Serbia - Mala fide behavior of the Serbian Association of Employers (SAE) undermines collective agreements validity in three sectors

Recently signed collective agreements in the chemistry, construction and agricultural sector include a clause that makes their validity dependent on the Minister’s decision to extend the agreements. In general, there are few instruments to monitor and enforce the implementation of collective agreements. Even after being signed, collective agreements may not be enforced. This is what happened for these three sectoral collective agreements whose request for extension was presented by the signing trade unions and the Serbian Association of Employers (SAE) refused to support their extension, which effectively undermined the validity of the signed agreements. The Ministry of Labour has remained silent and no announcement has been made in the Official Gazette.