Looking for European solutions. Trade unions in Central and Eastern Europe striving for cross-border solidarity

Abstract

<jats:p> This article deals with the dilemmas faced by trade unions from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in the context of their relations with western European (EU-15) unions and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). The issue of cross-border solidarity is re-examined, taking into account its historical meanings as well as current developments under the pressures of globalisation and EU integration. The article analyses key factors affecting East–West trade union relations – different views within the ETUC, discontinuities in European social dialogue, challenges faced by European works councils and the uncertain future of transnational company agreements. Major dilemmas CEE unions cope with vis-à-vis their western counterparts are outlined. The question of how to achieve a common interest platform for trade unions from Central and Eastern Europe and from western Europe is raised, followed by a suggestion that ‘downward convergence’ in industrial relations is bringing the two regions closer. </jats:p>

Trade Unions in the European Union

“…At the ETUC Congress in Vienna in 2019 there were seventy delegates from the region, less than 18 per cent of participants. There are noticeable disparities in positions of power held by Polish and other CEE member organizations compared with those held by representatives from 'old' EU countries (Czarzasty et al 2020). Polish unions, in line with their counterparts from CEEwith the exception of Slovenia -tend to acknowledge the existence of an 'East-West' divide.…”

“…CEE trade unions have been active in articulating this issue since 2017 when, following demands from Czech and Slovak trade unions and partially inspired by the ČMKOS campaign 'An End to Cheap Labour', the ETUC adopted a resolution on promoting increases in the lowest wages and launched the campaign 'Europe Needs a Pay Rise'. The idea of a European minimum wage has become official ETUC policy, although not yet translated into any specific measures, primarily because of opposition from Nordic trade unions (Czarzasty et al 2020). On this issue, ASO supports ČMKOS at the EU level and both demand minimum wages be set at 50 per cent of the average wage ( ASO 2021).…”

“…Also in 2018 NSZZ Solidarność and OPZZ, along with CMKOS (Czechia) expressed support for the optional legal framework (OLF) for transnational company agreements (TCA) in a joint statement to the ETUC. 13 The ETUC action programme adopted at the Vienna Congress in 2019, however, includes only a declaration that the ETUC will seek to conclude some kind of tripartite framework agreement on the status of TCAs, although the OLF is mentioned (Czarzasty et al 2020). In November 2019, at the initiative of NSZZ Solidarność, twenty-four ETUC affiliates from CEE and the Balkans sent a letter to the ETUC General Secretary expressing support for the idea of a EU directive on minimum wages and the promotion of collective bargaining.…”

Perspective. The mirage of Europeanising industrial relations. What possibilities for East-West trade union cooperation?

“…Among other things, there was a serious disagreement between the Nordic organisations, rejecting any interference in wage setting at EU level, and those from Central and Eastern Europe, who supported the idea of a directive. Czarzasty et al (2020) and Lovén Seldén (2020) have described this dispute in Transfer articles. In the end, the ETUC supported the Commission’s proposal on the draft Adequate Minimum Wage Directive, while the Nordic unions separately submitted their own negative opinion to the European Commission.…”

20 years after. Changing perspectives on industrial relations in Central and Eastern Europe two decades after EU enlargement: from transition to transformation

“…There is evidence that CEE union delegates, especially from subsidiaries with adversarial workplace industrial relations, managed to use EWCs effectively as sources of information denied to them locally, and occasionally even as a way of alerting central management to questionable practices in the host countries (Geppert et al, 2014; Myant, 2023). However, non-union EWCs are also on the rise, in which at the end of table reserved for employee representatives one may find, instead of union delegates, council members appointed through various vague procedures, often on the spurious ground that the company is non-unionised (see Czarzasty et al, 2020; De Spiegelaere et al, 2022).…”