Building trade union capacity in hospitality-tourism to enable a stronger sectoral social dialogue

2026-07-22

The project aims to strengthen social dialogue in the hospitality-tourism sector and to reinforce the capacity of hospitality-tourism trade unions to address the various challenges the sector faces. The project will address some of the root causes behind the prevalence of non-standard forms of employment and low pay in the hospitality-tourism sector across Europe that have led to serious labour shortages, aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as weak or non-existing sectoral social dialogue and collective bargaining, and low trade union membership. The project shall provide an overview of the state of social dialogue in the European hospitality-tourism sector, collective bargaining coverage, trade union density, and of the barriers and challenges hospitality-tourism trade unions face in terms of membership, with a focus on organising and involving young workers. Expected outcomes are a compendium of good practices / case studies of successful practices of member organisations and recommendations / strategies on how trade unions in the hospitality-tourism sector across Europe can strengthen sectoral social dialogue, reinforce collective bargaining and increase membership at national level. Findings of the project will be shared with the European employers’ associations in the hospitality SSDCs, and EFFAT will advocate for joint capacity building measures, as a capacity building process is needed, also addressing the strength and representativeness of employers’ associations, particularly in Central and South-Eastern Europe, with a view to the involvement of more countries in the European sectoral social dialogue. The project will also contribute to the EU Youth Strategy which aims at building trust and increasing participation of young people in the EU project, and particular to the European Youth Goals to create quality jobs with fair working conditions and the right to a living wage, workers’ rights, and access to quality health care.

Belgium

2026-02-15