Industrial Relations in Europe 2012 - European Commission - Europa

the only available source of comparative information on institutional and structural
characteristics of industrial relations systems covering also the new member states.
Information in the database comes from national surveys, the European Social Survey, and
administrative data obtained from unions and from the European Industrial Relations
Observatory (EIRO) of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
Conditions. Regular comparative EIRO reports are also a good source of evidence on
developments in the CEECs. Additional sources include Eurobarometer, Eurostat, ILO’s
Laborsta, the OECD Employment Outlook, and the UN Population Statistics. These data
sources are supplemented by case studies of collective bargaining, trade union action, and
industrial relations revitalization trends in the CEECs. Case studies derive from research
conducted by the author and other dedicated researchers within various EU research projects,
including the sixth and seventh framework programs (e.g., FP6 EQUALSOC 6 and FP7
GUSTO 7 ) and other projects contracted by the European Commission (e.g., BARSORI –
Bargaining for Social Rights: Reducing Precariousness and Labour Market Segmentation
through Collective Bargaining and Social Dialogue). Finally, the chapter draws on a number
of academic articles and books (e.g. Meardi 2012, Bohle and Greskovits 2012) that analyze
developments in political economy and industrial relations in the CEECs.
2.1 Economic performance of the CEECs
To understand the context of recent industrial relations developments in the CEECs and the
motivation for comparing them with the EU-15, this section provides a brief overview of
economic and labour market performance of the CEECs. In short, the CEECs experienced
GDP growth rates (see Chart 2.1), a significant inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI)
especially between 2000 and 2007 (see Chart 2.2), and significantly higher collectively agreed
wage increases than many EU-15 countries (see Chart 2.3). The inflow of FDI to the CEECs
derived from an attractive investment environment, new markets, proximity to markets in the
EU-15 countries and also a significant gap in wages and earnings between the CEECs and the
EU-15 countries (see Chart 2.4). Although wages are constantly rising in the CEECs, labour
productivity (measured in terms of GDP per hour worked) in all CEECs, while improving,
systematically lags behind that of EU-15 countries (see Chart 2.5). Based on an index of EU-
27=100, labour productivity per hour worked in the EU-15 reached 117.7 in 2000 and 113.8
in 2010, while labour productivity in the CEECs reached only 44.83 in 2000 and 58.23 in
2008.
6 EQUALSOC: Economic Change, Quality of Life and Social Cohesion (FP6, 2005-2011) – See:
http://www.equalsoc.org/
7 GUSTO: Meeting the challenges of economic uncertainty and sustainability – through employment, industrial
relations, social and environmental policies in Europe (FP7, 2009-2012) - See http://www.gusto-project.eu/
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