An employers' organization, employers' association or employers' federation is an association of employers. A trade union, which organizes employees is the opposite of an employers' organization. The role and position of an employers' organization differs from country to country, dependent on the economic system of a country.
In countries with a pluralist or anglo-saxon economic system (such as the United Kingdom and the United States), where there is no institutionalized cooperation between employers' organizations, trade unions and government, an employers' organization is an interest group or advocacy group that through lobbying tries to influence government policy. In these countries, employers' organizations tend to be weak, with many of their functions taken over by industry trade groups, which are basically public relations organizations.
In countries with a social market economy, such as Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands, the employers' organizations are part of a system of institutionalized deliberation, together with government and the trade unions. In tri-partite bargaining the so-called social partners strike agreements on issues like price levels, wage increases, tax rates and pension entitlements. In these countries collective bargaining is often done on a national level not between one corporation and one union, but national employers' organizations and national trade unions.
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