New Eurofound report on capacity building for effective social dialogue in the EU

The report identifies capacity-building needs and initiatives for effective social dialogue at  national level, the involvement in European social dialogue and the European Semester, as well as the development of membership and services for members.

Regarding the capacity building initiatives at European level, the report points out numerous programmes and calls for proposals financed by the EU Institutions to strength and further develop effective social dialogue. The aim of these initiatives is to reinforce the link between national and European social dialogue, and to identify common relevant issues. Despite the work of the EU Institutions to promote and support social dialogue, the report describes better links between the EU and national levels of industrial relations as key to achieve more effective social dialogue.

The report also gives an overview of the main hindering factors for the development of social dialogue, such as fragmented landscapes of actors, a lack of sectoral collective bargaining and a lack of representativeness, low collective bargaining coverage and in some countries a dominant role of the state.

The main needs identified by Eurofound include:

• legislative reforms to promote social dialogue and collective bargaining
• supportive role of the state
• increased membership, representativeness and capacity, and mandate to negotiate
• better human resources and development of skills in the social partners organisations
• better financial resources

Moreover, the Eurofound report also highlights that social dialogue should be supported by public policy through the allocation of public money and targeted actions of public authorities.

Have access to the report here.