Project theme 1
The collective agreement systems: continuity and change
FAOS has followed the renewal of collective agreements in both the private and the public sectors for many years. We collect documents as well as other data, and we interview the main negotiators before, during and after the negotiations. Thus, over time FAOS has accumulated unique data material.
FAOS’s analyses of the bargaining system are primarily relational analyses that closely examine the actors in the negotiation processes. However, the outcomes of the bargaining processes are part of the analyses as well. The collective agreements are closely linked with labour market legislation as well as social, educational and employment policies, formulated, for example, in tripartite negotiations.
Overall, the research into collective bargaining systems and political regulation on work and welfare will, firstly, deal with procedural issues – namely, the negotiation processes that they develop both between the negotiating parties and internally, on either side of the negotiation table. Secondly, the research will deal with substantive issues, that is, what the agreements are about – including developments in the balances between the different dimensions of flexicurity. FAOS’s research in this project theme will focus on the following issues:
- continuity, changes and challenges in the renewal of collective agreements in the private and public sectors
- whether the legitimacy of the coordinated bargaining system is being challenged
- how the private and public bargaining systems are developing in relation to each other
- how the bargaining model and the welfare state interact.