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Faculty of Management, Economics and Social SciencesCologne Center for Comparative Politics

REBECA Database

Database

The database is divided into two parts: Part 1, Actors and Institutions, contains historical and current data on trade unions, employers’ associations, the state and industrial relations. Part 1 contains information on 16 Western European countries. Part 2, Social Benefits in Collective Agreements, contains data on social benefits regulated and financed by collective agreements between trade unions and employers in the domains of old age and skills in 9 Western European countries.

 

Part 1:
Actors and Institutions

The first part, Actors and Institutions, describes the institutional context within which collectively negotiated benefits evolve and develop. It comprises historical as well as current data on the development of trade unions, employers’ associations, industrial relations and the state. The database is divided into four main chapters: 1) “Political Integration” 2) “Industrial Integration” 3) “Industrial Relations, Coordination and Corporatism”, and 4) “The State”. The chapters on “Political Integration” and “Industrial Integration” are mainly historical and contain data on the formation of trade unions, employers, industrial relations and on union run welfare schemes. The chapter on “Industrial Relations, Coordination and Corporatism” contains data on the structure and procedures of collective bargaining, coordination and corporatism. The chapter on “The State” contains data on political institutions, the role of the state in collective bargaining and the introduction of public welfare schemes.

The universe of data in Actors and Institutions includes the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

It is strongly recommended to read the codebook before using the database.

Bibliographical information:

Trampusch, Christine / Eichenberger, Pierre / de Roo, Micha / Bartlett Rissi, Robin / Steinlin, Simon (2009). REBECA (Research on Social Benefits in Collective Agreements) Database, Part 1 “Actors and Institutions”. SNF-Project No. 100012-119898. Institute of Political Science, University of Berne.

 

Part 2:
Social Benefits in Collective Agreements

The second part of the database, Social Benefits in Collective Agreements, describes collectively negotiated social benefits in four different domains of collective bargaining: initial vocational training (IVT), continuing vocational training (CVT), early retirement and pension. The data is presented in the form of several country reports which contain a detailed analysis of schemes that have been set up and implemented by the social partners in the four domains (thus, there is a report for each domain and country). The main focus of the reports is on schemes concluded at the sectoral level.

Concretely, the description of the collectively negotiated schemes in each report is structured as follows: 1) introduction into the system, role of collective labor agreements in the respective domain, important trade unions and employers’ organizations, and critical junctures in the development of the current schemes, 2) examples of important agreements, 3) important sectors, 4) structure, organization and mode of administration of the collectively negotiated schemes, 5) role of the state, 6) financial structure, 7) social benefits, 8) coverage rates, 9) politics around the schemes, and 10) recent developments and other information.

Reports on the four domains are available for the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland (in the cases of Austria and Sweden there are no reports on early retirement).

  • Country reports

Bibliographical information:

Trampusch, Christine / Eichenberger, Pierre / de Roo, Micha / Bartlett Rissi, Robin / Bieri, Isabelle / Schmid, Laura / Steinlin, Simon (eds.) (2010). REBECA (Research on Social Benefits in Collective Agreements) Database, Part 2 ‘Social Benefits in Collective Agreements’. SNF-Project No. 100012-119898. Institute of Political Science, University of Berne.