Abstract: Collective bargaining is recognized as an important tool for regulation of labour relations and employees’ rights in Russia. The first collective agreements were concluded in the beginning of the twentieth century, but from the 1920s on they were excluded from the instruments used to regulate labour relations for decades. During late Soviet period collective bargaining was widely used at the local level, although it served more to increase productivity and industrial mobilization or regulate social issues and did not impact wages and numerous other issues that were stipulated directly by law. Today collective bargaining plays an important role as an instrument of regulation and is considered to be the most serious form of social partnership by social partners at all levels as well as by state officials. Trade unions are the main workers’ representatives for collective bargaining and conclude thousands of collective agreements from the local level to the General Agreement at the national level. Though collective bargaining itself is limited to collective agreements, the subjects covered by collective agreements under the law are wide and could enable their use as a strong and effective instrument. But the quality of collective agreements are not always high, and many of them have very modest impact on the actual regulation of working conditions. What the reasons are for this situation, whether trade unions have bargaining power in Russia, and what actual role collective bargaining plays among the social partners are discussed in this chapter. The chapter considers the legal regulation of workers’ representation for collective bargaining purposes and collective bargaining procedures, legal reforms introduced on the issue during recent decades and currently, the content of collective agreements at different levels, and collective bargaining trends and challenges. It defines strengthens, weaknesses, gaps and the effectiveness of both collective bargaining procedures and collective agreements at different levels. The compliance of the Labour Code’s provisions on collective bargaining with international labour standards is analysed, and recommendations on changes needed are provided.
Publication Year: 2019
Publication Date: 2019-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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