IR Notes

The employment ministers of the EU gathered for an informal meeting of the Council at Athens on 29 and 30 April 2014 to discuss in particular the question of the minimum wage. It is the first time that the subject has been raised at this level. Yet the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU does not confer any competence upon the Union with regard to wages and salaries: the wage-setting mechanisms come under the national industrial relations systems of each of the 28 countries. However, this does not prevent the European Commission from intervening in this area within the exercise of the “European Semester” (when monitoring the economic and budgetary policies of the Member States) or in the framework of financial assistance programmes. Thus, it has criticised the automatic indexation systems for the minimum wage in Belgium and Luxembourg, and has encouraged the Greek government to cancel the minimum wage negotiated by the social partners. If the Union succeeds in finding a legal basis with a view to establishing a Europe-wide minimum wage, it still has to reach agreement on its level. Setting a uniform amount for the EU is impossible as long as differences remain substantial (from 174 euros in Bulgaria to 1921 euros in Luxembourg, Eurostat, January 2014). The other possibility is to decree that each country should set a minimum wage which would be the equivalent of 60% of the average national wage level. A recent study published by Eurofound underlines that the impact would vary greatly from one country to another, and that this level would “disproportionately affect women and young workers”. The press release of the Presidency of the Council suggests the level at which consensus for a minimum salary might be obtained: it “should operate temporarily as a mechanism to tackle poverty”, to assist with integration on the employment market and to “prevent the beneficiaries from being trapped” by these schemes. In other words, the minimum wage must be low and is only envisaged as an instrument to combat poverty.

• Directive on the acquisition and preservation of supplementary pension rights: Directive 2014/50/EU of 16 April 2014 on minimum requirements for enhancing worker mobility between Member States by improving the acquisition and preservation of supplementary pension rights (see IR Notes No. 8) was published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJEU) on 30 April.


• Directive to facilitate the freedom of movement for workers: Directive 2014/54/EU of 16 April 2014 on measures facilitating the exercise of rights conferred on workers in the context of the freedom of movement for workers (see IR Notes No. 8) was published in the OJEU on 30 April.


• Directive on the disclosure of non-financial information: The European Parliament on 15 April definitively adopted, with a few amendments, the directive concerning the disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large companies and groups. The text, which will shortly be published in the OJEU, affects around 6,000 major enterprises in the EU. It targets “public interest entities whose average number of employees during the financial year exceeds 500 on their balance sheet date” and which “exceed either a balance sheet total of EUR 20 million or a net turnover of EUR 40 million”. They will be required each year to publish a non-financial statement containing information “on the impact of the undertaking’s activities relating to, as a minimum, environmental, social and employee matters, including social dialogue, and respect for human rights and the fight against corruption”. The directive does not envisage any sanctions, but a company “which does not pursue policies in relation to one or more of those matters” will have to provide “a clear and duly justified explanation for not doing so”. Nevertheless, it will in certain cases be able to withhold certain sensitive information.


• Maritime cabotage: In a communication the European Commission on 22 April issued new guidance on the interpretation of the regulation to provide maritime transport within Member States (maritime cabotage). In particular, the communication establishes guidance on the award procedure for public service contracts and the manning rules on vessels providing maritime cabotage.

• Proposal for a directive on intra-corporate transfers: The European Parliament on 15 April adopted at first reading the proposal for a directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals in the framework of an intra-corporate transfer. The text regulates the conditions of entry and of residence for more than 90 days on the territory of Member States, as well as the rights of third-country nationals and their family members during an intra-corporate transfer. The text should facilitate the mobility of “managers”, “specialists” and “trainee employees” within multinationals.

• Corporate social responsibility: The European Commission on 29 April launched a consultation exercise to obtain the opinion of interested parties on the impact of its strategy concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the past three years, and on the role it should play in the future. To this end, a questionnaire has been posted online (currently in English, but versions in other languages are coming soon), which will be available until 15 August. It can be completed by all interested parties, in particular the social partners, businesses and staff representative bodies. They are invited to give their opinion on: 1. The role of the Commission as regards CSR; 2. The effectiveness of the action taken by the Commission; 3. The future role that the Commission should play in this connection. The Commission will subsequently publish a technical report on the results of the consultation at the end of the summer which will serve to prepare for the plenary meeting of the Plurilateral Forum on CSR scheduled for late 2014. This forum is to set the course of future Commission policy on CSR post-2014.

• Several sectors criticise the European Commission: The social partners on the sectoral social dialogue committee of central government administrations on 24 March wrote to European Commissioner Laszlo Andor. They asked him what stage the cost/benefit study had reached which the Commission had wished to undertake two years ago before initiating the procedure to convert the agreement on health and safety, signed on 26 April 2012 by the social partners of the European hairdressing sector, into a Council decision.

• Psychosocial risks: A new law relating to the prevention of psychosocial risks at the workplace will enter force on 1 September 2014 (see press release and link to the legislation, in French or Flemish). The new legislation from now on covers “psychosocial risks at work” which must be taken into account in a company’s risk prevention policy alongside all the other risks which may adversely affect the health and safety of the workforce. The legislation defines the role of the different players in the undertaking, in particular that of the “person of confidence” who serves as a point of contact and assists individuals who feel they have been the victim of harassment and psychosocial risks. It also stipulates the internal procedures open to victims which must be set up. The legislation now protects the victims of non-malicious acts which, if repeated, characterise wrongful conduct.

