Industrial Relations in Europe 2012 - European Commission - Europa

SI
SK
UK
Central level agreements. General collective agreement for the public sector,
collective agreements for individual sectors within the public sector, and a
special collective agreement for the public radio and television organisations.
National agreement sets minimum conditions. Collective bargaining with local
and regional authorities follows.
Separate agreements for employees working for municipal and local
governments.
In the case of the senior civil service, pay is determined centrally by the
government on the recommendation of the Senior Salary Review Body; the pay
review bodies system covers about 35% of all public employees, including
teachers, nurses and all employees of the National Health Service. Civil
servants’ pay determination and HRM have been delegated to lower levels. The
majority of civil service conditions of service, including pay, are the
responsibility of the individual government departments and agencies.
Sources: Mormont (2004), Hessel, (2008), Bossaert and Kaeding (2009), Adam (2011), Vaughan-
Whitehead (2012)
Restrictions on industrial action in the public sector
Another peculiarity of the public sector is that in many EU Member States public sector
employees are often excluded from exercising the right to strike. Table 1.3 provides an
overview of different regulations regarding the right to take industrial action in the EU-27.
The rationale behind limiting industrial action is that public sector employees are expected to
have a special relationship with their employer and/or provide essential services for society.
As can be seen in Table 1.3, restrictions among the EU Member States vary in terms of the
type of ban on industrial action and the employees groups affected. On the one hand there are
countries where some groups of public sector employees (such as career civil servants
(‘Beamte’) in Germany) have no formal right to strike, such as Austria, Estonia, Germany and
Lithuania (for more details, see Chapter 3 of this report). On the other hand, as in Portugal,
the right to strike is recognised for all workers, including public employees. However, in most
other countries certain sectors and employee groups face some restrictions. Usually the right
to take industrial action is often applied in conjunction with the principle of the uninterrupted
operation of the public service and with the protection of the health and safety of persons and
the protection of property. For example, in Italy, no particular restrictions on the right to strike
for public servants exist but services at minimum level must be guaranteed. In Romania,
certain services such as health services, social assistance and public transport must be
maintained during the strike at a defined level of normal activity. Others restrictions on the
right to strike include a high vote threshold in strike ballots (e.g. 50% in Romania). In the UK
collective industrial action is limited to disputes between workers and their employer. In some
countries civil servants and municipal officials cannot call strikes in pursuance of objectives
that are not covered by collective agreements (Hessel, 2008; Warneck and Clauwaert, 2009).
Apart from these differences, one main trend can be identified: in most EU Member States
members of armed forces and the police are faced with the strictest limitations. There are only
a few exceptions, among them Belgium, where police officers are entitled to strike, and the
Netherlands, where both military personnel and police officers have the right to strike (see
Warneck and Clauwaert 2009). For a fuller discussion of restrictions on industrial action in
the public sector, see chapter 3 of this report.
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