Närliggande

39.The concept of collective autonomy as the methodological link … parties who fall within its scope. This means that it is automatically applicable to the individual employment contracts it is meant to regulate. The case law of the Labour Court has then established that this principle is also valid when it is only the employer who is bound by the collective agreement, i.e. when the employee is not member of the trade unions that has signed the agreement. However, this principle has been recognised on the basis of the disruptive effect that the non-application of the collective agreement to non-member employees would have on the principle of collective autonomy. Employers might offer higher conditions to employees who are not members of the union as to undermine the union’s strength in the workplace. For this reason, the missed application of the collective agreement to non-union member employees is treated as anti-union conduct rather than as an individual violation towards the employee. The collective agreement is also recognised to have a so-called ‘filling effect’ meant as a code or custom within the sector and workplace. However, the Labour Court has specified the that non-union member employees can only enjoy minimum conditions set by the collective agreement in order to preserve the role of the union and of the collective agreement as regulatory instrument of the labour market and to prevent the phenomenon of ‘free riding’.s. 2232