IR Notes

The European Commission on 31 May presented its “Europe on the move” initiative, which comprises the following elements: 1/ A communication outlining a long-term plan in support of “clean, socially fair, competitive mobility” (see press release and fact-sheet). 2/ A first set of eight legislative initiatives with a special focus on road transport. These proposals aim notably at improving the functioning of the road haulage market; enhancing the employment and social conditions of workers; and promoting smart road-charging in Europe. 3/ EU policy support measures designed to accompany the transformation of the sector. With regard to social considerations, the Commission intends to “help improve workers’ social and employment conditions”, with measures including “stepping up enforcement, fighting illicit employment practices […] and bringing more clarity to existing rules, for instance concerning the application of national minimum wage laws”. To achieve these aims, the Commission presented three main proposals, details of which are given below (see draft legislation). This attempt to reconcile working conditions for drivers with the economy of the sector has not convinced the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), which declares itself unable to “support a package which, in the name of drivers, fails to deal with their real needs and problems, legalises dumping practices, leads to fatigue and puts safety at risk” (see statement). In a preliminary statement, the ETF described the social guarantees proposed by the Commission as window dressing. On the employers’ side, the positions of western and eastern European countries are so far apart that a common European stance appears out of reach. “When we see our jobs and the companies that we have built up over more than 20 years being destroyed, our disillusionment and determination to act have never been higher,” thunders Jan Buczek, president of the International Association of Road Transport Operators (ZMPB) in Poland, a country which, according to the ZMPB, accounts for 24% of the European long-distance haulage market. The associations of road transport operators in central and eastern Europe will meet on 8 June in Poland to organise an offensive to counter these proposals. For other employers’ organisations, however, the text does not go far enough. The French organisation OTRE considers that the new rules on cabotage give a “blank cheque to companies registered in eastern Europe to come and attack the French domestic market even more strongly” (see press release). Suffice to say, the discussions surrounding these proposals, which are vital for the EU’s ability to improve working conditions at the expense of economic interests, are going to be extremely tense.

In the framework of the “Europe on the move” initiative (see lead story), here are the three principal proposals concerning social legislation applicable to the road transport sector.

Measures to combat letter-box companies and reform of cabotage: A proposal for a regulation amending Regulation (EC) No. 1071/2009 and Regulation (EC) No. 1072/2009 with a view to adapting them to developments in the sector is primarily geared towards combating the letter-box companies that have sprung up in the road transport sector. The practice involves creating subsidiaries in member states with low wage costs with the sole objective of recruiting drivers to carry out international haulage or cabotage operations in the other member states. The proposal aims to ensure that the companies set up in a member state exercise a real and continuous activity there, and that they hold assets and employ personnel in that country. The other major measure is that the limit on the number of cabotage operations that can be carried out in a member state following an international trip ending in the latter (currently set at 3) is lifted, while the maximum number of days during which these cabotage runs can be performed is reduced from 7 to 5.

• Revised rules for posted workers: a proposal for a directive laying down specific rules for posting drivers in the road transport sector. Article 2 of this proposal provides that drivers carrying out international haulage operations are not to be subject to the rules governing posted workers, in particular the application of the minimum wage in force in the host country, “where the period of posting to their territory to perform these operations is shorter than or equal to 3 days during a period of one calendar month”. This solution is designed to respond to the initiatives taken by three countries (Austria, France and Germany) intended to make the minimum wage applicable from the time the driver enters their national territory. By contrast, the proposal clearly states that, in relation to cabotage operations, the driver continues to be subject to the minimum wage of the country in which he is performing cabotage for the entire duration.


• Revised rules on drivers’ working hours: a proposal for a regulation relating to minimum requirements on maximum daily and weekly driving times, minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods. Here too, to put an end to different interpretations of the European social legislation by the member states, the proposal states that “a driver is not allowed to take a weekly rest of 45 hours or more in a vehicle, and that the employer is obliged to provide a driver with adequate accommodation with appropriate sleeping and hygiene facilities if drivers are not able to take a weekly rest at a private place of their choice” (article 8(8)a). Elsewhere, to halt the itinerant wanderings of drivers who spend several months in a row on the road, crisscrossing Europe without ever returning home, the proposal obliges transport undertakings to organise the drivers’ work in such a way that they are able to return to home for their weekly rest at least once within three consecutive weeks (article 8 (8)b).

