IR Notes

The European social dialogue committee for the civil aviation sector has launched a European study covering ten countries in order to identify the use of pilots with self-employed status in order to avoid social legislation. Earlier, a previous, fast-track study had proved decisive for the committee members when they were shown that nearly 220 pilots working for Ryanair (presented as such on their professional page of social networking sites like LinkedIn) were registered as directors of micro-companies close to Dublin or Cork airports. But those sponsoring the study do not doubt that they will find other cases across Europe and are concerned about whether the “self-employed” pilots’ flight and rest times are being respected. For its part, the European Cockpit Association (ECA), an organisation representing European pilots, in a press released denounced the practices of Norwegian Air International. The pilots have Singaporean employment contracts, are based in Thailand and fly aircraft registered in Ireland, although no flights are planned out of that country, which is decidedly attractive to aviation companies. The ECA even speaks in terms of a “flag of convenience”. A meeting organised by the ECA with representatives of the national American and Norwegian civil aviation authorities was held in Oslo to discuss these abuses and the risks that such practices may represent. In fact, no-one seems to be clear about which supervisory authorities are responsible for either aircraft safety or for compliance with the rules governing safety and the pilots’ flight times. This “Wild West” scenario has been made possible by streamlining of the different European and international legislations.

• New practice directions for proceedings before the European Court of Justice: The Court of Justice has published practice directions to the parties and their representatives based on the most recent rules of procedure, with practical provisions relating to the proceedings (OJ, 31 January 2014, L 31, p. 1).


• International conventions: Publication of Council decisions adopted on 28 January (OJ, 1 February 2014, L 32, p. 32 and 33) authorising the Member States to ratify: 1° The 2011 Convention of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) concerning decent work for domestic workers (Convention No. 189); 2° The 1990 Convention of the ILO concerning safety in the use of chemicals at work (Convention No. 170).


• Adoption of the “seasonal workers’ directive”: The European Parliament has definitively adopted the draft directive establishing the conditions of entry and residence of non-EU citizens coming to the EU for seasonal work. All applications to enter the EU as a seasonal worker will have to be accompanied by an employment contract or a binding job offer specifying essentials such as pay and working hours. They must also include evidence that the worker will have adequate accommodation and health insurance so as not to become a burden on the social security system of the host country. The text stipulates that seasonal workers shall benefit from the same rights as EU nationals in terms of minimum working age, pay, dismissal, working hours, holidays and health and safety requirements. They will have the right to join a trade union and have access to social security, pensions, training and the support of employment offices and other public services, except for social housing. Employers who fail to meet their obligations will be the subject of “effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions” and will have to compensate the seasonal worker concerned. Sub-contractors may also face penalties and employers could be banned from employing seasonal workers. The directive will simplify and speed up procedures allowing non-EU seasonal workers to return to the EU for temporary stays and work. Once the directive has been published, the Member States will have two years to transpose it into national law.

• Steel industry: the European Parliament on 4 February passed a resolution on the action plan for a competitive and sustainable steel industry in Europe presented by the European Commission in June 2013. The resolution includes a chapter dedicated to employment which asks the Commission to draw up a “restructuring plan which safeguards and creates good jobs and industrial activity” in Europe’s steelmaking regions and calls for an industrial policy that allows the exceptionally high energy and raw material costs to be scaled down in order to maintain the sector’s competitiveness.


• Intra-corporate transfer directive: While the draft directive establishing the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals in the framework of an intra-corporate transfer is currently being negotiated by the representatives of the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the European Commission (trilogue) with a view to its adoption at the final session of the Parliament in April, the European Trade Union Confederation in a press release denounces the attitude of the Council which it claims is not in favour of full equal treatment of third country nationals working in a Member State.

• Maritime transport: The European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA), and the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) have recently jointly published a training manual as well as guidelines concerning harassment and bullying at the workplace.

• Generation contract: On 7 February, Parliament passed a government amendment to the draft law on training, employment and social democracy, allowing direct access to the financial incentive linked to the generation contract – 4,000 euros per year for three years for each young person employed –for companies with between 50 and 300 employees. Until now, to benefit from the grant, such businesses had to be covered by an industry-or company-level collective agreement. Because of delays arising during the industry-level negotiations, too few enterprises in this category had been able to access the aid. From now on, they will be able to do so under the same simple conditions as businesses with fewer than 50 staff.

