Collective bargaining on welfare as a catalyst for sustainable development. An industrial relations approach to environmental protection and the reduction of inequalities

Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this thesis aims to demonstrate the existence of a mutually positive relationship between collective bargaining on welfare and the achievement of two macro-objectives of sustainable development: environmental protection and the reduction of inequalities. After defining the concept of occupational welfare and highlighting its collective contractual source, as well as its objectives, effects, and limitations, the thesis argues that, through the leverage of negotiated pension funds (which constitute its core element), it has become one of the instruments of the industrial relations system for achieving sustainability. Considering European regulations that encourage institutional investors to invest sustainably, this thesis conducts an empirical analysis of both the NCLAs in force within the private sector and the investment policy documents of the negotiated pension funds they establish. Through this analysis, the thesis verifies the existence of union power, exercised through negotiated pension funds, to influence the governance of invested companies and guide them toward more sustainable pathways. When collective bargaining on welfare evolves into a legal instrument for the practical implementation of sustainability within and beyond the industrial relations system, the realization of sustainability also extends beyond this system, serving as an effective mechanism to mitigate the exclusionary nature of occupational welfare. This produces positive effects in terms of reducing inequalities. However, without corrective legal measures, the occupational welfare system would naturally exacerbate inequalities between workers and citizens. Therefore, the concluding section of the thesis argues that legislative intervention is necessary, specifically through trade union laws on representation, to further address this limitation in occupational welfare.