TWO REPRESENTATIVES BUT NO REPRESENTATION – AN ANALYSIS OF TWO CASES FROM ESTONIA

he authors analyse why the institution of non-unionised employ-ees’ representatives (NER) is created if its functions overlap with those of the unions, including collective bargaining and information-consultation. We aim to find how NERs are created and what their role in comparison to unionised representatives is. The case study involves interviews with representatives and the managing director, as well as a survey of the employees in two companies. The results show that with a weak union, employers initiated the institution of NER in order to involve the whole workforce in the collective agreement. NER was elected by employees even though the institution was initiated by employer. The roles of the two representatives do not differ much, the main function for both being collective bargaining with minor provision for information and consultation.