Super Collective Agreements - Generated from the databases by workers and employers together - August 2016

The WageIndicator Sample Collective Bargaining Agreement: the solution for the greasy, slow and way too complex negotiation process in too many countries?

In July 2016, representatives of both Trade Unions and Employers of seven African countries joined for a workshop organized by Wageindicator and held at Amsterdam University. They worked together using the research tools provided by the Wageindicator Collective Agreements Database to create - almost automatically - what they considered to be the best possible models of Collective Bargaining Agreements for their own countries. These samples are a follow up on first samples created manually by WageIndicator team and the trade unions from Guatemala and Colombia .

What a Sample Collective Agreement is:

A sample Collective Agreement is a model of agreement which contains the best clauses and provisions for each topic for a specific country.

Building a Sample Collective Agreement:

Thanks to the comparison of the agreements already available on the Wageindicator Database, it is possible to highlight their best clauses and provisions for each topic and to merge them in one unique model which holds all the best practices per topic from all the agreements of the Database.

Why the need of a Sample Collective Agreement:

Collective Agreements may vary a lot in terms of inner structure and quality of contents: one Collective Agreement could possibly offer the best clauses and provisions regarding Maternity Leave, while being less developed and offering rather poorer provisions about other topics such as Wages or Working Hours.

But what if we were able to borrow all the best parts from each single Collective Agreement of one country and to merge them to create one unique model?

Following this intuition, we have created country specific models that offer:

  • The best structure: short, simple, easy to understand, country specific.

  • The best content: the best written clauses, the best provisions achieved in the negotiations, labour law supported.

 

A Taylor-made Sample Collective Agreement for each country, at least better than the basic Labour Law

The structure of each Sample agreement is faithful to the structure generally used in the agreements of that specific country, with constant references to its Labour Law.

Short quotes of the Labour Law in the agreement can help the social partners to target the goals of the negotiation by supporting it with the legal basis.

Including in the agreement the labor law provisions is a way to:

  • remind what is guaranteed by the law

  • highlight the improvements brought by the Sample

 

More workers covered by the Collective Agreements:

A sample Collective Agreement is a precious instrument to be used by the social partners during the negotiations because:

  • It supports the Trade Unions in creating new agreements to be proposed and discussed starting from a model which can be customized during the negotiations.

  • It fosters and strengthens the bargaining capacity of the Trade Unions during the negotiations by having the possibility to show the best practices already achieved by other Trade Unions and Employers in the same sector.

  • It is cheaper and faster: It reduces the costs and the time needed for the activities related to the ideation and development of the agreement; such as researches, analysis, consultations, meetings etc.

  • Being the output of the collection of the best parts borrowed from different Collective Agreements, the Sample guarantees more quality in terms of clauses and provisions.

 

A sample Collective Agreement is a document created by the social partners for their own actual use

The sample Collective Agreements of Wageindicator were created through a process of cooperation that involved both Trade Unions and Employers, with the technical supervision of the Wageindicator Database team. The direct participation and cooperation of the social partners in the creation of the Samples is a hallmark certifying not only their quality but also:

  • Agreements that take into consideration and answer the needs of the social partners

  • An instrument conceived and designed for its concrete use by the same creators

 

The Wageindicator Website currently hosts the Sample Collective Agreements of the following countries:

  • Example Burundi
  • Example Colombia
  • Example El Salvador
  • Example Ethiopia
  • Example Ghana
  • Example Guatemala
  • Example Kenya
  • Example Rwanda
  • Example Tanzania
  • Example Uganda





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