As a worker, a strong trade union can make your case known. The bigger the membership base of a trade union, the more a union can achieve.
Strong trade unions can increase their efforts when negotiating with multiple employers. They will be able to improve wages and working
conditions and fight against inequality.
Strengthening multi-employer bargaining can also be achieved by capturing it in legislation and government policies. For example, committees
consisting of both trade unions and employers' associations could be set up. These would negotiate and set minimum standards and working
conditions for a sector. You can support the parties who are in favour of such legislation, for example during elections.
Trade unions can do a lot to develop multi-employer bargaining. Depending on the legal framework and the willingness of the employers, many
different strategies exist to work towards setting standards through collective agreements that apply to multiple companies.
Also, extending the coverage of existing collective agreements is an option. Depending on the legal framework and national culture, trade
unionists could undertake to extend sectoral agreements to cover related sectors or companies. This can also happen at the company level.
A collective agreement for a single company can be extended to cover all subsidiaries and suppliers, or related services. This not only
increases the number of workers covered by a collective agreement; it also pools the resources of unions and employers, making collective
bargaining more professional and effective.
As an employer, there is much to gain with a multi-employer agreement. To support multi-employer bargaining, employers should form employer
federations which have the right and mandate to bargain for them collectively.
Convincing other employers about the necessity of multi-employer agreements can also help reduce any fear or resistance against
multi-employer bargaining. If no bargaining at all is taking place at these other employers, you can even support these organizations in
setting up single-employer bargaining as a first step towards multi-employer agreements.
Employers can also get together in a 'coalition of the willing'. Such a group should support the idea to advance multi-employer bargaining
and start negotiations with trade unions.
Strengthening multi-employer bargaining can be achieved by capturing it in legislation and government policies. For example, committees
consisting of both trade unions and employers' associations could be set up. These would negotiate and set minimum standards and working
conditions for a sector. As a citizen, you can support the parties who are in favour of such legislation, for example during elections.
Moreover, trade unions sometimes indicate that specific employers are not following or engaging in multi-employer bargaining and advise
taking action against these companies. As a citizen, you can support these actions.
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