Collective Bargaining In Germany And Ukraine : Lessons Learned And Recommendations For Ukraine

The International Labour Organization (ILO), with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark under the Danish Neighbourhood Programme (2017–2021), is carrying out a five-year project in Ukraine to improve labour market governance, reduce the skills mismatch, promote entrepreneurship and improve the social dialogue and capacities of social partners. Collective bargaining systems are social systems that are embedded in other institutions. Because of their historical legacy and country-specific interactions with other institutions, a collective bargaining system from other countries cannot be copied one to one. The same formal institutions and regulations would work and perform differently in another national context with different actors. A broad international literature shows, however, that learning from“good examples” is possible (1) if institutions and practices from other countries are adapted to the specific national circumstances and (2) if at least some of the key national actors are supporting institutional change and are keen to take advantage of new opportunities to act. The literature also points out that both institutional change and actors’ learning takes time in a new framework. Positive outcomes can often only be expected over the medium and long term. The country studies of the report describe the legal frameworks of collective bargaining in Germany and Ukraine, the main actors including the state, the actual levels of bargaining and the articulation between these levels, the coverage by collective agreements, the content of the agreements and also soft factors like trust among social partners. They also contain case studies on collective bargaining in two sectors: the metal and construction industries.