Sectoral collective bargaining


Sectoral collective bargaining is an aim of trade unions or labor unions to reach a collective agreement that covers all workers in a sector of the economy. It contrasts to enterprise bargaining where agreements cover individual firms. Generally countries with sectoral collective bargaining have higher rates of union organisation and better coverage of collective agreements than countries with enterprise bargaining.

Coverage by country

Countries that have sectoral collective bargaining have significantly higher rates of coverage than those with enterprise or individual workplace bargaining.
CountryCoverage in 2015System
France98%Sector
Belgium96%Sector
Austria95%Sector
Finland91%Sector
Portugal89%Sector
Sweden89%Sector
Netherlands84%Sector
Denmark80%Sector
Italy80%Sector
Norway73%Sector
Spain69%Sector
Slovenia65%Sector
Croatia61%Sector
Germany59%Sector
Ireland44%Enterprise
Czech Republic38%Enterprise
United Kingdom29%Enterprise
United States10%Enterprise
Greece10%Enterprise

United Kingdom

While sectoral bargaining used to be standard in the UK, enterprise bargaining was advocated by the 1968 report of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations chaired by Lord Donovan.

United States

Sectoral bargaining was promoted by the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, but struck down and replaced by enterprise bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.