• Civil Code : the new Civil Code (Act 5 of 2013) will come into force on 15 March 2014. As the Civil Code is the background Act of the Labour Code (see article 31 of the Labour Code), the harmony between the Labour Code and the new Civil Code is ensured by a comprehensive amendment of the Labour Code (Act 252 of 2013). This amendment also contained clarifications of certain provisions.

• Fixed-term work: A law dated 23 December 2013 brings Luxembourg legislation fully into line with the requirements of Directive 1999/70 concerning fixed-term work. From now on, when permanent vacancies become available in a company, fixed-term staff must be informed.

• Reform of criteria for redundancy on economic grounds: The new government intends to review the criteria for dismissal in the case of individual redundancy on economic grounds when a job loss arises without the threshold being reached at which a collective redundancy is triggered. The draft law creates a new set of criteria, the first of which is based on the employee’s performance. The text is being discussed with the social partners before being presented to Parliament. See the IR Share analysis (in English).

• Airbus Group: At the meeting of the European works council of Airbus Group on 27 January last, company management presented its three-year restructuring plan (5,804 job losses). FO Métaux, the majority trade union, “will not accept any redundancies or any blackmail over jobs” which could lead to “the signing of agreements on cutting wage costs”. IG Metall too has called for the layoffs to be scrapped. A further meeting of the European works council took place on 6 February, and will be followed by meetings of the EWCs in the divisions affected by the restructuring (Cassidian, Astrium and Airbus), before future meetings of the national bodies. The information and consultation process at a European level is to be implemented at subsequent meetings on 27 February (followed by one for the EWCs of the divisions) and then on 12 March, before a possible final session if the social partners consider it necessary. The president of the European works council of Airbus Group, Rüdiger Lütjen (IG Metall), defends the adopted position whereby the national information and consultation process will not start until the corresponding procedure at a European level has been completed. Furthermore, the structure of the information and consultation bodies is set to change, firstly, as the Cassidian and Astrium businesses are combined in the new Space and Defence division, which will see the European works councils of these two units disappear – indeed, a training event on this subject, organised by the EWC Academy, took place in Bremen from 21 to 23 January. Secondly, the group has announced its conversion to a European company (Societas Europaea), which means negotiating an agreement on employee involvement in Airbus Group SE, including the question of expanding the workforce representation, currently limited to the four countries having the largest industrial locations (France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain), to include the personnel employed in around fifteen other European countries.


• Axa: The European group council (EGC) of the French insurer Axa (160,000 employees) is pressing ahead with its internationalisation measures. Having invited a delegation of Japanese employees to a council plenary meeting in November, “to the satisfaction of the representatives of European employees and of management,” as underscored by Olivier Pelras (CFDT), secretary of the EGC, a fresh initiative is scheduled with Mexican representatives in 2014. In other respects, in order to enhance the coordination between the EGC and the national bodies, the trial initiated in Belgium and extended to France in 2013 will be continued: it comprises bringing together the national members and trade union officials of the country concerned, as well as the heads of the national HR departments, in advance of the EGC plenary session. The idea is to pass on subjects for discussion to the EGC and also to allow a report on the preceding national-level meeting to be presented.


• Bull: The European works council of the French computer group Bull (9,300 employees) will meet on 13 February, at the request of those representing European employees, to discuss strategic and organisational changes announced on 20 January last.


• Schneider Electric: The special negotiating body tasked with reaching an agreement on worker involvement in connection with the conversion of Schneider Electric (140,000 employees) to a European company (SE) will meet for the first time on 27 February. The trade union coordinator appointed by the IndustriAll European trade union federation, Philippe Saint-Aubin (CFDT), former secretary of the European works council of Alcatel-Lucent, will take part in the negotiations. Furthermore, having competed the takeover of the Invensys group on 17 January last, the Schneider Electric group announced the sale of Invensys’ Appliance division, which will be renamed Robertshaw Controls Company, to a subsidiary of Sun European Partners. The European works council of Invensys has been dissolved and the office of Schneider Electric’s European works council has made contact with the former members to consult them as part of the information and consultation process relating to the disposal. The group has also launched a capital increase reserved for employees and covering 38 countries (90% of the workforce).


