Social dialogue is an essential part of the relationship between employers and public officials. Nurtured across decades, it is profoundly influenced by national character and public service models. It is also undergoing a thoroughgoing transformation.

How do other countries organise this partnership? What are the practices outside France, and how can Europe contribute to changing and even harmonising regulations?

We can make an initial correlation between the employment regime and the role of the social partners: although professional organisations are consulted for legislation that applies to staff covered by the staff regulations, they generally (with the exception of Finland) negotiate binding agreements – by category or branch – only for contract staff.

At the end of 2017, a study of the central administrations of EU Member States revealed that the scope of these collective agreements is still quite diverse. They may cover all areas (as in Ireland and Sweden), exclude some areas (such as pensions in Italy or Greece) or even be confined to a single area (working time in Croatia or remuneration in the United Kingdom).

Most social dialogue is established directly and equally between the various levels of the administration and the representative trade unions. Italy, however, has created ARAN, a dedicated negotiating structure that represents all public employers (central government, provinces, municipalities), which are grouped into twelve colleges.

In Germany, collective agreements (TVöD) are by category, using the rationale of a career civil service, or region-based, while in the UK they are sectoral (8 Pay Review Bodies), since it is an employment-based civil service. In Spain, contractualisation and organisational restructuring have, over the years, led to an increase in the number of agreements, and the Spanish government is carrying out a wide-ranging consolidation effort in a bid to streamline management.

The employers of the central administrations of 17 European countries (11 members¹ and 6 observers² as part of the European Public Administration Employers association, EUPAE) and the Trade Unions’ National and European Administration Delegation (TUNED) have set up a Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee (SSDC). This body is now the main source of proposals to the Commission for the development of strategies that have an impact on administrations.

The Committee has issued a number of declarations, framework agreements and recommendations. After an initial project in late 2017 that gave rise to the publication of a guide (available in several languages) on tackling psychosocial risks, it has begun a new effort on the impact of digital technology on employees' work/life balance.
 

¹ Belgium, Spain, France (represented by the DGAFP), Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and United Kingdom

² Germany, Austria, Hungary, Malta and Portugal