Working Life Barometer in the Baltic Countries 2002 (pdf) - mol.fi

121
DIFFERENCE IN MEDIAN SALARIES BETWEEN WORKERS AT
WORKPLACES THAT HAVE MADE A COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT
AND OTHER WAGE EARNERS IN 2002, BY DECILES (%)
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WORKPLACES WITH A COLLECTIVE
AGREEMENT AND OTHER WORKPLACES (% units)
ESTONIA +10.7 +16.7 +9.2 +6.6 +14.3 +12.5 +3.7 0.0 -8.3
LATVIA +12.0 +16.4 +28.2 +22.3 +21.3 +21.3 +13.2 +1.9 -5.7
LITHUANIA +1.7 +7.0 +16.3 +17.8 +14.3 +12.6 +5.8 +5.1 -6.7
DECILES 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Taken as a whole, the results indicate a relation between salary payment and
the method of agreement. However, it is difficult to say for sure whether trade
union membership influences salary size or whether better-paid workers than
before have joined trade unions in 2002. A scrutiny of the salary deciles shows
that at workplaces which have made a collective agreement, the lowest salaries
- and especially the salaries of those with middle incomes - are higher than the
average.
In Estonia, Latvia and also Lithuania, the majority of the salaries are agreed on
individually. The rate of unionisation is quite low, and both unionisation and
collective agreements are definitely more frequent in the public sector (see the
chapter on Unionisation and Bargaining.) From the standpoint of the wage
earners in total, it is thus clear that the significance of trade union membership
as described above is still relatively small. It can, however, be reckoned that in
the public sector, the connection between unionisation and salary size has importance
also for the wage earners as a whole. In the private sector, however,
the significance remains very small. The results also indicate that where pay is
concerned, the making of collective agreements is definitely a more important
factor than whether or not the workers at the workplace belong to a trade union.
These two aspects are of course connected with each other, but mere union
membership does not automatically change the procedures by which salaries
are agreed on.