Social partnership

Social partnership

Social partnership is implemented by forming bipartite or tripartite councils, participating in their activities and concluding agreements on labour, social and economic matters; by initiating and conducting collective bargaining and concluding collective agreements;  through information and consultation procedures and participation in the management of an employer who is a juridical person.
The parties to a social partnership – the social partners – shall be employee representatives and employer representatives as well as the organisations thereof, while the employer and employee representatives shall be the parties to a partnership at the employer (or, where appropriate, the workplace) level. 
The Government of the Republic of Lithuania or institutions authorised thereby and municipal institutions shall be considered to be parties to a social partnership when they act as employers or representatives thereof, as well as in other cases established by this Code or other laws. 
Relying on the experience of EU member states, Lithuania seeks to give more power to social partners to regulate labour relations and lessen the imperative influence of a state. This process involves the terms ‘social partnership’ and ‘social dialogue’ as a synonim, which are used to describe the negotiation and consultation process of the representatives of employers and employees.
Social dialogue is a very important and effective measure in solving social public disputes, which often arise in the process of a state’s social and economic transformation. Social dialogue helps to reduce the tension between the different groups of society, while the Government is given the opportunity to learn the positions of interested participants of the labour market and adopt a decision which is acceptable to everyone, by avoiding the possible negative consequences.
The main interaction between public authorities and social partners is done through the main tripartite institution – the Tripartite Council of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter – the Lithuanian Tripartite Council; Council) as well as specialised tripartite councils and tripartite councils under local municipalities. 
The Lithuanian Tripartite Council was established in 1995 by the tripartite agreement concluded between trade unions, employers’ organisations and the Government. Currently the legal framework of the Lithuanian Tripartite Council is set forth in the Labour Code of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter – the LC), newly adopted in 2016 (before it was in the former Labour Code, adopted in 2002). Article 185 of the LC stipulates: the term of the  Lithuanian Tripartite Council, i.e. it is formed for a term of four years; the composition – the representatives of national-level trade unions, the representatives of employers’ organisations, and the representatives of the Government (21 members in total – 7 representatives of each party); the representativeness criteria for trade unions and employers’ organisations seeking to be members of the Council; term of office - individuals may be members of the Council for no more than two consecutive terms;  legal grounds for termination of the term of office of its member; the appointment of its chairperson.
The Tripartite Council is currently comprised of the representatives of trade unions, employers, and the Government (21 members in total – 7 representatives of each party):
1.    public authorities: the Ministry of Social Security and Labour (2 members); the Ministry of Economy (2 members), the Ministry of economy and innovation (2 members) and the Office of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (1 member);
2.    three central (republican) organisations of trade unions: the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (3 members), the Lithuanian Trade Union “Solidarumas” (2 members), General Trade Union of the Republic of Lithuania (2 members); 
3.    six employers’ organisations: the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists (2 members), the Lithuanian Business Employers’ Confederation (2 members), the Chamber of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania (1 member); the Association of Lithuanian Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Crafts (1 member), the Association “Investors’ Forum”, and the Lithuanian Business Confederation (1 member).
The Tripartite Council currently consist of 7 committees and commissions, the members of which also include the representatives of non-governmental organisations (the Labour Disputes Commission; the Bipartite Commission of Civil Servants; the Social Partners’ Capacity Building Commission; the Committee for Culture, the Wage Policy Commission, the Working Group on Systemic Changes in the Field of Social Guarantees, the Working Group on Solving the Problems of Road Transport Workers on International Routes).
Social partners participate in projects for strengthening social dialogue, where they are enabled to receive training and to deepen their knowledge. For example, the State Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Lithuania under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour together with social partners (the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation, the Lithuanian Trade Union ‘Solidarumas’, the Chamber of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania) are implementing a project “The model of cooperation between trade unions and employers’ organisations in the development of social dialogue” (implementation period 10 April 2017 – 10 September 2020, funded by the European Social Fund). The aim of the project is to promote cooperation between trade unions and employers in the development of social dialogue and to enable the quality of the coordination of interests of social partners. The implementation measures include, inter alia: the organisation of training sessions for representatives of institutions and organizations as well as social partners; the organisation of open training sessions for society as well as regional conferences. The project also aims at monitoring a situation in Lithuanian social dialogue and assessing the results on a national scale.