How policy can strengthen (multi-employer) collective bargaining in Europe: Sweden

With the European minimum wage directive adopted in 2022, all European countries will be obliged to protect and promote collective bargaining. Where collective bargaining coverage is below 80 per cent, they will be obliged to draw up and implement national action plans in 2025 to increase coverage. This will be the first time in history for so many European countries to be legally obliged to think about, consider and plan concrete actions and measures to strengthen trade unions and employers’ organisations to negotiate agreements for workers.Based on reports from 20 national experts, a new report launched by UNI Europa today, aims to support trade unions in Europe in their efforts to make the most of these national action plans by providing a detailed overview of a range of ideas on how to boost collective bargaining coverage. This report does not claim to be exhaustive or definitive, nor does it reflect the position of UNI Europa, the experts or UNI Europa affiliates. It is simply a list of ideas that might (or might not) be desirable or effective in different industrial relations contexts.The ideas are structured around five main areas of intervention:First, there can be no collective bargaining without strong trade unions, and there is much that public policy can do to enable and encourage union organising. First, obstacles to trade unionism could be removed and workers protected from anti-union practices. They could also encourage union membership through tax exemptions, give unions access to workers, facilities and resources for union representation, or provide direct capacity-building support to (sectoral) unions.In addition to trade unions, employers also have a role to play in collective bargaining. It’s important to have willing and able employers, so policies can address the frequent lack of a mandate for employers’ organisations to negotiate. Alternatively, policies could make some business benefits (e.g. tax credits, training, access to subsidised employment) conditional on collective bargaining. Or ...