Employment relations in the EU: focus on Denmark and the UK

Hi everyone, this is going to be my second blog post I hope you find it useful and learn some stuff from it!

The first thing to note about the European model of employment relations is that it contains a range of elements that are of different importance to each of the 27 nations that are part of the EU. Although there is the overall model put in place, each individual country has its own traditions and historical contexts that will affect it's employment relations schemes. 

The three characteristics that are noteworthy in highlighting what is unique about the European model are as follows:

1) the collective representativeness of employee and employee interest: both workers and employers interact in a variety of ways and at different level. This gave rise to the social partnership model

2) employee participation rights: a general decentralisation of employee relations has led to an increase in the importance of employee participation. Workers are involved in decision making through representative structures of works councils, enterprise committees, trade union bodies and similar bodies.

3) the EU as an ER and IR regulator: the breadth of European social policy has produced a close interweaving of European and national legislation in the area of employment

Differences in collective bargaining coverage rates (i.e. number of employees that are covered by collective agreements)...

UK: 38%

DENMARK: 82%

Union Density:

UK: 28%

DENMARK: 65%

Employment regulation in the public sector:

UK: there are group specific differentiations, but it is mostly decentralised

DENMARK: a mix of centralised and decentralised for all employees

Limitations on the right to strike:

UK: collective action is limited to disputes between workers and their employer. Since 1981 a number of laws have restricted the right to strike.

 DENMARK: statutory civil servants do not have the right to strike. Strike bans exist for groups of civil servants, members of the army, navy, police and judiciary as well as for employees in the railway or postal services.

So therefore the overall differences in characteristics are:

UK: in the case of the senior civil service, pay is determined centrally by the government on the recommendation of the Senior Salary Review Body; the pay review bodies system covers about 35 % of all public employees, including UK teachers, nurses and all employees of the National Health Service. Civil servants’ pay determination and HRM have been delegated to lower levels. The majority of civil service conditions of service, including pay, are the responsibility of the individual government departments and agencies.
DENMARK: collective bargaining and central and de-centralised levels. National framework agreement. Negotiations also at the local level, within strong coordination mechanisms.

 
So there you have the basic differences between the two systems, who are still both operating under the EU but clearly have very different ideas towards ER!

Hope this gave you all some information you can use in next weeks tutorial!