The role of trade unions in improving productivity - Related links

European Commission

• Pact for European social dialogue signed between the European Commission and social partners (5.3.2025)
• Factsheet: The Competitiveness Compass (29.1.2025)
• EU Commission Special Topic Article: Productivity growth in the EU: is there a trade-off with employment growth? - European Commission (15.11.2024)
• Report by Mario Draghi: The future of EU competitiveness (9.9.2024)
• Fact Sheet: Transitioning to a Low Carbon Economy: Trade Unions and the Jobs Versus Environment Dilemma (6.7.2024)
• Policies and activities: Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights
• Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the EESC and the COR: Strengthening social dialogue in the European Union: harnessing its full potential for managing fair transitions (25.1.2023; COM(2023) 40 final)

European Parliament

• MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on social and employment aspects of restructuring processes: the need to protect jobs and workers’ rights | B10-0143/2025 | European Parliament (28.1.2025)
• Social Dialogue: Fact Sheets on the European Union. Social dialogue
• European Parliament - EPRS - The trade union role to prevent and minimise the negative impacts of AI on the world of work (8.4.2024)
• Press Release: MEPs call for stronger collective bargaining for workers | News | European Parliament (1.6.2023)

Eurofund

• Research Report: Moving with the times: Emerging practices and provisions in collective bargaining (31.8.2022)

OECD

• Policy Brief: Can collective bargaining help close the gender wage gap for women in non-standard jobs? | OECD (17.7.2020)
• Working Paper: Productivity and wage effects of firm-level collective agreements | OECD (11.2.2019)
• OECD (2019), Negotiating Our Way Up: Collective Bargaining in a Changing World of Work, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/1fd2da34-en.

Think tanks and other organisations

• Heinrich Böll Stiftung: Trade unions, collective bargaining and the green transition in the next EU legislative period (16.4.2024)
• IEA Research Publication- J.R. Shackleton Unions Resurgent? The Past, Present and Uncertain Future of Trade Unions in Britain (5.9.2024)
• Bruegel Analysis: Collective bargaining is associated with lower income inequality (14.3.2023)
• Bruegel – GMF – Transatlantic Expert Group on the Future of Work: Trade Unions, collective bargaining and income inequality: a transatlantic comparative analysis (10.3.2023)
• CEPS: Analysis of EU-level policies on strengthening collective bargaining and tackling inequality (14.11.2022)
• British Journal of Industrial Relations Article - Svarstad and Kostol: Unions, collective agreements and productivity: A firm-level analysis using Norwegian matched employer-employee panel data (14.1.2022)
• IZA Institute of Labor Economics- IZA Discussion Paper Are Unions Detrimental to Innovation? Theory and Evidence (16.2.2021)
• Uni Europa: Study – Collective Bargaining Systems in Europe (2021)
• International Labour Organization: Covid-19 and Recovery: The Role of Trade Unions in Building Forward Better (2021)
• Economic Journal Article- Barth et al. Union Density Effects on Productivity and Wages (April 2020)
• Business Europe: Press release - EU trade unions and employers want ambitious EU industrial strategy (9.10.2019)
• International Labour Organization: Productivity improvement and the role of trade unions (2015)