Collective labour law in Lithuania: Search for a national model

Abstract

The chapter analyses the formation of the legal regulation of industrial relations in the restored Lithuania. The restoration of Lithuania's independence has inevitably entailed the need for a reform of its legal system, including labour relations. With regard to the development of Lithuanian collective labour law, it is particularly important to take into account that there was no comprehensive regulation of collective labour relations in Lithuania until 11 March 1990 and that the political and legal preconditions for the formation of civil society arose only after the restoration of Lithuania's independence. The reform of Lithuanian labour law was rather spontaneous, but the process was unavoidable. The chapter describes the essential conditions and features of the process, also the various social, political and economic factors under the influence of which the contemporary Lithuanian collective labour law system was created are discussed. Summarising the research presented in the chapter, it is stated that the legal provisions governing social partnership and industrial relations in Lithuania appear to be sufficiently democratic, expressing the fundamental principles and values of a modern social market economy. However, a closer and more detailed analysis both of the legal reality and the practical situation of those issues clearly shows that good intentions and declarative statements, unfortunately, do not mean that the social democracy model common in Western countries is implemented in Lithuania.