Employee representation

Employee representation 

Although, individual labour relations are more popular in the Republic of Lithuania, there has been an increasing interest in collective labour relations.
The dualistic employee representation system is set forth  in the Labour Code:
-                    trade unions shall have the right to organise themselves in any level of social partnership and represent their members collectively and individually. They shall have exclusive rights to bargain collectively and conclude collective agreements (first of all, to regulate wage, work and rest time, other working conditions, issues of social guarantees) as well as the right to collective actions;
-                    works councils elected by all employees of an enterprise shall be organised on enterprises’ level (they must be established compulsory in an employer’s enterprise where the average number of employees is 20 or more) as well as represent all employees of an enterprise but only in information, consultation and other procedures of participation, under which employees and their representatives are involved in the employer’s decision-making processes due to the European Union legal acts and the requirements of Lithuanian legal norms. Within the framework of its competence, a work council may conclude an agreement with an employer but only concerning the implementation of its rights. Where the average number of employees is up to 20 employees in enterprises the employees’ trustee might be elected.
                      Employees may only be represented in collective bargaining by trade unions.
Collective agreements shall apply to employees who are members of the trade unions that concluded them. If the trade union and the employer agree on application of an employer-level or workplace-level collective agreement to all employees, it will be applied to all employees if said is approved by the general meeting (conference) of the employees of the employer. A conference is a meeting of employee representatives elected at the structural/organisational units of an enterprise, institution or organisation.
The Labour Code elaborates the content of employees’ information and consultation. Besides regular employees’ information and consultation there’s information and counselling of employees when the employer must decide on issues related to company management in consultation with the employee representatives. The latter must receive information and give their opinion about the key events or decisions in the company (group of companies) related to interests of employees. Currently, Lithuania has two laws implementing the European Union directives and regulating employee participation in company management. These are the Law on European Works Councils and the Law on Employee Participation in Decision-making in European Companies.
The Law on European Works Councils transposes the provisions of Directive 2009/38/EC of 6 May 2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a European Works Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees. The European Works Council means the body representing employees of the company (group of companies) operating in several countries and established according to the procedure laid down in the laws through which management of the company (group of companies) informs the employees and consults them on the company (group of companies) management issues important for the employees. European Works Councils must be set up to ensure efficient and timely information of employees and consultations with them on the issues related to the entire company (group of companies) operating in several member states of the European Union or units of the company (companies of the group) operating in at least several countries.
Implementing the requirements of Directive 2001/86/EC of 8 October 2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council supplementing the Statute for a European company with regard to the involvement of employees, the Law on Employee Participation in Decision-making in European Companies. The purpose of the Law is to regulate the employee participation in decision-making in European companies. It is aimed at establishing specific provisions related to employee participation in decision-making which would ensure that employees contributing to the establishment of a European company would continue participation or at least would not stop to participate in decision-making after the European company is established.
Article 168 of Labour Code establishes guarantees and Protection from Discrimination for Persons Carrying Out Employee Representation at the Employer Level: 
The members of employer-level trade union management bodies and work councils as well as the employee trustee (hereinafter ‘persons carrying out employee representation’) shall normally carry out their duties during working hours. For this purpose, persons carrying out employee representation shall be released from work for at least 60 working hours per year for the performance of their duties. For this time, the employees shall be left their average remuneration.
The employer shall create conditions for the training and education of employees who are persons carrying out employee representation. They must be granted at least five working days per year for this at a time coordinated with the employer. For this time, employees shall be left their average remuneration for at least two working days unless labour law provisions and social partner agreements establish otherwise.
For the period to which they are elected and six months after the end of their term, persons carrying out employee representation may not be dismissed on the initiative of the employer or at the will of the employer, and their indispensable employment contract terms may not be made worse than their previous indispensable employment contract terms or than the indispensable employment contract terms of other employees of the same category, without the consent of the head of the territorial office of the State Labour Inspectorate responsible for the territory where the employer’s workplace is located, as authorised by the Chief State Labour Inspector of the Republic of Lithuania. The head of the territorial office of the State Labour Inspectorate must examine and reply to an employer’s substantiated request to give consent to terminate an employment contract or change indispensable employment contract terms within 20 working days of receipt of the request. Employees or representatives thereof are entitled to submit their opinion on their own initiative or upon the request of the head of the territorial office of the State Labour Inspectorate. The head of the territorial office of the State Labour Inspectorate shall give consent to terminate an employment contract or change indispensable employment contract terms if the employer presents data confirming that the termination of the employment contract or the amendments to the indispensable employment contract terms are not related to the employee representation activities being carried out by the employee and that the employee is not being discriminated against due to his or her employee representation activities or trade union membership.
Other guarantees may be established by labour law provisions or agreements between the parties to the social partnership.

 Under Article 195 (5) of the Labour Code, all valid collective agreements shall be registered and publicly announced in accordance with the procedure established by the Minister of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania. All registered collective agreements are announced in the official website of the Ministry: https://socmin.lrv.lt/lt/paslaugos/administracines-paslaugos/kolektyviniu-sutarciu-registras-ir-kolektyviniu-sutarciu-registravimo-tvarka. 
Under the above mentioned register, there are valid 406 collective agreements to date (11 January  2024), more particularly: 
•    1 national collective agreement (cross-sectoral). The 2023-2025 National Collective Agreement was signed by Monika Navickienė, Minister of Social Security and Labour, and 3 national trade unions on 10 October 2022. It stipulates wage increases and additional guarantees for nearly 200 000 employees, state servants and internal system officials in the public sector. 
•    6 territorial collective agreements.
•    16 sectoral (industry, services, professional) collective agreements. They are concluded in culture, education and science, health, social service, environmental protection, state border protection, prosecutors, wood processing, social insurance, carriers, railways   sectors. 
•    382 employer-level collective agreements.
According to the data of the Collective Agreements Register, 70 per cent of all collective agreements are concluded in the public sector and collective bargaining coverage the is 22,5 per cent.