• Right to switch off: At a national level, the social partners on 19 June 2013 adopted a national interprofessional agreement on well-being at work which encouraged businesses to find ways of avoiding work intrusion on employees’ private lives through portable computers, smartphones, etc., by suggesting the establishment of times for switching off. At sectoral level, an amendment to the collective agreement of the sector of engineering and consulting firms, signed on 1 April 2014, stipulates that the employee has an “obligation to switch off remote communication devices” during minimum rest periods of 11 hours per day and 35 hours per week. This right to switch off was already included in an agreement dated 31 May 2012 on the development of well-being at work within the Areva group. The text provides for a “right to switch off”, inviting every employee to disconnect from the company network and not to send emails outside normal working hours. At Thales, a group agreement dated 4 February 2014 on well-being at work grants “a right to disconnect outside company opening hours” or at least “for the duration of the legal daily and weekly rest periods”. Line management also undertakes not to send emails during these periods.

• Labour law reform: The lower house of parliament on 24 April passed the decree on the reform of the labour market in the framework of a vote of confidence requested by the government. The wording, which will now be examined by the Senate, makes it easier to engage workers on fixed-term contracts: it will be possible to conclude such contracts for a period of up to three years, during which they can be renewed up to five times (and not eight as envisaged by the initial draft). Employers will be able to employ up to 20 % of their workforce on the basis of fixed-term contracts.

• New collective agreement in the banking sector: The ABBL employers’ organisation and three representative trade union organisations in the banking sector on 23 April successfully concluded a new collective agreement for the years 2014 to 2016, broadly along the same lines as the accord which expired at the end of 2013. The collective agreement, which will enter force on 1 January 2015, provides for wage moderation measures and, in particular, a freeze on salaries in 2015 and 2016.


• New collective agreements in the sector of temporary agency work: The Fedil Employment Services employers’ organisation and the OGBL and LCGB trade unions on 10 April renewed the collective labour agreement for permanent employees of temporary employment agencies, as well as the collective agreement for temporary agency workers. The two agreements cover some 4,800 full-time equivalent employees. The extension (“declaration of general obligation”) of both texts has been requested by the signatories (see OGBL press release).

• Deutsche Post DHL: The president of the European works council of the Deutsche Post DHL group, Elmar Kallfelz, has launched a “call to the ballot box” (French only), on behalf of the council in order to encourage the group’s European employees to take part in the European elections from 22 to 25 May. “By voting, we can play a decisive part in ensuring that the workers’ demands are taken into account,” he explains. “If we are successful in strengthening workers’ rights in Europe, we too at Deutsche Post DHL stand to gain”.


• GDF Suez: The management of the French energy group GDF Suez and a group of negotiators mandated by the IndustriAll Trade Union Europe and EPSU trade union federations on 29 April began to negotiate a European agreement on well-being at work, as revealed in IR Notes No. 8. The previous day, the employees’ negotiators met to prepare without the management, which had sent an initial draft document. An important point in the negotiation, according to the EPSU, will be the question of the method and resources utilised to ensure the agreement is implemented in all the group’s establishments. Further preparatory sessions are planned for 15 and 16 May, while meetings with management are scheduled for 16 June and 9 and 10 September. (Link to the EPSU press release).

• Documents recently added on the IR Share website: IBM European works council agreement (2010), Metro (2014), Social charter of Deutsche Telekom (2013), the Judgement of the High Court of Justice of the Asturias region concerning Tenneco’s failure to respect the information and consultation procedure.

• Deteriorating working conditions: On 28 April the European Commission issued the results of a telephone survey involving a representative sample of 26,500 European participants (Flash Eurobarometer No. 398), concerning their perception of working conditions. 53% of respondents consider their working conditions to be good, but the rate drops in those countries most seriously affected by the economic and financial crisis: in Slovenia, Romania and Portugal to 32%; Italy (25 %), Spain (20 %), Hungary (18 %) and Greece (16 %). A majority of European workers (57 %) say their working conditions have deteriorated in the past five years, but there are eight countries which push down the results: France, which is the first of the eight to exceed the EU average, with 62 %, followed by Cyprus and Hungary (75 %), Portugal (78 %), Slovenia (84 %), Italy (85 %), Spain (86 %) and Greece (88 %).

The European Commission defined corporate social responsibility (CSR) for the first time in 2001 in a green paper, as a “concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis”. In 2006, this work resulted in the “European Alliance for Corporate Social Responsibility”, an initiative led by companies and business, whose inherent flaw was that it was borne by only one stakeholder group, namely the employers. In a new communication on its 2011-2014 strategy, the Commission has redefined CSR as “the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society”. “Respect for applicable legislation, and for collective agreements between social partners, is a prerequisite for meeting that responsibility,” the Commission stresses. It is this strategy which the Commission today wishes to evaluate (see Social Update, above) before defining its new policy on this matter. See the European Industrial Relations Dictionary for further details.