QUICK GUIDE ON SOURCES AND USES OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING STATISTICS 8 25 % 9 % 80 70 16 % 60 STATISTICS 50 1 Department 2 40 of Statistics 5 30 % 20 10 0 2011 72013 2016 Copyright © International Labour Organization 2018 First published 2018 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Licensing), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. Libraries, institutions and other users registered with a reproduction rights organization may make copies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. Visit www.ifrro.org to find the reproduction rights organization in your country. ISBN: 978-92-2-132269-6 (web pdf) The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office of the opinions expressed in them. Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply their endorsement by the International Labour Office, and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process is not a sign of disapproval. Information on ILO publications and digital products can be found at: www.ilo.org/publns. Printed in Switzerland Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ 4 2. Relevance, uses and scope of collective bargaining statistics ...................................................................................... 5 2.1. Role of collective bargaining in labour markets ................................................................................................... 5 2.2. Uses of collective bargaining statistics ................................................................................................................... 5 2.3. Scope of collective bargaining statistics ................................................................................................................. 6 3. International standards and common practices on collective bargaining statistics ................................................. 7 3.1. Resolution concerning statistics of collective agreements .................................................................................. 7 3.2. Main concepts and definitions ................................................................................................................................ 8 3.3. Main collective bargaining indicators ................................................................................................................... 13 3.3.1. The collective bargaining coverage rate: the main statistical indicator ...................................................... 13 3.3.2. Qualitative (legal framework) indicators ......................................................................................................... 16 3.3.2.1. Right to collective bargaining ....................................................................................................................... 17 3.3.2.2. Level of collective bargaining ....................................................................................................................... 17 3.3.2.3. Degree of coordination of collective bargaining ....................................................................................... 18 3.3.2.4. Extension of collective agreements............................................................................................................. 18 4. Sources of collective bargaining statistics ..................................................................................................................... 18 4.1. Administrative records ........................................................................................................................................... 19 4.1.1. Collective agreements: the primary source of information .......................................................................... 20 4.2. Household surveys (most notably, labour force surveys) ................................................................................. 22 4.3. Establishment census and surveys ....................................................................................................................... 24 4.4. Special data collections and other sources .......................................................................................................... 26 4.5. Considerations on sources of collective bargaining statistics .......................................................................... 26 5. Challenges and considerations ....................................................................................................................................... 27 5.1. Data availability ....................................................................................................................................................... 27 5.2. Data comparability across countries and over time ........................................................................................... 27 5.3. Importance of data disaggregation ....................................................................................................................... 28 5.4. Impact of the coverage of the statistics ............................................................................................................... 29 5.5. Analysis of collective bargaining within a given context and through a coherent set of indicators .......... 29 6. Concluding remarks ......................................................................................................................................................... 30 7. References ......................................................................................................................................................................... 31 2 Acknowledgements This quick guide was drafted by Rosina Gammarano of the ILO Department of Statistics’ Data Production and Analysis Unit, based on her experience in compiling and analysing collective bargaining statistics. The quality of the first draft was improved by the editorial work of Steven Kapsos, as well as by valuable comments from John Ritchotte and the overall guidance of Susan Hayter. 3 1. Introduction The goal of achieving decent work for all means attaining full and productive employment which gives workers access to decent working and living conditions.1 Industrial relations and social dialogue play a crucial role in this regard, especially through collective bargaining, which provides an explicit means for securing satisfactory working conditions by formalizing social partners’ involvement in the process of setting conditions of employment. ILO Convention No. 154 (Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981) defines collective bargaining as “all negotiations which take place between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers' organisations, on the one hand, and one or more workers' organisations, on the other, for: (a) determining working conditions and terms of employment; and/or (b) regulating relations between employers and workers; and/or (c) regulating relations between employers or their organisations and a workers' organisation or workers' organisations.”2 Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are fundamental principles and rights at work, at the heart of healthy industrial relations and effective social dialogue. In order to assess the labour market situation, understand the latest trends and identify the main labour market issues, it is important to rely on a comprehensive, timely and accurate body of labour statistics.3 Given that social dialogue in general and collective bargaining in particular are fundamental aspects of decent work, social dialogue statistics, and more precisely, collective bargaining statistics, are a crucial part of labour statistics, instrumental in the effective measurement of decent work. The potential impact of collective bargaining on wages and other terms and conditions of work is such that in order to have a proper picture of the labour market situation it is critical to complement labour market analyses with collective bargaining statistics. Collective bargaining statistics allow for the assessment of the extent to which wages and terms and conditions of work are negotiated collectively and the coverage of workers by these collective contracts. It facilitates comparisons in this regard across countries,