Strengthening collective bargaining is at the heart of the EU Minimum Wage Directive — but how do we get there?

September 5, 2025

Our project TRUE Europe explores one of the missing pieces: trust between employees’ and employers’ representatives. By studying how trust shapes bargaining in metal, transport, and finance sectors across eight European countries, we provide insights into what makes collective bargaining more stable, effective, and inclusive.

This knowledge directly supports the Directive’s goal of raising bargaining coverage and ensuring adequate wages for all workers.

📄 The ETUI’s new country profile overview, edited by Torsten Müller, also features contributions from our team: Inga Blažienė from the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences wrote the chapter on Lithuania, and CELSI researchers Adam Šumichrast and Monika Martišková authored the chapters on Slovakia and Czechia.

🔗 The following 27 country profiles provide a brief and easily accessible overview of the situation and recent developments in minimum wages and collective bargaining in the 27 EU Member States: https://www.etui.org/minimum-wage-regimes-and-collective-bargaining-eu

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