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having regard to Article 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU),

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having regard to Articles 9, 151, 152, 153, 154 and 155 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

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having regard to Articles 12, 15, 16, 21, 23, 27, 28, 30, 31 and 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

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having regard to the Commission communication of 4 March 2021 entitled ‘The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan’ (COM(2021)0102),

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having regard to the European Social Charter,

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having regard to the Porto Social Commitment of 7 May 2021 and the Porto Declaration of 8 May 2021,

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having regard to International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions No. 98 on the right to organise and collective bargaining, No. 135 on protection and facilities to be afforded to workers’ representatives in the undertaking (the Workers’ Representatives Convention), No. 154 on collective bargaining, No. 155 on occupational safety and health, No. 187 on a promotional framework for occupational safety and health, and No. 190 on the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work,

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having regard to the European Semester, which is the EU’s framework for the coordination and surveillance of economic and social policies, based on Articles 121 and 148 TFEU,

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having regard to the European social partners’ framework agreement on digitalisation,

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having regard to the European social partners’ autonomous framework agreement on active ageing and an inter-generational approach,

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having regard to Council Directive 2001/23/EC of 12 March 2001 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding of employees’ rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of undertakings or businesses (1),

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having regard to Council Directive 98/59/EC of 20 July 1998 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to collective redundancies (2),

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having regard to Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union (3),

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having regard to Directive 2009/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 on the establishment of a European Works Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees (4) (European Works Council Directive),

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having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/1057 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 establishing the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1296/2013 (5),

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having regard to Directive (EU) 2022/2041 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union (6) (Adequate Minimum Wages Directive),

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having regard to its resolution of 16 December 2021 entitled ‘Democracy at work: a European framework for employees’ participation rights and the revision of the European Works Council Directive’ (7),

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having regard to its resolution of 2 February 2023 with recommendations to the Commission on Revision of European Works Councils Directive (8),

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having regard to the Commission proposal for a Council recommendation on strengthening social dialogue in the European Union (COM(2023)0038),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 25 January 2023 entitled ‘Strengthening social dialogue in the European Union: harnessing its full potential for managing fair transitions’ (COM(2023)0040),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 13 December 2013 on the EU Quality Framework for anticipation of change and restructuring (COM(2013)0882),

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having regard to its resolution of 19 January 2017 on a European Pillar of Social Rights (9),

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having regard to its resolution of 17 December 2020 on a strong social Europe for Just Transitions (10),

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having regard Council Decision (EU) 2022/2296 of 21 November 2022 on guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States (11),

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having regard the Commission communication of 4 March 2021 entitled ‘The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan’ (COM(2021)0102),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 29 September 2022 on Guidelines on the application of Union competition law to collective agreements regarding the working conditions of solo self-employed persons (C(2022)6846),

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having regard to the questions to the Council and to the Commission on strengthening social dialogue (O-000019/2023 — B9-0020/2023 and O-00020/2023 — B9-0021/2023),

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having regard to Rules 136(5) and 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

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having regard to the motion for a resolution of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs,

A.

whereas the rights of workers to collective bargaining, collective agreements, freedom of association and collective action are fundamental rights in a democracy;

B.

whereas social partnership and collective bargaining between trade unions and representatives of employers at company, sectoral, national and EU level are key aspects of the European social model, whose shared legacy of social dialogue, workers’ participation, collective bargaining, health and safety representation and the tripartite system are the building blocks of a diverse and economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future that will contribute to competitiveness, economic and social resilience and better and more inclusive EU growth;

C.

whereas collective bargaining allows for social partners to adjust, for instance, working conditions in a flexible and purposeful way; whereas collective bargaining systems are generally based on a complex set of rules and practices, established in national legal systems, and frequently based on longstanding traditions of the social partners;

D.

whereas well-functioning social dialogue between autonomous social partners is crucial to finding balanced solutions to the challenges of today and tomorrow, by adjusting to the changes in the world of work in a way that benefits both workers and employers, as demonstrated inter alia by the existing framework agreements between the European social partners on active ageing and on digitalisation, as well as the ongoing negotiations on telework and the right to disconnect; whereas social dialogue has also proven necessary in times of unexpected crisis, such as the adaptation of working conditions during the pandemic; whereas social dialogue plays an important role in providing active support to workers transitioning to new jobs and in anticipating skills needs by addressing structural change as well as strengthening Member States’ resilience; whereas the success of social dialogue heavily depends on the social partners’ ability to negotiate freely based on a complex set of rules and practices, which are often established in national legal systems and traditions; whereas this requires the national and European legislators to place trust in the social partners’ ability to work for good conditions in the labour market, while at the same time requiring the social partners to take this responsibility seriously and find compromises that address their respective interests, also benefitting society as a whole;

E.

whereas collective bargaining systems where independent social partners have the right to negotiate and conclude collective agreements autonomously contribute to long-term predictability in the labour market; whereas a prerequisite for such well-functioning collective bargaining systems is that the national and European legislators trust the social partners’ ability to take responsibility for good working conditions in the labour market and balance workers’ and employers’ interests;

F.

whereas collective bargaining at the sectoral and cross-industry levels came under pressure in some Member States in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis; whereas the share of workers covered by collective agreements has declined significantly in most Member States over the past 30 years, with an estimated drop in EU average coverage from about 66 % in 2000 to about 56 % in 2018 (12), due to various factors including the decline in trade union membership, regulatory changes in collective bargaining practices and processes (13), particularly with regard to the decentralisation of collective bargaining systems, the growing importance of company-based bargaining processes, and the rise of precarious forms of employment and bogus self-employment; whereas it is important to note that the situation varies greatly between Member States; whereas in most Member States, collective bargaining covering rates tend to be higher for employees on permanent contracts and for those working in larger companies; whereas bargaining coverage is substantially higher in countries where there are sectoral agreements and where these are frequently extended to non-covered companies or workers;

G.

whereas workers under the age of 30 are only half as likely as older workers to join a trade union (14), while at the same time they are very supportive of collective bargaining and have a high degree of trust in trade unions;

H.

whereas European workers and employers are currently facing major challenges stemming from long-standing social and environmental challenges such as poverty, social exclusion, rising inequalities, social crises, and the climate and biodiversity emergencies, which are continuing to grow and must be tackled; whereas those challenges have been exacerbated by the consequences of the pandemic and, since 24 February 2022, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the consequent cost of living, inflation and energy crisis; whereas these events have shown a pressing need for broader and stronger participation by the social partners in order to harness the opportunities of the sustainable and fair green and digital transitions and reflect the need to leave no-one behind; whereas according to the Eurofound EU PolicyWatch database, the social partners were involved during the pandemic in almost half of the policy measures recorded at national and/or European level, while this involvement decreased somewhat during 2022, when further policy measures related to the cost of living crisis were mapped;

I.

whereas measures to uphold and promote collective bargaining and collective agreements may provide an effective response to the spiralling cost of living and facilitate urgently needed real pay increases across the board;

J.

whereas democracy at work plays a key role in strengthening human rights in the workplace and society, in particular when workers’ representatives, including trade unions, are actively involved in businesses’ due diligence processes; whereas workers’ timely and meaningful involvement at the appropriate level contributes to sustainable corporate governance; whereas social partners’ voices are an important component of EU initiatives to ensure sustainable and democratic corporate governance and due diligence on actual and potential human rights abuses, including with regard to labour, and adverse environmental impacts, as well as of EU initiatives to reduce the use of illegal practices, such as labour exploitation and unfair competition in the single market;

K.

whereas workplace democracy goes beyond the formal participation of trade union organisations in so-called social dialogue meetings, or mere consultation of these bodies; whereas the promotion of workplace democracy calls for the safeguarding and upholding of various rights and principles, including the right to organisation, collective action and collective bargaining, trade union rights, the right to strike, and the principles of prohibiting unfair dismissal and of equal pay for equal work;

L.

whereas Principle 8 of the European Pillar of Social Rights states that social partners should be consulted on the design and implementation of economic, employment and social policies, in accordance with national practices; whereas social partners are also encouraged to negotiate and conclude collective agreements on matters relevant to them, while safeguarding their autonomy and the right to collective action; whereas workers or their representatives have the right to be informed and consulted in good time on matters relevant to them, in particular on the transfer, restructuring and merging of undertakings and on collective redundancies; whereas the Porto Social Commitment called on all relevant actors to promote autonomous social dialogue as a structuring component of the European social model and to strengthen it at the European, national, regional, sectoral, local and company levels, with a particular emphasis on ensuring an enabling framework for collective bargaining within the various models that exist across the Member States;

