Understanding Labor Agreements: Types and Key Differences
Understanding Labor Agreements
Types of Contracts
- Standard Arrangements: Ensuring everyone has the same terms.
- Professional Groups: Occupational classifications.
- Minimum Conditions: Essential safety and health measures in the workplace.
- Geographic Mobility: Employer’s right to transfer employees between work sites.
Business Succession Scenarios
In cases of mortis causa succession (hereditary succession), when Company A acquires Company B within the same sector, existing collective agreements remain with each company until their terms expire. Upon expiration, a new agreement can be negotiated to unify or maintain separate terms. Employers may operate multiple companies under different agreements.
Membership and Extension of Collective Agreements
Membership
Authorized parties negotiate an agreement and choose to adhere to an existing one rather than creating a new one. This agreement must be documented in writing, specifying the attached collective agreement. The existing agreement must be of the same level and scope as the one they would have created.
Extension
In negotiations, unions typically represent workers, especially in specific sectors. If the appropriate negotiating party is unclear, worker representatives can request the administration to apply a collective agreement from the relevant industry.
Differences Between Statutory and Extra-Statutory Agreements
Extra-statutory agreements are unregulated and created freely by the parties involved to resolve deadlocks in statutory collective agreement negotiations.
Statutory collective agreements are effective for all individuals, not just signatories. Courts require extra-statutory agreements to include a clause allowing other workers to join. Extra-statutory agreements are considered alongside individual contracts within employment law.
Collective Enterprise Agreements
The 1994 labor regulation reform introduced the possibility for employers to reach agreements with worker representatives outside of collective bargaining. Key materials covered include:
- Professional Classification: Very important for defining roles.
- Working Time: Establishing the work calendar.
- Payment Terms: Specifying the place, time, and method of wage payment.
- Consultation Outcomes: Agreements resulting from consultation periods, such as collective redundancies or significant changes to working conditions.
These agreements, like statutory collective bargaining, are regulatory and binding on all negotiators.
Framework Agreements (Art. 83 ET)
Interprofessional
Agreements negotiated by the most representative unions and employer associations at the regional or national level.
Specific
Negotiated by unions and business associations within a specific trade, focusing on a particular subject at the state or autonomous region level.