 between two groups of countries can be observed. In 2002-2005 average growth was below 2 percent for nine countries, while it was at 3 percent or higher for 15 countries. The group with slow growth consists of eight countries of the EU15 and Malta. Growth has been particularly slow in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal, and it is their weak performance that brings down the EU25 average. One important feature to notice is that in 2005 the UK too has fallen into the group of slow growers. Hence, in this year all four major European economies show a weak performance. Table 1 : GDP growth in Europe, 2002-2005. 2002 2003 2004 2005 (f) Average EU (25 countries) 1.1 1.1 2.4 1.5 1.5 Austria 1.0 1.4 2.4 1.7 1.6 Belgium 1.5 0.9 2.6 1.4 1.6 Bulgaria 4.9 4.5 5.6 6.0 5.3 Cyprus 2.1 1.9 3.8 3.9 2.9 Czech Republic 1.5 3.2 4.4 4.8 3.5 Denmark 0.5 0.6 2.1 2.7 1.5 Estonia 7.2 6.7 7.8 8.4 7.5 Finland 2.2 2.4 3.6 1.9 2.5 France 1.2 0.8 2.3 1.5 1.5 Germany 0.1 -0.2 1.6 0.8 0.6 Greece 3.8 4.6 4.7 3.5 4.2 Hungary 5.1 3.4 4.6 3.7 4.2 Iceland -1.3 3.6 6.2 6.2 3.7 Ireland 6.1 4.4 4.5 4.4 4.9 Italy 0.4 0.3 1.2 0.2 0.5 Latvia 6.4 7.2 8.3 9.1 7.8 Lithuania 6.8 10.5 7.0 7.0 7.8 Luxembourg 2.5 2.9 4.5 4.2 3.5 Malta 0.8 -1.9 0.4 0.8 0.0 Netherlands 0.1 -0.1 1.7 0.5 0.6 Norway 1.1 0.4 2.9 3.9 2.1 Poland 1.4 3.8 5.3 3.4 3.5 Portugal 0.5 -1.2 1.2 0.4 0.2 Romania 5.0 4.9 8.3 5.2 5.9 Slovakia 4.6 4.5 5.5 5.1 4.9 Slovenia 3.5 2.7 4.2 3.8 3.6 Spain 2.7 2.9 3.1 3.4 3.0 Sweden 2.0 1.5 3.6 2.5 2.4 United Kingdom 2.0 2.5 3.2 1.6 2.3 (f): forecast Source: Eurostat The group with high growth consists first of all of the European Union‘s new member states (NMS) from Eastern Europe as well as candidates 3 Bulgaria and Romania. It also includes four countries of the EU15 (Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Spain) as well as Iceland. From the composition of the two groups it can be concluded that these differences point towards some closing of the gap between the richer and poorer countries in Europe. Differences within Europe remain high, however, and there is still a clear divide between new and old EU member states (Table 2). Table 2: Gross domestic product per head of population, 2005 (EURO) Bulgaria 2,738 Romania 3,611 Latvia 5,259 Lithuania 5,843 Poland 6,080 Slovakia 6,864 Estonia 7,631 Hungary 8,710 Czech Republic 9,690 Malta 10,930 Portugal 13,800 Slovenia 13,890 Greece 16,180 Cyprus 17,980 Spain 21,030 EU-25 23,290 Italy 23,680 Germany 27,240 France 27,310 Belgium 28,710 Finland 29,260 United Kingdom 29,390 Austria 29,790 Netherlands 30,350 Sweden 31,490 Denmark 38,030 Ireland 38,600 Iceland 40,920 Norway 50,210 Luxembourg 59,470 Source: AMECO database The differences in economic growth are reflected in the development of productivity (Table 3). Productivity growth is highest in the new member states and candidate Romania. In 4 countries productivity growth remains below 1 percent over the four year period. Particularly striking developments are the negative productivity growth in Italy in 2005 and the virtual stagnation of productivity in Portugal and Spain. 4 Table 3: Productivity growth (% per hour or per head)* 2002 2003 2004 2005 Average Austria 1.2 1.2 2.2 1.3 1.5 Belgium 1.7 2.2 1.5 - 1.8 Bulgaria 4.5 -1.7 3.3 - 2.0 Czech Republic 0.2 3.7 5.0 - 3.0 Denmark 0.8 2.5 2.9 - 2.1 Estonia 5.8 5.0 7.3 5.7 6.0 France 3.3 1.1 1.6 - 2.0 Germany 1.5 1.2 0.9 1.2 1.2 Hungary 3.3 3.0 3.3 9.1 4.7 Iceland -2.9 3.7 3.9 4.9 2.4 Ireland 5.0 2.0 3.0 1.0 2.8 Italy -0.7 -0.3 0.5 -0.6 -0.3 Luxembourg -0.5 1.1 1.9 - 0.8 Netherlands 0.6 0.8 3.5 1.8 1.7 Norway 1.9 1.4 0.9 - 1.4 Poland 5.2 5.2 5.5 - 5.3 Portugal 0.0 0.0 1.1 - 0.4 Romania 9.7 12.1 10.0 13.3 11.3 Slovakia 4.3 3.4 5.7 2.8 4.1 Slovenia 3.9 2.5 4.5 3.4 3.6 Spain 0.3 0.4 0.4 - 0.4 Sweden 4.5 3.7 3.7 2.5 3.6 Switzerland 0.6 0.8 2.3 1.3 1.3 UK 1.3 1.9 2.7 1.0 1.7 * Per hour: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK. Source: ETUC questionnaire 2005 Apart from slow average growth, Europe also continues to suffer from high unemployment, amounting to 9 percent in the past two years (Table 4). Indeed, high unemployment seems to have become a structural feature of the European labour market but, here once again, a wide diversity can be observed. Above average unemployment can be observed in some of the biggest EU members (Germany, France, Spain) as well as in several of the new member states (the three Baltic countries, Poland and Slovakia) and candidate Bulgaria. 5 Table 4: unemployment in Europe (%) 2002 2003 2004 EU (25 countries) 8.7 9.0 9.0 Austria 4.2 4.3 4.8 Belgium 7.3 8.0 7.9 Bulgaria 17.8 13.6 11.7 Cyprus 3.9 4.5 5.2 Czech Republic 7.3 7.8 8.3 Denmark 4.6 5.6 5.4 Estonia 9.5 10.2 9.2 Finland 9.1 9.0 8.8 France 8.9 9.5 9.6 Germany 8.2 9.0 9.5 Greece 10.3 9.7 10.5 Hungary 5.6 5.8 6.0 Ireland 4.3 4.6 4.5 Italy 8.6 8.4 8.0 Latvia 12.6 10.4 9.8 Lithuania 13.5 12.7 10.9 Luxembourg 2.8 3.7 4.8 Malta 7.7 8.0 7.6 Netherlands 2.8 3.7 4.6 Norway 3.9 4.5 4.4 Poland 19.8 19.2 18.8 Portugal 5.0 6.3 6.7 Romania 7.5 6.8 7.6 Slovakia 18.7 17.5 18.2 Slovenia 6.1 6.5 6.0 Spain 11.5 11.5 11.0 Sweden 4.9 5.6 6.3 United Kingdom 5.1 4.9 4.7 Note: data refer to unemployed persons as a percentage of the labour force, age group 15-74.
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