IR Notes

On 21 November, the European Commission published a series of documents marking the beginning of the 2019 “European Semester” cycle, a process which allows States to coordinate their economic and social policies and address the economic challenges which the EU is facing (see the commission’s press release and factsheet). Two documents are particularly important: 1. Annual growth survey 2019 in which the Commission sets out ways to boost growth in the EU; 2. the draft joint employment report which presents the results achieved as regards labour market policy and the challenges to be addressed. The Commission is also publishing an infographic about the social scoreboard used to measure progress made in implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights. The Commission would like labour legislation and social systems to provide “security to all types of workers” and facilitate “transitions between jobs and statuses”. It notes that “real wage developments continued to trail behind productivity in 2017 on average, following a longer-term trend”. In many States, they are still below pre-crisis levels. Noting the decline of collective bargaining, which kept wages buoyant, the Commission recommends the development “of policies enhancing the institutional capacity of social partners”, especially in “the countries where social dialogue is weak or has been negatively affected by the crisis”. Furthermore, in certain countries, “income disparities are reaching levels higher than those recorded before the crisis”.

Whistle-blowers: on 20 November, the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs adopted a report on the draft directive on protection for whistle-blowers. The text presented by the Commission required the whistle-blower to go to the employer first before he or she could approach a competent public authority or the media. This provision has been amended by the Parliament. “We removed the strict hierarchy of channels for raising the alert by allowing whistle-blowers to go straight to the competent public authorities and guaranteeing easier recourse to the media”, states S&D MEP Virginie Rozière. Negotiations are scheduled to begin with the Council so that directive can be adopted.

• Carcinogens and mutagens: on 20 November, the European Parliament’s Committee on Social Affairs passed a number of amendments in the third revision of the directive on the protection of workers from carcinogens and mutagens (see comment made by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI). Negotiations will soon begin between the Parliament and the Council to introduce this directive during the first semester of 2019.

The UEAPME changed its name to SMEunited : on 6 November, the UEAPME, the association for Crafts and SMEs in Europe, decided to change its name to “SMEunited” see press release). A recognised European social partner, it has adopted a “memorandum for the European elections 2019“ to assert its stances and priorities.

• A foster parent is different from other workers: the Court of Justice ruled that foster parents who welcome and integrate a child into their home and provide, on a continuous basis, for their upbringing and education, are indeed workers, but are not entitled to the rest time or maximum working hours stipulated in directive 2003/88 of 4 November 2003 on the organisation of working time. (CJUE, 20 November 2018, case C-147/17, Sindicatul Familia Constanta).

Bicycle couriers considered employees: on 28 November, the highest court for social affairs, the Court of Cassation, issued for the first time a ruling on contracts between bicycle delivery workers and their platform (Take Eat Easy)(see explanatory note issued by the Court). The court took the view that if a relationship of subordination could be established, the judges could only redefine the contract for the provision of services as an employment contract. In describing the relationship of subordination, the Court pointed out that the application used by the couriers went beyond mere interaction, because it “involved a geolocation system which allowed the company to track the position of the courier in real time and record the total number of kilometres he or she covered”. Furthermore, the platform “had the authority to sanction the courier”.

• Easing of working time legislation: the government proposed a radical change to working time legislation without consulting social partners and by curtailing parliamentary debates. The draft proposal includes three fundamental amendments: 1. the increase of the maximum annual quota for overtime hours from the current 250 hours to 400 hours; 2. the introduction of a 3-year period for adjusting working time by collective agreement; 3. the opportunity for employers to amend working hours at any time with the employee’s consent. The objective is to address the current labour shortage by extending working hours.

Dispute over failure to consult workers: on 3 December, the Rotterdam District Court issued an emergency ruling in a case concerning the violation by the management of the American aluminium producer Alcoa of its European Works Council’s information and consultation rights (see. Question for…). On 17 October, the management informed the select committee of its plan to close two sites in Spain (700 employees) (see IndustriAll Europe press release). A letter to this effect was sent on the same day to the works councils and trade unions at the sites concerned to inform them that the information and consultation procedure on the collective redundancy had begun. This procedure must provide for an agreement within a month. If no agreement is reached within this period, the management can close the sites without a redundancy plan. “The select committee decided to appeal to the court to request the suspension of the information and consultation procedure concerning the collective redundancy”, explains Petra Molenaar, a consultant with SBI Formaat, who is advising the council, “and to wait until the European Works Council had carried out an assessment and issued its opinion”. In contrast to the management, the committee considers consultation vital, since it believes that the plan is indeed transnational in so far as the closure has an impact on the whole group, especially on the shared services centre in Hungary, and that it involves the transfer of activities to other sites in the EU.

• Disagreement over consultation: on 16 November, the European Works Council of the Safran group (91,000 employees) issued a press release relating to the plan to reorganise the Zodiac Premium Galleys site in Herborn, Germany, where Safran is considering cutting its staff by a third. The Council “fully intends to assert its information and consultation rights with regard to this transnational issue”, which is not considered as such by the management.


• Creation of European Works Councils: on 19 September, the French engineering consulting company Altran (28,300 employees in the EU) signed an agreement on the European Works Council. The agreement provides for Brexit and stipulates that if a State covered by the agreement leaves the EU, it “would remain within the scope of application of the agreement” and its delegation would be maintained. In addition, on 4 May, an agreement was signed in the French insurance group SMA (3,288 employees) to set up a European Works Council covering France and two subsidiaries in Spain and Portugal.

• Demand for global social dialogue: on 22 November, the global trade union network of the Sanofi group (100,000 employees) held a meeting and adopted a declaration calling on the company “to establish a mechanism to facilitate regular genuine social dialogue at global level” (see press release).


• Creation of a global trade union network: the first-ever meeting of the global trade union network of the American glassmaking group Owens-Illinois (26,000 employees) was held on 12 and 13 November. The participants adopted a resolution demanding global social dialogue (see press release).


• Working conditions: Amazon’s global trade union network held a meeting on 21 and 22 November, at the initiative of UNI Commerce and with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. The participants discussed issues such as working conditions and the setting up of a six-member trade union committee (see report produced by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI).
  


• European framework agreement: as part of Liberty House’s takeover of six ArcelorMittal sites, the ArcelorMittal European trade unions are demanding the negotiation of a European framework agreement to provide “long-term guarantees for employment, quality of jobs, production levels and investment plans” (see IndustriAll Europe press release).