A collective agreement is the result of collective bargaining. It regulates the relations between the employer and employees, respectively between the employer and trade unions.
A collective agreement of a higher level is concluded for a larger number of employers; between employers’ organisation – association (one or more) and trade union (one or more).
Collective agreements of a higher level are negotiated for individual economic sectors on a national or regional scale.
According to Art. 3 par. 1 of Directive 957/2018/EU, Member States shall ensure, regardless of which legal order is applied to the employment relationship, that enterprises guarantee, on the basis of equal treatment to workers who are posted to their territory, the working conditions /hard core conditions/ applicable to these areas that are established in the Member State of performance of work:
- in laws, other legal regulations or administrative measures and/or
- in collective agreements or in arbitration awards that have been declared generally applicable or are otherwise applied in accordance with paragraph 8.
Components that are declared to be generally applicable by national law or collective agreements or are otherwise applicable to all local workers in the geographical area or the sector concerned are considered to be mandatorily applicable for posted workers.
Pursuant to Art. 3 par. 8 of Directive 96/71/EC, collective agreements or arbitration awards that have been declared to be generally applicable, mean such collective agreements or arbitration awards that must be observed by all enterprises in a given geographical area and in the relevant profession or industry.
Currently there are no higher-level collective agreements applicable for posted workers.