M.

whereas the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) Regulation (15) includes an obligation for Member States to consult social partners in the preparation of their national recovery and resilience plans through a greater variety of settings; whereas the quality and intensity of their involvement is, however, uneven and rather weak in a relatively high number of countries; whereas the review report of the Commission on the RRF states that the success of the RRF depends on the close involvement of social partners, civil society organisations, local and regional authorities and other stakeholders;

N.

whereas some Member States are ensuring an enabling framework for social dialogue, while in some other Member States, social dialogue is under pressure for reasons including belated, ineffective consultation procedures, a lack of capacity and strict representational criteria as well as limitations on the social partners’ freedom to autonomously negotiate and find compromises through collective bargaining; whereas in accordance with Article 9 of the ESF+ Regulation, Member States must ensure meaningful participation of the social partners in the delivery of employment, education and social inclusion policies supported by the ESF+ strand under shared management; whereas all Member States must allocate an appropriate amount of ESF+ resources — and where they have received related country-specific recommendations this must be at least 0,25 % — to capacity building of the social partners, including in the form of training, networking measures, and strengthening of the social dialogue, and to activities jointly undertaken by the social partners;

O.

whereas collective bargaining refers to all negotiations that take place in accordance with national law and practice in each Member State between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the one hand, and one or more trade unions on the other, to determine working conditions and terms of employment; whereas a trade union is understood to be a group of workers formed to further and defend workers’ interests, under national law and/or practice; whereas an employers’ organisation is an organisation whose membership consists of individual employers, other associations of employers or both, constituted to further and defend the interests of its members, under national law and/or practice;

P.

whereas in line with the Workers’ Representatives Convention, which has been ratified by 24 Member States, workers’ representatives can be persons who are: (i) recognised as such under national law or practice, whether or not they are trade union representatives, namely, representatives designated or elected by trade unions or by members of such unions; or (ii) elected representatives, namely, representatives who are freely elected by the workers of the undertaking in accordance with the relevant provisions of national law or regulations or of collective agreements and whose functions do not include activities that are recognised as the exclusive prerogative of trade unions in the country concerned; whereas when both trade union representatives and elected representatives exist in the same undertaking, elected representatives should not to be used to undermine the position of the trade unions concerned or their representatives, in particular as regards collective bargaining, which is the prerogative of trade unions;

Q.

whereas the enabling conditions for a well-functioning social dialogue are: (i) the existence of strong, independent trade unions and technical capacity in employers’ organisations; (ii) technical capacity for social partners; (iii) access to relevant and timely information to participate in social dialogue; (iv) a commitment from all parties to engage constructively and in good faith in social dialogue, including the involvement of social partners in identifying relevant issues, gathering evidence, sharing information, exploring options and developing preferred solutions; (v) respect for the fundamental rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining; (vi) appropriate institutional support; (vii) respect for social partners’ autonomy, allowing for social partners to negotiate and conclude collective agreements autonomously; (viii) adaptation to the digital age and promotion of collective bargaining in the new world of work; and (ix) adequate protection against any acts of anti-union discrimination for trade union and workers’ representatives;

R.

whereas strong collective bargaining, in particular at sectoral or cross-industry level, contributes to creating and preserving quality jobs and has a positive impact on wages; whereas trade unions, workers’ representation and participation and collective bargaining coverage are essential for the enforcement of workers’ rights; whereas action, measures and better legislation to protect the rights of workers’ representatives and trade unions are needed to ensure a balance of bargaining power between employers and workers, which can be improved by strengthening democracy at work;

S.

whereas the ILO was founded in 1919 with the firm belief that universal peace could only be established if based on social justice (16); whereas social dialogue, collective bargaining and workers’ representation are core ILO values and rights and are provided for in numerous ILO conventions and recommendations; whereas the Council of Europe also counts democracy at work among its core values, as expressed in the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter;

