Working Time Policy: The New Collective Bargaining Challenges

This can lead to conflicts which it is primarily the responsibility of the bargaining parties at the establishment level to solve. Unions and employers’ associations can facilitate this by establishing framework agreements which do not restrict establishments’ room to negotiate. The first steps in this direction have already been taken in the form of working time arrangements within the framework of so-called demographic collective agreements. These are now being followed by option models that offer a choice between higher pay and more leisure time. A further step would be to merely specify a working time framework in collective agreements, leaving companies to organize their working hours with their employees individually and freely. The less bureaucratically this can be implemented, the greater companies’ acceptance of collective bargaining rules should be.