Annex I: Possible initiatives to promote fair wages through social dialogue in EU Member States (non-exhaustive)
Capacity building
Further use of existing regulation
ESF+
•
Promote even stronger use of European Social Fund+
for the capacity building of national social partners in
all Member States
•
Encourage using the European Social Fund (ESF+) to
support projects that promote social dialogue in
Member States and
•
Promote bilateral and unilateral activities involving
the social partners in order to further and disseminate
collective bargaining structures in all Member States.
•
Encourage the use of the possibilities under European
Structural Funds (e.g. ESF+) to promote projects
covered by collective agreements.
Council Conclusions on “A new start for a strong
Social Dialogue” (2016)
•
Support further implementation and development.
Transparency
Use of existing regulation
The European Semester
•
Extend the use of the European Semester to include
Country Specific Recommendations on the outcome
regarding the effectiveness, transparency and
involvement of social partners in wage-setting
mechanisms.
•
Provide more analysis identifying barriers to social
dialogue in individual countries in order to target
Additional suggestions for the Commission
•
Regularly present information on wage-levels, wage-
formation, collective bargaining etc. in Member States to
help raise awareness and upward convergence
–
more
frequently than the annual review on minimum wages
published by Eurofound and targeted collective
bargaining and social dialogue in Member States.
Include social dialogue in the Commission’s
impact
assessment of relevant new regulation.
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Additional suggestions for Member States
Additional suggestions for the Commission
•
Support capacity building through mutual learning and
exchange of best practices. One way of doing so could be
to introduce a 1:1-mentoring programme between
Member States.
Additional suggestions for Member States
•
Member States should take the necessary steps to
“support
the improvement of the functioning and
effectiveness of social dialogue at national level,
which is conducive to collective bargaining and
creates an appropriate space for social partners'
negotiations”
(Council Conclusions on A new
start
for a strong Social Dialogue, 2016)
Provide better opportunities for social partners to
enter into supplementary agreements or implement
legislation through collective agreements.
•
•
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According
to the current Commission guidelines on Impact assessments they must include a description of the environmental, social and economic impacts. As examples on social
impacts are mentioned: Levels of education and training, fundamental rights, employment and skills, social inclusion, poverty etc.
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