• ZF Lenksysteme: The German automotive supplier ZF Lenksysteme (13,000 employees) has set up a European works council. Among other countries, the group is present in France (nearly 1,000 employees) and Hungary (600 employees). The objective is to facilitate information sharing between the different employee representatives at the time when the Hungarian operation is required to ramp up production.

• Metro: The German retail group, Metro, and the UNI Global Union trade union federation last December signed a joint declaration, committing the group to respect trade union rights and the right to collective bargaining. The statement was made public on 3 February. Metro undertakes to pursue good and trusting relationships with the staff representative bodies.


• Michelin: The French tyre manufacturer Michelin is currently negotiating a transnational agreement on social responsibility at a European level. The negotiations are expected to be concluded by this March.

• Mory-Ducros: By way of aid for the nearly 2,800 workers laid off under the terms of the takeover by Arcole Industries of the transport and logistics company Mory-Ducros, the government has decided to finance an exceptional support package for those made redundant comprising: 1° Help from a specialised advisor until the employees find another job; 2° Continued payment of a salary approximately equal to their present net wage for up to one year; 3° Access to the training necessary for their future career plans. The state will assume responsibility, for a period of two years, for a possible gap in salary of up to 300 euros per month should an employee find alternative employment in a less well paid job. A job exchange open to the employees of Mory-Ducros and of subcontractors affected by the bankruptcy of Mory-Ducros will be set up with the support of the transport and logistics industry.

• Auchan: The UNI Commerce European trade union federation on 29 January last in Brussels brought together trade union representatives of the Auchan group from six countries in order to share information about the problems encountered in establishments belonging to the retail group in Europe, and to draw up a common strategy (see press release)

• Impact of the crisis on working and living conditions: While the European Parliament debates the social impact of the decisions taken by the Troika (European Commission, ECB and IMF) on the four countries which have been granted financial aid (see IR Notes 2), the European Committee of Social Rights of the Council of Europe has published its report on the application of the European Social Charter, which identifies 180 violations of the Charter in 38 member states. The growing number of violations is increasingly linked to the inadequacy of social provision – which has a disproportionate affect on the poor, the unemployed, the elderly and the sick – and to the inequitable treatment of migrants under the guise of combating “benefit tourism”. In addition, Eurofound has published a survey on the pattern of perception of quality of life in Europe. Apart from Greece, where levels have slumped dramatically, satisfaction with life and happiness have remained universally stable in the EU.


• Liberalisation of the postal sector: A study by the FORBA Austrian research institute commissioned by the UNI Post & Logistics European trade union federation is focused on the impact on employment and working conditions of the liberalisation of the postal sector. The document concludes that this opening of the market to competition has largely destroyed jobs and made working conditions worse.


• Collective bargaining: the European Trade Union Institute has published its monthly newsletter on collective bargaining (“Collective Bargaining developments January 2014″), a compilation of information published in all the Member States.


• Financial sector: CEPS/INSTEAD’s collective bargaining and employment policies research unit has launched, on 23 and 24 of January, the kick-off meeting of the European research project Eurosofin. The one-year research project is centered on an analysis of the mechanisms and practices of social dialogue in the financial sectors of five EU capitals (Luxembourg, London, Vienna, Paris, and Bucharest) and aims to produce a better understanding of social dialogue in the finance sector in terms of anticipating changes, adapting training and efficiency requirements in a competitive international sector, exchanging good practices among partners, as well as reinforcing social standards both within the financial sector and its institutions. More.

Undeclared work is defined by the European Commission in its 2007 Communication Stepping up the fight against undeclared work (COM/2007/0628) as ‘any paid activities that are lawful as regards their nature but not declared to public authorities, taking into account differences in the regulatory system of Member States’. Undeclared work affects all Member States and is therefore a matter of common concern. In the Commission’s Country-specific Recommendations 2012 and Country-specific Recommendations 2013, a number of Member States received recommendations concerning the prevention of undeclared work, the shadow economy, tax evasion and/or tax compliance. In July 2013, the Commission launched a formal consultation of the EU social partners, under Article 154 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union on enhancing EU cooperation in the prevention and deterrence of undeclared work. The social partners may decide in future to launch their own negotiations in the area of undeclared work. The economic and financial crisis is a powerful incentive for Member States to tackle undeclared work and “bogus employment” – but this will be defined in a future issue. For further details, please refer to the European Industrial Relations Dictionary.