ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to introduce the subject of European collective bargaining as a field of trade union activity. It begins with a basic description of international trade union policy in general and in relation to the EU area in particular and describes the multi-level system of European labor relations as an activity context of organized trade union interests in the field of European collective bargaining. Social and territorial reference frames of organized interests can, generally speaking, be recognized on a local, national, international, or even global scale. There are also differences at the organizational level of the national trade unions. Eastern European trade unions have undergone a process of fundamental transformation since the beginning of the 1990s, particularly as a result of their emancipation from the national communist parties. The most important task of the trade unions is to represent their members in collective bargaining.
