Strengthening social dialogue in the local and regional government sector in the ‘new’ Member States and candidate countries
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- 3.7.2 Economic and labour market situation
- 3.7.3 Industrial relations 33
- 3.7.4 Trade unions in the local and regional government sector
- 3.7.5 Employer organisations in the local and regional government sector
- 3.7.6 Collective bargaining in the sector
- 3.7.7 Key issues for the sector
- 3.7.8 Key achievements
3.7 Lithuania3.7.1 Background to local and regional governance31At present Lithuania has two levels of elected government, national and municipal. As a result local governments in Lithuania are among the biggest in Europe. There are altogether 61 municipalities. The country is also divided into 10 regions (counties) but the county level administrations are appointed by the national government. The process of territorial decentralisation started in 1995 when the new territorial-administrative reform was introduced in Lithuania. The European Charter of Local Self-Government was adopted in 1999 and the Constitution gave local government the right to draft and approve their own budgets, to set local fees and to levy local taxes. However, in general and historically the rights of local municipalities are very restricted as much of the governing powers are concentrated in the hands of state’s administration. The main responsibilities of municipalities are education, nurseries, kindergartens, welfare, personal services for elderly and handicapped, special services (such as for homeless individuals etc.), social housing, health services, culture & leisure & sports, provision of water & sewage and central heating, environment (refuse collection and disposal, street maintenance etc.), traffic and transport, urban development. Some of these activities are organised together with national or county administrations. County administrations are also involved in service delivery, though to a much lesser extent. They primarily focus on activities with a regional dimension, such as road maintenance and the organisation of certain educational and cultural activities. Local government revenues generally consist of tax revenues (personal income tax taxes on immovable property, stamp duties, tax on the use of marketplaces, inheritance and donations tax and other minor taxes established by law); non-tax revenues (revenues from municipal property, fines and forfeitures, local duties, revenues from local services, interest on funds in current accounts and revenues from land sold or leased) and grants from central government. 3.7.2 Economic and labour market situationLithuania was one of the economies to suffer quite severely from economic turmoil in Russia - in 1999 the GDP in the country fell by 4 per cent. However, by the first quarter of 2003 the economy had grown by some 9 per cent. A major feature of the transition from the Communist era in Lithuania (and other Baltic countries) was the dramatic fall in employment. In Lithuania the employment fell by nearly 20% between 1991 and 2001. The fall in employment is a composition of the decline in working age population caused by migration of Russian citizens and industrial restructuring, evidenced by a decline of employment in industry of 9.5 per cent. However, over the past few years the economic situation has improved and the unemployment rate has fallen from 16.1 per cent to 11.7 per cent in 2004.
3.7.3 Industrial relations33
In Lithuania, tripartite partnership at national level is much more developed than bipartite relations between employers and unions as the history of independent Lithuanian trade unions and employers’ organisations is relatively short. No bipartite agreements have been drawn at a national level, and all national agreements are made on a tripartite basis. There is also a dominance of bargaining at a company level, with sectoral bargaining taking place in very few sectors. The few sectoral agreements which exist were made by large, state-owned enterprises who monopolise their sector, for example in telecoms, energy and transport. Tripartite concertation is centred around the Tripartite Council of the Republic of Lithuania which was established in 1995 and has 15 members – five trade unions, five employer organisations and five government representatives. While the council is essentially a consultative body, tripartite agreements are now binding under the new Labour Code of 2002, and so any agreements rising from bipartite dialogue are endorsed and agreed on a tripartite basis. Bipartite social dialogue is weak for a number of reasons. Firstly, social partners have only a short, independent history in Lithuania (the government was the only employer until 1990 and trade unions only started to operate independently in 1990). Also, trade unions are at present relatively weak and employers’ organisations usually appear reluctant to engage in wider social issues. Therefore, the government plays a relatively active role and the social dialogue in Lithuania is being developed 'from the top down' , which means that in general, agreements are concluded on the basis of legislation instead of being developed as a consequence of any bipartite negotiations. These factors lead to weak collective bargaining. As mentioned, bargaining mainly takes place at the enterprise level and the coverage is very low at some 15-17 per cent – in January 2002, only 31 agreements were registered at branch, regional and national level, nine of which were invalid. It has been suggested that coherent and consistent legal regulations on collective agreements could help to solve the existent problems. Regional and sectoral level bargaining is presently undeveloped as social partners tend to have weak regional structures and there are few sectoral employers’ organisations in place to undertake dialogue with the unions. To address this, the government aims to promote social dialogue and social partnership at local and regional levels and regulate industrial relations through collective bargaining through new social partnership programme: the 2003/2004 Implementation Plan for the Development of Government, Trade Unions and Employers Organisations Social Partnership. In terms of organisation, unions in Lithuania are generally organised on a company basis and at sectoral and national levels. Many unions are discouraged from joining federations by the membership fees, and this is perhaps one reason for the weakness of the union movement in Lithuania. It is estimated that between 12-16 per cent of the total workforce is unionised, and this figure is declining. There are two main employers’ organisations participating in social dialogue, along with two intersectoral regional organisations. The organisation rate of employers is not known. 3.7.4 Trade unions in the local and regional government sectorThe key trade unions in the sector are:
3.7.5 Employer organisations in the local and regional government sectorThere are no employer organisations which are mandated to bargain collectively in the sector. There are organisations representing employers in the sector but their activities are mainly focussed on lobbying and they are avoiding situations where they would need to sign collective agreements. The main organisation is the Association of Local Authorities in Lithuania. The Association is a member of CEMR. 3.7.6 Collective bargaining in the sectorOverall, social dialogue is very weakly developed in local/regional government sector in Lithuania. Employment conditions (wages and other conditions) of civil servants are regulated by the Lithuanian State Service Law, which is drafted by the central government unilaterally. The law determines salary scales according to incumbency (length of service). The main reason for the lack of bargaining is an absence of employers' organisations. Bipartite collective agreements on the wages of public employees in the local and regional government sector are concluded at local and regional levels in areas where trade unions are active. Conditions are negotiated between trade unions and individual employers. Employers set the wages unilaterally in localities where trade unions are inactive. The latest collective agreement at regional level was concluded in 2004 and the negotiations take place every two, three years. There are no national or sectoral level salary negotiations for public employees at municipalities as there are no employer organisations in the sector. Terms and conditions (working conditions, training, financial aid for employees and vacation) are also determined through collective bargaining at regional and local levels. The replies indicated that there is some, although still rather weak, dialogue between the sectoral trade union and employers in the sector on other key issues affecting the sector. Meetings are held to discuss issues affecting the sector, such as extra social guarantees for employees, wage increases, holidays etc. 3.7.7 Key issues for the sector
3.7.8 Key achievementsTrade unions have received a proposal from the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection to unite efforts in order to initiate creation of new employer law. Directory: docs docs -> Application for acem docs -> Observational Assessment of Teaching Practices Teaching Assessment Initiative Proposal Submitted to The Teachers for a New Era project docs -> Traditional British values docs -> From Warfighters to Crimefighters: The Origins of Domestic Police Militarization docs -> Borzoi Club of America Register of Merit Program I. What is a Register Of Merit docs -> Protecting the rights of the child in the context of migration docs -> United Nations E/C. 12/Esp/5 docs -> 9th May 1950 the schuman declaration docs -> Getting To Outcomes® in Services for Homeless Veterans 10 Steps for Achieving Accountability Download 0.91 Mb. Share with your friends:
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