IR Notes

The heads of state and of government of the EU met on 8 October 2014 in Milan for a third summit devoted to youth employment. In 2012, the European Commission proposed that the Member States should provide a “youth guarantee” which would ensure that young people received a job or training within four months of having left school or becoming unemployed. This guarantee is backed by the “youth employment initiative”, which has a budget of 6 billion euros. At the closing press conference, the German Chancellor noted that “It is not a question of there not being enough money, but that this money is not being used because it is difficult to access”. In fact, several countries entitled to benefit from the allocated budget of 6 billion euros have not had access to it and, so far, only France and Italy have obtained funding. 75% of the resources made available to the Member States have still not been used. The European leaders decided to shorten the time taken to obtain funds and to allow programmes to be financed in advance.

• Towards greater cooperation to combat undeclared work: The EU’s Employment and Social Policy Council on 16 October 2014 approved a “general approach” on the creation of a platform to improve cooperation at EU level in order to prevent and deter undeclared work more effectively. The ministers eventually accepted that, while the participation of the Member States in the platform is mandatory, they will be able to decide on their level of involvement in platform initiatives (link to the Council press release. Negotiations will now begin between the Council and the European Parliament with a view to adopting the decision to create the platform. A Commission press release outlines the project’s general aims.


• EU 2020 strategy and maternity leave: At the Council meeting on 16 October (see above and the conclusions, in English), the ministers also held a debate on the mid-term review of the EU 2020 strategy, underscoring that the effects of the crisis will not allow the poverty reduction and employment targets to be met. They also discussed parental and maternity leave: “a way to reconcile work, family and private life.” The fact that the Council is presenting the discussion about recasting directive 92/85 on improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers exclusively from the angle of work-life balance is a way of showing that this subject is not linked to health and safety at work, which suggests that it will not press for the revision of this directive, which rests solely on the legal basis of health and safety at work.


• Assistance from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund: The European Commission on 14 October 2014 proposed to grant 1.4 million euros to Finland from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) to help 565 employees laid off by the naval shipyards belonging to STX Finland Oy to find new jobs (see press release). It also proposed, on 7 October, to provide aid of 7.2 million euros for the 761 former workers of a clothing chain in Greece (see press release).

• Social dialogue platform at the ECB: An agreement was signed on 17 September 2014 between the European Central Bank (ECB) and three European trade union organisations (FSESP, SCECBU and UNI Europa) to extend the information and consultation rights granted to ECB personnel since 1999 to workers employed in the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), with the establishment of a “social dialogue platform” (see EPSU press release).

• An employer can oblige a part-time employee to transfer to full-time work: The European Court of Justice has issued a judgement in an Italian case concerning an employee of the justice ministry who had been working part-time since 2000 (CJEU 15 October 2014, case C-221/13, Teresa Mascellani). Pursuant to a law passed in 2010, the ministry unilaterally terminated this part-time contract in February 2011 and imposed a full-time working arrangement spread over six days a week with effect from April 2011. The employee contested this decision, believing that the European framework agreement on part-time working, included in directive 97/81, establishes a principle according to which part-time work cannot be converted into full-time work without the worker’s consent. The Court gave a different reading of clause 5.2 of the framework agreement, which merely seeks to prevent an employer from terminating an employment relationship purely because of a “worker’s refusal to transfer from full-time to part-time work or vice-versa”. In the eyes of the Court, EU law does not preclude “national legislation pursuant to which the employer may order the conversion of a part-time employment relationship into a full-time employment relationship without the consent of the worker concerned”.

• Coalition agreement heralds a social “big bang”: The different parties forming the coalition government on 9 October 2014 signed a coalition agreement (accord de gouvernement, Regeerakkoord) which aims to restore the country’s economic competitiveness in order to create jobs by reducing the cost of labour and pursuing reforms of the labour market and the retirement system. To this end, the government intends to launch a vast consultation exercise with the social partners in order to arrive at tripartite agreements in particular on a “joint strategy for employment”. The three trade union confederations – CSC, FGTB and CGSLB – have decided to establish a “common trade union front” against a programme which they judge to be “antisocial, inequitable and unjust” (see Interview).

• Account set up for hardship working conditions: Provided for by law No. 2014-40 of 20 January 2014 on pension reform, the establishment of the “account to prevent hardship” is defined in several decrees (No. 2014-1155, No. 2014-1156, No. 2014-1157, No. 2014-1158, No. 2014-1159 and No. 2014-1160 dated 9 October 2014). As of 1 January 2015, the employer will be obliged to record the employee’s exposure to hardship conditions once the latter has been exposed to one or more risk factors above certain annual exposure thresholds. Of the ten factors specified by the decrees, four will have to be taken into account with effect from 1 January 2015: night work; working in successive alternating shifts; repetitive jobs and hyperbaric risk. The six remaining factors – manual handling of heavy loads, awkward postures, mechanical vibrations, exposure to dangerous chemical agents, extreme temperatures and noise – will apply from 1 January 2016.

• Reform to improve the work-life balance: The government on 15 October 2014 adopted a draft law aimed at reconciling professional life with the family pressures associated in particular with looking after a person needing care (Gesetz zur besseren Vereinbarkeit von Familie, Pflege und Beruf, in German). The law is due to enter force on 1 January 2015 (see press release, in German). To deal with an illness or accident involving a close family member, employees will be entitled to stop work for ten days – as is currently already the case – but they will now benefit from continued payment of their salary at a level of 90% of their net remuneration. Leave to care for a loved one in the final stage of life is also envisaged, for a maximum period of three months, together with the option of stopping work – either completely or some of the time – to take care of a close relative for six months. These leave periods are not paid, but employees will be able to take out an interest-free loan to safeguard their livelihood. In the case of a protracted illness affecting a family member or to take care of a dependent minor, the text grants employees the right to stop working some of the time (for up to 15 hours per week) or to give up work completely for a period of 24 months while still benefiting from protection against redundancy during this time.

