DEFEN-CE: Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groups in Post-COVID-19 Labour Markets. Report on Latvia and Lithuania

This is a comparative country report of Latvia and Lithuania for the project DEFEN-CE: Social Dialogue in Defence of Vulnerable Groups in Post-COVID-19 Labour Markets. DEFEN-CE is a research project funded by the Directorate-General for Employment, the European Commission (Grant number: VS/2021/0196). The project investigates the experience of various stakeholders with the design and implementation of COVID-19-related policies relevant to work and employment in EU Member States (Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Czechia, Slovakia, Italy, and Spain) and two candidate countries, Serbia and Turkey. The aim of the project is to identify the role of social dialogue in facilitating policy implementation that addresses the labour market situation of vulnerable groups in the post-COVID-19 labour markets. With this aim in mind, the report seeks to answer three main research questions from a comparative perspective, emphasising similarities and differences between Latvia’s and Lithuania’s pandemic response, industrial relations (with a key focus on social dialogue structures and interactions), policy design, and protection of vulnerable groups. 1. What public policy and social dialogue measures targeting selected vulnerable groups were implemented for employment and social protection during the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022? 2. To what extent and how did social dialogue play a role in the implementation of social and employment rights of selected vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022? 3. What lessons and opportunities does the COVID-19 pandemic yield for strengthening social dialogue in the studied countries? The report mixes analysis and findings based on the construction of country-specific Defence-Databases (one for Latvia and one for Lithuania) and qualitative interviews with national stakeholders. The respective database contains information on almost 60 countries-specific Covid-19 policies that have been gathered from international databases (e.g., Eurofound, Eurostat, and ICTWSS), national and international policy documents and legislation, reports from trade unions and employers’ organisations, and academic literature. The interviews that complement the general information provided from the databases were conducted with representatives from trade unions, employers’ organisations and the government. In total, 10 interviews were done in Latvia, and 10 interviews were done in Lithuania (see Annex 1 and 2). Interview data were analysed based on qualitative content analysis using the DEFEN-CE coding scheme.