As it is known a collective agreement is concluded to meet the interests of employees in the first place, but also in the interests of owners and their authorized bodies. What should be included in the content of the collective agreement is in the following.
Regulation of production relations, labor and socio-economic
The content and structure of the collective agreement are defined by the parties within their competence. According to Art.13 of the Labor Code (hereinafter - Labor Code) in a collective agreement it is established mutual obligations of the parties regarding the regulation of production, labor, socio-economic relations, in particular:
- changes in the organization of production and labor;
- providing productive employment;
- rationing and wages payment, establishment of forms, systems, wages and other types of labor payments (additional payments, allowances, bonuses, etc.);
- establishment of guarantees, compensations, privileges;
- participation of the labor collective in the formation, distribution and use of profits of the enterprise, institution, organization (if required by statute);
- mode of work, duration of working time and rest;
- conditions and labor protection;
- provision of housing and community, cultural, medical services, organization of recreation and rest of workers;
- guarantees of the activities of the trade union or other representative organizations of workers;
- conditions for the regulation of wage funds and the establishment of inter-qualification (inter-official) ratios in wages;
- ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men.
Collective agreement may provide for additional, in comparison with current legislation and guarantee agreements, social and household benefits.
Payment for labor is the basis of a collective agreement
Compliance with the terms of the collective agreement is equally binding both for employees and for the employer. Also, the provisions of the collective agreement apply to all employees of the company (Art.9 of the Law of Ukraine “On Collective Contracts and Agreements” of 01.07.1993, No. 3356-XII, hereinafter - Law No. 3356).
According to Part 1 of Art.5 of the Law of Ukraine “On payment for labor” of 24.03.1995, No. 108/95-ВР (hereinafter - Law No. 108), organization of remuneration is based on:
- legislative and other normative acts;
- general agreement at the national level;
- sectoral (intersectoral), territorial agreements;
- collective agreements;
- labor agreements.
The widest list of standards requiring the establishment of a collective agreement concerns wages.
As it is known, according to Art.97 of Labor Code, labor remuneration of employees may be carried out on hourly, piece work or other systems based on the results of individual and collective works. Therefore, the forms and systems of payment, norms of labor, prices, tariffs, rates, salary schemes, conditions of implementation and the size of allowances, surcharges, bonuses, rewards and other incentive, compensatory and guarantee payments establish enterprises, institutions, organizations independently in a collective agreement with compliance with the norms and guarantees provided by legislation, general and sectoral (regional) agreements.
The specific size of tariff rates (salaries) and workers piece rates, employee salaries and allowances, bonuses, prizes and rewards are established by the owner or authorized body.
In addition, it must be remembered that the owner or authorized body or individual does not have the right to unilaterally make decisions on wages that worsen the conditions established by law, agreements, collective agreements.
The section of the collective agreement regulating wages covers a very wide range of issues. Therefore, in most cases it is expedient to issue it in the form of an appendix to a collective agreement.
Having determined, in accordance with the requirements of the current legislation, the forms and systems of remuneration, the company provides in the collective agreement the issues of remuneration, bonuses, surcharges and allowances, remuneration based on the results of the year, etc., which are an integral part of the collective agreement and the basis for the calculation and payment of wages.
Annexes to the collective agreement
Separate annexes to the collective agreement, if necessary, can be issued:
- Rules of internal labor regulations;
- Regulations on bonuses;
- Regulations on the payment of remuneration (by types of rewards);
- Regulations on surcharges and allowances;
- Regulations on business trip;
- Regulations on leaves, etc.
In view of the new requirements for payment for labor, the rules of the collective agreement should also ensure the establishment of monthly wages in the amount not less than the minimum. Specific amounts of minimum wage rates (salaries), inter-sectoral and inter-sectoral ratios are established in sectoral, territorial agreements and collective agreements.
Other norms defined by a collective agreement
In addition to payment for labor, there are other rules that require clarification in a collective agreement. In particular:
1. Plan of measures for the protection of labor and the use of funds for such purposes shall be included in a collective agreement (Articles 161, 162 of the Labor Code).
2. Additional labor and social benefits in comparison with the legislation (Articles 91, 51, 179 of the Labor Code, Art.7 of the Law No. 3356).
3. Establishing the length of the annual additional leave for working with harmful and difficult working conditions.
4. Establishing the length of the annual additional leave for a special nature of work.
5. Restrictions on work part-time (Art.21 of Labor Code).
6. Establishing other types of leaves (Art.4 of Law No. 504).
Of course, this is not a complete list of cases governed by the rules of the collective agreement. Each company independently decides which aspects are being agreed upon with the labor collective.