T.

whereas the ILO guidelines for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all calls for the promotion of the inclusion of specific environmental provisions through collective bargaining and collective agreements at all levels,

U.

whereas the Council, in its conclusions of 24 October 2019 entitled ‘The Future of Work: the European Union promoting the ILO Centenary Declaration’, encouraged the Member States to continue their efforts to ratify and effectively implement the ILO conventions; whereas the Council also called on the Member States and the Commission to enhance social dialogue at all levels, including cross-border cooperation, in order to ensure the active participation of social partners in shaping the future of work and achieving social justice and shared prosperity;

V.

whereas social dialogue and collective bargaining are key instruments for employers and trade unions to use to establish and preserve fair wages and good working conditions as well as terms of employment, and to close the gender pension gap and the gender pay gap; whereas strong collective bargaining systems increase Member States’ resilience in times of economic crisis; whereas societies with strong collective bargaining systems tend to have more competitive and resilient economies and be wealthier and more equal; whereas the right to collective bargaining is an issue that concerns all workers in Europe and that can also have crucial implications for democracy and the rule of law, including respect for fundamental social rights; whereas collective bargaining is a European fundamental right and the EU institutions are bound by Article 28 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights to respect it; whereas in this context, policies that respect, promote and strengthen collective bargaining and the position of workers in wage-setting systems play a critical role in achieving a high standard of working conditions and ensuring better living conditions;

W.

whereas the informal economy is characterised by a high share of invisible and most vulnerable groups of workers; whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a growing number of workers, especially women, to enter the informal economy and has exacerbated pre-existing vulnerabilities; whereas the sectors most represented in the informal economy in the EU, i.e. health, care, social work, and agriculture, are also vital ones for the functioning of our societies;

X.

whereas social dialogue strengthens both democracy and civil society and manifests the principle of subsidiarity where rules are made close to those whom they concern and affect;

Y.

whereas according to Article 152 TFEU, the Union ‘shall facilitate dialogue between the social partners, respecting their autonomy’; whereas in Commission Decision 98/500/EC (17) , the Commission established sectoral dialogue committees to promote dialogue between social partners across sectors at EU level and laid down precise provisions concerning the establishment, representational make-up and operation of new sectoral committees, intended to be central bodies for consultation, joint initiatives and negotiations that can lead to the conclusion of agreements and their subsequent transposition into EU law by means of directives, if so requested by the social partners; whereas as the Commission acknowledged in its staff working document on the functioning and potential of the European sectoral social dialogue (18), these committees have contributed to improving European employment and social policies and working conditions in Europe and have helped design appropriate industrial policies; whereas the Commission concluded that there is a direct correlation between the effectiveness of national social dialogue and effectiveness at European level, and that each influences the other;

Z.

whereas the Commission is responsible for promoting and facilitating European social dialogue in accordance with Article 154 TFEU; whereas European sectoral social partners and their national affiliates should continue to receive support on administrative capacity, legal assistance and representation and EU funding for joint activities through European projects and capacity-building initiatives;

AA.

whereas the increasing digitalisation of the labour markets and new forms of work could pose a serious challenge to the representation of vulnerable workers and might jeopardise the European social model; whereas workers engaging in non-standard forms of work or in new forms of employment may suffer from a lack of representation; whereas the emergence of new forms of employment could make it more difficult for trade unions to recruit new members; whereas the Commission has recently adopted new guidelines on the application of Union competition law to collective agreements regarding the working conditions of solo self-employed persons, providing much needed clarity that certain self-employed people can negotiate collectively to improve their working conditions without breaching EU competition rules; whereas the right to engage in collective actions and bargaining has been clarified and extended to solo self-employed workers; whereas social partners should ensure that they remain open to, and can attract, all kinds of employers and workers with different employment contracts and statuses across all sectors such as solo self-employed or migrant workers, including from non-EU countries; whereas it is crucial that this approach ensures inclusion and diversity in social partners’ membership and leadership, recognising that today’s world of work is globalised and intercultural;

AB.

whereas workers in the care economy are predominantly women and persons with a migration background, whose working conditions and lack of representation expose them to precarious and unsafe jobs;