Are Estonia’s industrial relations coming to maturity? Trade unions have traditionally been viewed as extensions of the country’s communist era and as such have struggled to secure legitimacy. However things have now changed and evidenced by the agreement signed on 26 January 2018 and termed as ‘historic’ by its signatories the EAKL (Estonia Union Confederation), and TÖÖANDJAD (Estonia Employers Confederation). Notably, this landmark agreement sets out representation criteria, and in intending for criteria to extend collective agreements closely mirrors the Nordic industrial relations model.
Extending industrial relations. Currently, and in line with the Polish and Hungarian models, legal extensions to collective agreements were rarely implemented and any extension to a collective agreement was seen as extremely unusual. Thus the interest in the 26 January agreement for it includes the possibility to extend and thus trade unions will be able to augment their influence and solidify their credibility.
In Estonia, agreement signatories decide whether or not to apply provisions over sal
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