Collective agreement
Updated: 28.01.2022
The collective agreement contains the terms and conditions of work, such as salaries and wages, working hours, sick pay, pay for work on mid-week holidays etc. The agreed terms and conditions set the minimum. The collective agreement is made between the sectoral Union and employer organisation or an individual company.
The collective agreements may be universally binding, normally binding or company-specific. The terms and conditions of a universally binding collective agreement must be followed at every workplace in the respective sector. The terms and conditions of the normally binding collective agreement must be followed in all companies that belong to the employer organisation signing the agreement. As the name indicates, the company-specific agreements apply to one company.
PAM has made agreements of all of the above types. However, most of PAM’s members are covered by universally binding agreements. They include those made for the commercial sector, tourism, restaurant and leisure services, facilities services and guarding.
The Unions and Employers Federations that have made the agreements monitor the compliance with the collective agreement at the workplaces. If there is disagreement at the workplace about the interpretation of the agreement, the matter will be resolved in accordance with the so-called negotiation order. According to the negotiation order, it is primarily the job of the shop steward at the workplace to negotiate. After that, the dispute will be transferred to the Union and Employer Federation for resolution. If the company does not belong to the Employer Federation, there is no such negotiation order, and in worst case scenarios disputes must be resolved in court.
It is also advisable that the employee follows the materialisation of the minimum terms of the agreement. Once the agreement is made, the Union and the employer organisation commit themselves to industrial peace, meaning that during the DURATION of the collective agreement, no industrial action is allowed.
The collective agreement is made for a definite period of time.