Representativeness of the European social partner organisations: Railways sector

This report examines the operations of social partner organisations and collective bargaining in the railways sector. The first part, focusing on rail operations, was carried out in 2006, while the second part, on rail infrastructure, was completed in 2007. Each part consists of three main sections. The first section outlines the economic background of the railways sector. The second section analyses the social partner organisations in all Member States of the European Union, apart from Cyprus, Malta and (in the case of railway operations) Sweden, with particular emphasis on membership, role in collective bargaining and public policy, and national and European affiliations. The final section profiles the relevant European organisations, in particular their membership composition and capacity to negotiate. The aim of the representativeness studies is to identify the relevant national and supranational social partner organisations in the field of industrial relations in selected sectors. The impetus for these studies arises from the goal of the European Commission to recognise the representative social partner associations to be consulted under the EC Treaty provisions. Hence, this study seeks to provide the basic information required to establish sectoral social dialogue.