In February 2007, the fifth congress of the Building Workers Trade Union took place in Prague. More than 120 trade union delegates, representing over 24,000 union members, assessed the period since the last congress in 2003 and set new objectives for the period leading up to 2010. The congress adopted two concluding resolutions on collective bargaining and the liberalisation of employment law.
Main achievement highlighted
At the fifth congress of the Building Workers Trade Union of the Czech Republic (Odborový svaz Stavba ČR, OS Stavba) held on 9–10 February 2007, a summary of the progress achieved in the period since the last congress in 2003 was presented by OS Stavba Chair Stanislav Antoniv. Mr Antoniv highlighted the conclusion of a higher-level collective agreement for the sector (HLCA) as the union’s largest achievement. An agreement of this kind has been reached regularly since 1991 for the sector, which is one of the few sectors in the Czech Republic for which this is true (CZ0605019I). Annex 2 of the existing HLCA, concluded with the Association of Building Entrepreneurs of the Czech Republic (Svaz podnikatelů ve stavebnictví ČR, SPS ČR), provides a 3.5% wage increase for employees in 2007. The HLCA has been extended in scope: it now covers the majority of employers operating in the construction sector and affects more than 300,000 employees, which corresponds to approximately 90% of all employees in the sector. Within the union’s area of authority, 162 company-level collective agreements had been concluded as of the date of the congress, affecting 47,000 employees. In this context, Mr Antoniv also emphasised that the trade union’s central office had drawn up guidance material for its member organisations in the form of a sample company-level collective agreement.
Assessment of membership levels
According to Mr Antoniv, OS Stavba has maintained a good position in the Czech Republic and abroad and has succeeded in considerably slowing down the current trend towards falling membership numbers – at present, the union has over 24,000 members. Together with other trade unions that are members of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (Českomoravská konfederace odborových svazů, ČMKOS), which is the largest trade union association in the Czech Republic, OS Stavba helped to get the new Labour Code approved.
In contrast, efforts to establish contacts with young employees have been unsuccessful so far. In mid 2006, only 750 young people under the age of 27 years were registered members of OS Stavba’s affiliated union organisations, which contrasts significantly with the approximately 6,000 senior members. Among the trade union’s weak points are the level of union activity of the majority of members, the level of member interest in collective bargaining and in the work of the primary organisation, and the level of interest among members in performing union functions. The trade union was also unsuccessful in attracting foreign people working in the Czech construction sector to become union members.
Congress resolutions
In addition to ratifying a union programme up to 2010, the legal statutes and other documents, the congress also adopted two concluding resolutions: one on collective bargaining and another on the ‘liberalisation of employment law’.
In the collective bargaining resolution, the congress delegates emphasised the importance of social dialogue and collective bargaining at sectoral level, as well as the significance of extending the HLCA that have already been concluded. The resolution indicates that it is the extension of such agreements that would cause the HLCA concluded in the construction sector to achieve the significance comparable to similar agreements in the ‘old’ EU Member States. Therefore, OS Stavba declared that, in the coming years, it will continue to work towards the extension of its HLCA to cover employees working in the construction sector and thus to secure the level of social standards for the majority of the sector’s employees. According to the congress delegates, the sector-based collective agreement is also a basis for company-level collective agreements, which can be used as a means to raise social standards. The delegates consider retaining the high quality of social dialogue and maintaining social peace as essential elements in achieving this goal.
The second resolution concerns the generally binding labour law legislation that entered into force at the beginning of 2007. The new Labour Code, which was passed by the left-wing Czech Social Democratic Party (Ceská strana sociálne demokratická, CSSD) with the support of ČMKOS, has been criticised by employers from the outset and has been attacked by the current government (CZ0605029I). The delegates to the congress defended the Labour Code in view of these attacks and announced that they consider it to be a balanced legal standard that will provide a sufficient degree of labour market flexibility while protecting employees to the necessary extent.
It is in the best interests of OS Stavba that the construction sector continues to be a driving force within the economy and that it remains one of the most dynamically developing areas of economic activity, with stable and balanced growth in output, high employment and good wages.
Jaroslav Hála, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs