8-9 April 2025, Larnaca
EFFAT held a workshop in Larnaca, Cyprus which brought together 35 participants from 13 countries as part of the EU-funded Stronger Hospitality project. The two-day event (April 8-9) focused on best practices in collective bargaining agreements within the hospitality sector, the value of social dialogue for employers, and developing recommendations to strengthen tourism trade unions, social dialogue, and collective bargaining throughout the industry.
Key Insights from Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey 2024
The workshop opened with Eurofound presenting preliminary results from their 2024 European Working Conditions Survey. This comprehensive study, conducted every five years through face-to-face interviews with 35,000 workers across 35 countries, explores topics including work-life balance, health and safety, income, training, and worker representation. The preliminary findings for the hospitality sector revealed significant challenges facing hotel and catering workers, particularly in food services. These challenges include:
- Gender segregation
- Job insecurity and precariousness
- Limited access to training
- High prevalence of atypical hours and shift work
- Low incomes creating financial hardship
- Work-life balance difficulties
- Limited access to worker representation and trade unions
This study provided an excellent foundation for the presentations that followed, where affiliates from Italy, Spain, France, Ireland, Denmark, and Belgium shared best practices in collective bargaining for the tourism industry.
Best Practices in Collective Bargaining
Improving Work-Life Balance
Collective bargaining agreements can significantly enhance working time organization and work-life balance through:
- Adequate advance notice for work schedules
- Enabling workers to request specific days off or weekend exemptions
- Limiting maximum weekly working hours
- Strict regulation of overtime
- Enhanced provisions for personal, paternity, and maternity leave
Enhancing Health and Safety
Effective collective agreements include strict provisions against workplace violence (particularly gender-based) and bullying through:
- Protections against dismissal for violence victims
- Mandatory training programs
- Comprehensive risk assessments
Climate change impacts and commuting challenges are also being addressed in progressive agreements, with some hotels in the UK providing parking facilities or safe transportation for late-shift workers.
Combating Precarious Employment
Collective bargaining plays a crucial role in:
- Limiting zero-hour contracts (Denmark) and flexible jobs (Belgium)
- Establishing clear conditions for fixed-term contracts
- Ensuring fair remuneration through negotiation
Supporting Seasonal Workers
Several measures aimed at improving conditions for seasonal workers were highlighted:
- Limiting seasonal contracts to specific events
- Implementing automatic renewal or priority hiring for subsequent seasons
- Creating pathways to permanent employment after defined periods
- Ensuring access to training between seasons
- Providing affordable housing options
- Offering administrative and legal support
- Creating access to full-time contracts
Strengthening Union Access
All speakers emphasized the vital role unions play in supporting hospitality workers, especially the most vulnerable. Collective bargaining can secure important rights for unions to access and support workers effectively.
The Value of Social Dialogue for Employers
A roundtable discussion with Cypriot employers and trade unions explored the benefits of social dialogue from the employer perspective. Both sides identified common challenges including digitalization, labour shortages, climate change impacts, and reduced seasonality. Participants highlighted how these challenges can be collectively addressed through effective bargaining processes.
Recommendations for Strengthening Tourism Unions and Collective Bargaining
The workshop concluded with the presentation of key project deliverables: comprehensive recommendations for increasing membership and strengthening collective bargaining and social dialogue throughout the hospitality sector.
This event provided an invaluable platform for exchange between unions with diverse negotiating cultures, enabling participants to identify common challenges, share effective collective bargaining practices, and define shared objectives at the European level.
