How does the United States compare to other democracies in terms of recognition and negotiation? First, let`s look at the usual suspects. Collective bargaining coverage is much higher in any continental European country than in the United States. (I exclude Central and Eastern Europe, which will be discussed shortly.) While trade union density has declined in several European countries, collective bargaining remains high and relatively stable. The density of the Union in Western Europe varies from less than 10% in France to almost 80% in Sweden; but collective bargaining is above 80% throughout Germany, except in Germany, where it is above 60%. Several factors have contributed to a more favourable environment for collective bargaining: centralised labour market regulation, trade union participation in unemployment insurance in some countries and favourable legal frameworks for trade unions. The exclusive role of trade unions as the only party entitled to engage in collective bargaining on the workers` side is being questioned in countries that have either a relatively low trade union density or a «two-channel» system of workers` representation with non-unionised bodies such as works councils at company level. In the three Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, authorised workers` representatives, some of whom are works council bodies, are legally entitled to conclude collective agreements at company level if the workers are not represented by a trade union. The same was true for Hungary between 1998 and 2002, before the government deprived works councils of the right to conclude collective agreements (HU0210101E). In Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, works councils can renegotiate certain collective bargaining standards at company level or conclude supplementary company agreements if this is justified by collective agreements at sectoral level (e.g. by the use of an «opening clause»). In France, since 1998, trade unions have had the possibility of appointing a «mandated worker» in companies without union representation who can enter into collective bargaining at company level. However, the final agreement must be confirmed by the union (FR9807123E). First, education policymakers and society in general should be concerned about the wider impact on the education sector of changes in collective bargaining for public sector workers, as it turns out that reduced education spending and lower teachers` salaries are associated not only with impaired teacher labor markets, but also to the deterioration of student results.
In the broadest sense, such legislative changes could worsen the overall quality of public education and education systems in states that have experienced the legal changes. One area in which further development is to be expected concerns the structure of collective bargaining, i.e. h.: the level at which various issues should be resolved; the range of jobs, territory and personnel to be regulated by the agreement; and the relations between the various craft trade unions negotiating with a common employer. Many long and costly strikes arose from disagreements that were not primarily over compensation, but over the structure of negotiations. 7. This literature notes that teachers` unions are associated with higher salaries (Han 2019; Merkle and Phillips 2018; Belman, Heywood & Lund, 1997; Freeman and Valletta, 1988; Ehrenberg und Schwarz, 1986; Lipsky, 1982). Several studies have also shown that teachers` unions play an important role in increasing employee benefits for teachers (Eberts and Stone, 1984; Delaney, 1985; Podgurski, 2003; Cowen and Strunk, 2015). Trade unions also improve the working conditions of members (pupil-teacher ratio, required hours, etc.) and the general well-being (teachers` morale, etc.). (Hoxby, 1996; Han 2019; Han and Keefe 2020).
In addition, unionized teachers become more involved in politics when they become aware of how legislators affect school finances. This finding stems from research examining what happens in school districts when states ask them to bargain collectively with their teachers` unions and have greater capacity for political organizing (Flavin and Hartney, 2015; Paglayan 2019).