Strike rules in the EU27 and beyond A comparative overview Wiebke Warneck European Trade Union Institute for Research, Education and Health and Safety (ETUI-REHS) Brussels, 2007 Brussels, 2007 © Publisher: ETUI-REHS aisbl, Brussels All rights reserved Print: ETUI-REHS Printshop, Brussels D/2007/10.574/16 ISBN: 978-2-87452-087-7 (print version) ISBN: 978-2-87452-088-4 (pdf version) The ETUI-REHS is financially supported by the European Community. Table of contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Comparative analysis ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 Glossary ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 13 1. Austria ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 14 2. Belgium .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 3. Bulgaria .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18 4. Croatia ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 20 5. Cyprus ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 21 6. Czech Republic ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 22 7. Denmark .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 24 8. Estonia ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 26 9. Finland ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 28 10. France ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 30 11. Germany .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 32 12. Greece ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 34 13. Hungary ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 36 14. Iceland ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 38 15. Ireland ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 40 16. Italy ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 42 17. Latvia ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 44 18. Lithuania ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 46 19. Luxembourg ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 48 20. Malta ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 50 21. Netherlands ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 52 22. Norway ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 54 23. Poland ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 56 24. Portugal .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 58 25. Romania .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 60 26. Spain ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 62 27. Slovakia ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 64 28. Slovenia ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 66 29. Sweden ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 68 30. United Kingdom .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 70 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 73 Strike rules in the EU27 and beyond – A comparative overview 3 Introduction In the context of globalisation capital is moving increasingly across borders. As industry in the European Union takes advantage of the possibilities created by the internal market, so trans-national transactions become everyday occurrences. If the European trade union movement too wishes to take up the challenge represented by mobility and movement of services and production in the internal market, the obvious answer, in the case of labour disputes, is to take collective action across the border. Collective action is, still today, very much linked to the highly specific national industrial relations systems. As such, it is regulated almost exclusively by national rules (legislation, collective agreements and case law), which means that the first step