Employee Representative and Trade Unions

The system of employee representative is particularly incorporated in working life, and for example the Working Environment Act requires in several places that the employees are represented through employee representative is, who will usually be elected by and among the unionized employees.  

Trade union is an association of employees with the main purpose of safeguarding the members’ interests vis-à-vis employers. Other common words for trade union are trade union, workers’ organization, workers’ association, professional organization. 

In the Labor Disputes Act of 27 January 2012 no. 9, which is the central act within collective labor law, the word trade union is used to mean “any association of employees or of employees’ associations whose purpose is to safeguard the interests of employees vis-à-vis their employers”. In other legislation, the term trade union is also mostly used, but in the Employment, Disputes Act of 1958, which applies to the state sector, the term civil service organization is used. 

It is important to distinguish between trade unions and other associations, as it is only trade unions that can submit claims to their employer counterpart regarding negotiations on the creation or revision of a collective agreement, and that can become a party to collective agreements that regulate working and wage conditions or other working conditions (Labour Disputes Act § 1 letter e). The members of the trade union are bound by these agreements. The employer counterparty can be an individual employer or an employers’ association.