Reflection paper on the future of economic and monetary union: The European Commission on 31 May, as part of the reflections launched on the future of Europe, and following the earlier adoption of reflection papers on social Europe and harnessing globalisation, presented a third reflection paper, on deepening the economic and monetary union – EMU (link to the other languages) (see press release). Unlike the other two documents, which offer several scenarios, this one has a single agenda because strengthening the EMU is essential. The Commission is seeking to strike a balance between two radically different positions which, while not reconciled, are hampering measures to strengthen the euro area: on the one hand, the states such as Germany which stress accountability, that is to say that all countries must respect the criteria of the stability pact before contemplating further integration, and on the other those, such as France, which are in favour of greater pooling between the states, not by setting up financial transfers between the richer and poorer countries, but by working to guarantee certain risks collectively. For instance, as suggested by the document, a country facing budgetary difficulties forcing it to reduce its expenditure could receive financing from the EU, subject to conditions, to maintain its investment or education spending. Another option, that of setting up a European unemployment “reinsurance scheme”, will allow, subject to conditions, support for the unemployment insurance system of a particular country faced with a serious rise in unemployment in order not to encumber its public finances and again place a burden on future spending. This would require a certain harmonisation of unemployment insurance schemes beforehand.

• European dialogue on skills and migration: The European Commission on 23 May launched an initiative entitled “Employers together for integration” in order to promote the efforts being undertaken by employers to support the integration of refugees and other migrants in the labour market (see Commission press release).

• Exploiting the potential for employment from the green economy: The European social partners on 29 May adopted a joint statement calling for the potential offered by greening the economy to be exploited to create jobs.

• New rules intended to combat fraud linked to the posting of workers: Two decrees have been adopted pursuant to law 2016-1088 of 8 August 2016 that set out new rules applicable to the posting of workers on French soil. Decree No. 2017-751 of 3 May sets at €40 per posted worker the amount payable by employers based outside France that send employees to work there. The contribution is intended to cover the costs of the system established to administer the pre-posting declaration. Decree No. 2017-825 of 5 May, whose provisions will take effect on 1 July 2017, sets out how the ordering party is deemed to have met its due diligence obligations in relation to subcontractors which post workers.

• Transposition of the posted workers’ enforcement directive: Almost one year late, directive 2014/67 on the application of directive 96/71 concerning the posting of workers has been transposed into Spanish law by royal decree 9/2017.

Capgemini: In the lead-up to its conversion as a European Company (SE), adopted on 10 May, Capgemini (190,000 employees of which 40% are located in the EU), a world leader in IT services, signed an agreement on 30 March designed to organise employee representation within the group. The document very largely reiterates the terms of the agreement on the installation of the international works council, which was first established in 2001. This agreement was renegotiated in 2016, a few months before the company converted to an SE (see interview opposite). The new agreement, which will be available online on the IR Share website by the end of June, once the works council has met for the first time, contains interesting clauses on widening the works council’s international scope and strengthening the executive committee (see interview), as well as on communication between the works council members and between them and the workforce as a whole. The document also describes the management of the intranet site dedicated to the works council.

• Veidekke ASA: The management of the Norwegian construction group Veidekke ASA (7,000 employees) and Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) on 24 January renewed their international framework agreement (EN ES DE) dating from 2005. From now on, the entire supply chain will be included, with contractors, subcontractors and companies undertaking to respect the fundamental rights enshrined in the agreement (see BWI press release).

Germany offers more childcare places than France: An analysis report published by the governmental think-tank “France stratégie” highlights that, contrary to all expectation, Germany “has overtaken France in terms of the rates of coverage for children under three years of age by collective childcare facilities”. While the rate in Germany has risen “from 12.1% in 2006 to 27.4 % in 2014, it has fallen slightly in France over the same period, declining from 21.2% to 19.7%”. Germany took the decision in the early 2000s to change the pattern whereby female employees had to give up their job or go part-time to look after their child. The rationale was that the shortage of childcare places was having negative repercussions not only on children’s development, but also on female employment and fertility rates. It therefore doubled the number of collective childcare places available for children under three years of age. The introduction of an enforceable right to a childcare place for children from the age of one is among the key measures that have led to this surge in childcare provision.

• Impact of artificial intelligence on employment: The European Economic and Social Committee on 23 May adopted an own-initiative opinion on artificial intelligence (AI). The committee, which points out certain risks, argues for an approach “where machines remain machines and people retain control”. Concerning the labour market, the EU, national governments and the social partners “should jointly identify which job sectors will be affected by AI, to what extent and on what timescale, and should look for solutions in order to properly address the impact on employment, the nature of work, social systems and (in)equality”. The committee calls on governments and the social partners “to focus not only on what AI is capable of doing, but also on what people are capable of doing (creativity, empathy, cooperation) and what we want people to keep doing, and to look for opportunities to enable people and machines to work together better (complementarity)”.