• Establishment of a guaranteed minimum income: The government on 14 October 2014 presented a plan aimed at establishing a guaranteed minimum income in 13 of the country’s 325 municipalities. Greece is the only country in the EU not to have a mechanism for providing social assistance. The amount the beneficiaries will receive ranges from 200 euros per month (for people living alone) to 400 euros (for couples with two children) (see article in French published by Okeanews).

• Jobs Act adopted by the senate: The government succeeded in getting the text of its “Jobs Act” passed by the senate on 8 October 2014. The framework law provides for a far-reaching series of measures concerning different aspects of the employment relationship. The crux of the debate concerns the introduction of a unified permanent work contract which envisages increased protection on the basis of seniority. Although this provision is not explicitly stated, this would allow revision of the infamous article 18 of the labour code (law No. 300/1970) relating to sanctions in the case of unjustified dismissals in companies with more than 15 employees. In other respects, the text envisages measures to enhance the work-life balance, as well as to introduce greater flexibility, for instance in the allocation of tasks. If it passes unchanged to the chamber of deputies, this will enable the government to regulate these matters directly by legislative decree.

Bombardier: The management of the Canadian aerospace and rail manufacturing group Bombardier (76,400 employees, of which 32,900 in Europe) on 2 September 2014 revised the company’s EWC agreement dated 21 March 2001. The text provides for the select committee to be informed and consulted in the case of an exceptional event, even if this event only affects the personnel of one entity situated in only one of the countries covered by the agreement as a result of a decision taken in another Member State. The agreement is available on the website of the European Trade Union Institute.

• Club Méditerranée: At the initiative of the European (EFFAT) and international (UITA) trade union federations, the members of the EWC of Club Méditerranée and trade union delegates from France, Italy, Morocco and Tunisia met on 13 and 14 October 2014, at Hammamet (Tunisia). Given the risks for employment and social conditions linked to the current IPO, the members unanimously adopted a declaration in support of “creating a transnational body for social dialogue and monitoring commitments, so as to be informed about the economic progress of the Club Méditerranée group, and to debate the issues of jobs, training, mobility, and the working conditions in different countries”.


• Rio Tinto: The members of the European works council of Rio Tinto on 1 October 2014 adopted a declaration to denounce “an obstacle to the functioning of the European works council”. According to its members, “Because it is busy closing activities which do not bring it a big enough return, outsourcing support functions and cutting jobs in Europe, the general management no longer has time to meet its legal information obligations towards employee representatives on the EWC and its economic expert.”


• Thales: Following the announcement made at the French Council of Ministers meeting on 15 October 2014 that the CEO of the energy group EDF is to be replaced by Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO of Thales, the European works council of the latter group denounced the government decision. According to the office of the EWC, which met on 16 October, “Not one of the group’s 63,000 employees worldwide understands the logic of their CEO abandoning ship less than two years after an internal governance crisis of unprecedented proportion”.

• Eisenmann: The automotive supplier Eisenmann (3,800 employees) on 17 September 2014 converted to a European Company having, on 24 March, signed an agreement on the participation of employees in Eisenmann SE, which was negotiated in two months with three employee representatives. This conversion allows the new supervisory board to be formed without the presence of any employee representatives. The group has two sites in Germany as well as establishments in Spain, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
  => Recently added online: Agreement concerning the participation of employees in Allianz SE.

• Daimler: The American automotive trade union United Auto Workers (UAW) has received the support of the German IG Metall trade union and the Daimler World Employee Committee to create a new local union at the Mercedes car plant in Tuscaloosa (Alabama), which employees 3,400 people. The UAW already has around 7,000 members among Daimler employees in the USA (see UAW press release, in English).

One-quarter of European employees experience stress at work: Eurofound and the European Agency for Safety and Health and Work on 13 October 2014 published a study which shows that 25% of European employees experience work-related stress for all or most of their working time (“Psychosocial risks in Europe: Prevalence and strategies for prevention »). The study finds that, generally, between 25 % and 30 % of European companies have measures in place to prevent and tackle psychosocial risks. Nevertheless, these procedures are widespread (implemented by more than 50% of establishments) in only a few countries: Ireland, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Belgium and Finland.

• Posting of workers: The European Trade Union Institute has published a policy brief (“Social dumping and the integration process”, No. 5/2014) on letter-box companies and the abuse of worker posting arrangements, in particular in construction and the road transport sector. The study defines social dumping as a practice, undertaken by self-interested market participants, of undermining or evading existing social regulations with the aim of gaining a competitive advantage. The paper also argues that the social dumping practices are encouraged by policy initiatives of liberalisation and deregulation.


• Social data on Luxembourg: The STATEC statistics institute has published its annual report (Report on labour and social cohesion 2014), which contains essential social data on Luxembourg.

The term work-life balance is used to describe a satisfactory state of equilibrium between an individual’s work and personal life. A good balance is obtained when an individual’s right to a fulfilled life both inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected as the norm, to the mutual benefit of the individual, business and society. To achieve this goal, the most common tool is flexible working hours. Consulted by the European Commission in 2007 on this subject, the European social partners confined themselves to revising their European framework agreement on parental leave. It encourages fathers to take leave and the right of employees to request more flexible working hours. Find out more from Eurofound’s European Industrial Relations Dictionary.