Social partner participation in the management of the COVID-19 crisis: Tripartite social dialogue in Italy, Portugal and Spain

Abstract

This article analyses actual social dialogue experiences in Italy, Portugal and Spain in order to examine the social partners’ participation in COVID-19 crisis management. It considers the economic and political variables that have helped revitalize tripartism in all three countries relative to the previous economic crisis. The lack of austerity policies and responsibility-sharing on the part of the social partners and governments paved the way for various agreements that, though differing in content and scope, attest to stronger peak-level tripartite dialogue.