Improvement of Social Dialogue in Industry Sector in Lithuania

On December, 2019, the Project “Improving Social Dialogue in Industry Sector in Lithuania” was launched. It was promoted out by the Lithuanian Industry Trade Union Federation (LPPSF), the project partner is the United Federation of Trade Unions Fellesforbundet. The project is financed in the framework of the Norway Grants programme “Social Dialogue – Decent Work”, programme operator is the Innovation Norway.

This project was implemented in the industrial companies (chemical, energy, construction, utilities, aviation), whose trade unions belong to the LPPSF.

The aim of the project

Social dialogue is the regulation of employer-employee relations based on collective bargaining, and an essential condition for its success is the motivation of both parties to negotiate. Social dialogue cannot develop or take place unless at least one side is willing or is motivated to do so. In Lithuania, employers are less motivated to engage in social dialogue, especially at company level, while employees and their representatives have a high level of motivation for collective bargaining and that is for understandable reasons.

Therefore, the main objective of the Project “Improving Social Dialogue in Industry Sector in Lithuania” was to improve the cooperation model of social partners, principles and mechanisms of collective bargaining and to accelerate collective bargaining at company and national level. This was achieved by exploring the motivation of business (employers) for collective bargaining and the opportunities and perspectives for promoting it in companies and /or their groups, as well as across the sector.

The project implementation steps

The first step of the project was a thorough analysis of the existing collective agreements of selected companies. It was done by experts – prof. dr. Daiva Petrylaitė and sociologist, analyst of the public institution Enterprise Lithuania Marius Kalanta. A review of the regulatory framework was presented at the first remote meeting of the Project Steering Committee on March 26, 2020. The meeting discussed the main issues and challenges in the field of collective bargaining, as well as a plan for collective bargaining training (for the social partners).

Subsequently, the approved training plan included roundtables and training. Experts from the „Fellesforbundet“ and labor law experts from Lithuania were invited to these events. The purpose of the roundtable discussions and trainings (seminars) was to create a strong negotiating team in the companies.

The final project report was conducted by Vida Petrylaitė and Marius Kalanta. The final report includes recommendations on collective bargaining for the social partners. It discuss problem areas for collective bargaining at company and sector level, possible solutions and recommendations to public authorities.

The final project conference, which took place on 30 September, 2022, presented the final report and project results, as well as a short film about the benefits of collective bargaining and collective agreements to be used in future activities of the Federation. Representatives of public authorities, employers, politicians and social partners were invited to this final conference.

The project video about the collective agreements: