Fundamental rights related to the social partners

Participants in this session mentioned their appreciation for the regular tripartite meetings (employerstrade unions-government) to discuss the labour laws. They regretted the fact that the last meeting had been over a year ago (as of October 2023), although they understood that this was linked to the turbulent political situation in Estonia. According to the participants, a good legal framework and good practices for the inclusion of the social partners in government policy-making processes existed; however, the implementation was problematic. For example, the consultation period was often deemed too short and the social partners claimed that it did not allow them enough time to consult internally. Participants felt that there had been a recent rise in this phenomenon of consultation periodsthat were too short, particularly since the start of the COVID19 pandemic. Participants considered that the social partners' capacity was limited for various reasons. They explained that their organisations depended on membership fees and that Estonia had amongst the lowest density of union coverage in the EU. Participants believed that this low union density could be linked to the demographic situation in Estonia, a lack of education about trade unions, the large number of small companies, and a lack of capacity in the trade unions to promote their work and therefore recruit more members. It was also believed that some employers might threaten their employees against joining unions, and reference was made to the situation of Russian-speaking dockworkers. Participants agreed that the Estonian workforce was not sufficiently aware of their right to freedom of association as part of social partner organisations. Participants also considered that the lack of funding and staff in the labour inspectorate was problematic.