2025-05-22
| Belgrade

Development of Collective Bargaining in the Care, Administration, and Waste Management Sectors in Central and Eastern European Countries

CEECAW Project

The Center for Democracy Foundation organized a workshop and roundtable discussion on May 22, 2025, in Belgrade, as part of the project “Challenges of Organizing and Collective Bargaining in the Care, Administration, and Waste Management Sectors in Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries” (CEECAW).

The workshop topics on strengthening collective bargaining in the care, public administration, and waste management sectors included increasing the coverage of collective bargaining in EU countries, as well as the challenges and potential pathways for collective bargaining in Central and Eastern European countries.

Participants included: Barbara Surdykowska (Institute of Public Affairs, IPA, Poland); Dr. Thorstein Müller (European Trade Union Institute for Research); Miloš Vlaisavljević (European Federation of Public Service Unions); Jovan Protić (International Labour Organization); Jovana Spajić Erdeljan (International Labour Organization); as well as representatives of trade unions and civil society organizations.

Four national reports on collective bargaining in Serbia, prepared by the Center for Democracy Foundation within the CEECAW project, were presented at the workshop. Reports for the care and public administration sectors were presented by Aleksandra Mirković (UGS Nezavisnost), and the key findings for the waste management sector and the development of collective bargaining in Serbia were presented by Ivan Kuzmanović (CDF).

Roundtable on the Development of Collective Bargaining in the Care, Administration, and Waste Management Sectors in Serbia

The roundtable gathered representatives of various sectoral trade unions from Serbia to discuss current issues, the existing capacities of unions, and potential strategies for improving bargaining power and expanding collective agreement coverage in the three mentioned sectors in Serbia.

Participants in the discussion included: Slađana Kiković (UGS Nezavisnost); Nebojša Pejčinović (Sectoral Union of Administration, Defense, Justice, and Police Nezavisnost); Dragan Matić (Industrial Union of Serbia); Željko Veselinović (Sloga Union); Dragan Marjanović (Confederation of Free Trade Unions); Nataša Todorović (Red Cross of Serbia, Gerontological Society of Serbia); Nataša Vučković (Center for Democracy Foundation); and others.

The goal of the CEECAW project is to develop collective bargaining (CB) in three sectors (care, waste management, central public administration sectors) in the EU Central Eastern European countries (CEEC) and Serbia (an EU candidate country). The project aims at supporting trade unions (at sectoral and national levels) in the implementation of the goals indicated in Article 4 of the Adequate Minimum Wage Directive in EU.

The project is funded by the European Commission (DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion). It is implemented by the Institute of Public Affairs, IPA (Poland), as the project coordinator, and the partner organizations: Center for Democracy Foundation, FCD (Serbia); Lithuanian Center for Social Sciences, LSMC (Lithuania); Central European Labour Studies Institute, CELSI (Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia); Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, IPS BAS (Bulgaria); European Federation of Public Service Unions, EPSU (EU level); Federation of Health and Social Workers' Unions, FZZPOZIPS (Poland), as an associate partner.