Industrial relations and working conditions developments in Europe 2011

This report describes the developments in industrial relations and working conditions in 2011 in the 27 EU Member States and Norway. It also considers EU-level industrial relations and working conditions with a focus on the economic situation and responses to it.

In the past, Eurofound has analysed trends in working conditions and industrial relations in two separate reports. But due to the important interdependences between the two areas, we have combined developments in working conditions and industrial relations into a single annual report.

Eurofound’s European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) and European Working Conditions Observatory (EWCO) remain reliable and up-to-date sources of news and comparative information on industrial relations and working conditions developments and trends for the key actors in the field of European social dialogue. The information published by these two observatories is supplied by a network of correspondents in each Member State and Norway, and at EU level.

However, the information provided by the correspondents relies on national sources and specific methodologies, and its nature can be very diverse in comparison with information from other sources. Thus, it is not always possible to conduct a proper comparative exercise.

The comparative exercise on which most of this report is based therefore refers to general trends at national level in order to depict developments in working conditions and industrial relations in 2011. Where possible, data from a harmonised source are employed in order to display trends common to all Member States and Norway.