What was the influence of COVID-19 Pandemic on collective bargaining and its otucomes in Europe? A consortium of four partners from Italy, Slovakia and Netherlands has researched this question in BARCOVID, a 2-year Social Dialogue Action of the European Commission (2021-23). BARCOVID addresses three research questions

BARCOVID studied three aspects on collective bargaining. 1. The industrial relations landscape is studied through text-mining , 2. The negotiation process., 3. Negotiation outcomes. Each aspect is studied using a different methodology, varying from text mining techniques, survey methdology, to content analyses. As its primary source the BARCOVID project uses and expands the Collective Agreements Database, which is the only database facilitating a EU-wide comparative approach. By adding renewed Agreements in the database BARCOVID allowed unveiling before and after Covid-19 changes.

BARCOVID delivered 3 overarching reports, for each research question one, and 16 country reports elaborating on national results. Research results have been presented at two online webinars (in June 2022, and June 2023), for which social partners, experts and other stakeholders from Europe (and beyond) were be invited. Participants in the final webinar were affiliated with over 50+ different organizations (e.g., trade unions, employers, universities, governments, NGOs) in over 20+ countries.