IR Notes

The EU statistics office Eurostat has evaluated the progress made by digitalisation in the workplace within the Union (see press release). The study reveals the extent to which digitalisation is gaining ground. In the twelve months preceding the survey, the work-related tasks of 16% of employed internet users in the EU had changed due to the introduction of new software or computerised equipment, and 29% had had to learn how to use new software or equipment for their job. 71% of employees who had used the internet over the previous twelve months reported that they were using IT tools (computers, tablets, laptops, smartphones, etc.) at work and 19% were using computerised equipment or machinery. The highest share of employed internet users (more than 90%) using this type of tool was to be found in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. The Latin countries are below the EU average: Italy (71%), Portugal (69%), Spain (64%) and Greece (60%). The lowest percentage rates were in Rumania (36%) and Bulgaria (47%), which were the only two countries beneath the 50% threshold. In the East, only Estonia stands out, with a rate (74%) above the EU average. Almost half (47%) of employed internet users in the EU assessed their IT skills as adequate for their duties, while 18% had more skills than required for their current duties and 9% acknowledged that they needed further training.

• Civil aviation: learning the lessons from the crash of Flight 9525 operated by the airline Germanwings in 2015, the European Commission has published implementing regulation (EU) 2019/27 of 19 December 2018, amending Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011 laying down technical requirements and administrative procedures related to civil aviation aircrew. In particular, this text amends the rules relating to medical certification of aircrew.

Integration of migrants: On 18 December, the European social partners in the metalworking industry approved two joint positions on the integration of migrants into the employment market and the European Pillar of Social Rights. The signatories are encouraging States to set up programmes to train migrants, while at the same time providing financial support for their employers. The text cites the example of Sweden, where the social partners have reached agreement on a model enabling newly arrived migrants and long-term unemployed residents to take on so-called “entry jobs” (etableringsjobb). The wage costs involved for the employer will be around 840 euros per month while, thanks to State aid, the migrant will receive a level of remuneration equivalent to the minimum wage set by the collective agreement. The arrangement should be operational by mid-2019.

• Third-party violence and harassment: The European social partners for the central government administrations sector (TUNED and EUPAE) have signed multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work. These had already been adopted in 2010 by the social partners in the local and regional government, healthcare, commerce, private security and education sectors. They provide basic guidelines on how to put in place a policy and procedure for preventing and dealing with harassment and acts of violence.
  > see agreement with TUNED’s and EUPAE’s signatures.


• Exposure to formaldehyde: On 30 November, the European social partners in the wood-based panels industry adopted an autonomous agreement on a “European Action Guide” regarding the prevention of formaldehyde exposure in this industry and compliance with limit values for exposure (see press release issued by the EFBWW and the EPF). The agreement provides companies with detailed instructions on how to plan preventive measures and actions.

• IndustriAll Europe’s collective bargaining policy: At the collective bargaining conference held on 6 and 7 December in Bratislava (Slovakia), the IndustriAll Europe trade-union federation adopted several documents: 1° A political resolution on collective bargaining, social policies and the role of the trade unions ; 2° A position paper on wage policy and a revision of IndustriAll Europe’s wage coordination rules ; 3° a working time charter.

Abolition of zero hours contracts: The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017) will come into force in March. 1° The employer will be obliged to provide a statement in writing of the five main particulars of the terms of employment within five days after the employee has started work; failure to do so will be a breach of criminal law.  2° The text establishes a guarantee for employees whose working hours over the previous twelve months did not match the number stipulated in their contract. They will then be able to obtain a contract from the employer specifying a variable number of hours of work that will ensure that, over the next twelve months, the number of hours they work will be comparable to that of the previous twelve months. 3° An employer can be held legally liable if it wrongly describes an employee as a “self-employed worker”. 4° Zero hours contracts – which do not specify any minimum working hours – will be prohibited, other than in exceptional circumstances. 5° The text stipulates the right to a minimum payment for employees who are not called into work during a given week. In this case, the employee will be entitled to receive 25% of his/her contractual weekly hours.

• Employment law reforms: On 17 December, the government published the “Good Work Plan”, described as “the largest package of reforms” to employment law “for more than twenty years”, which is intended to “meet the challenges posed by a changing world of work”. The text announces plans to introduce a right for all workers (employees, but also “workers”, an intermediate category that lies between paid employment and self-employed work) to seek greater certainty regarding the number of hours worked or the days of the week on which they will be asked to work. The threshold above which employees can request the introduction of information and consultation arrangements, which currently stands at no less than 10% of the workforce, will be lowered to 2% for companies with at least 15 employees. The right to receive a written statement of their terms and conditions of employment will be extended to all workers and employees. This must be handed over on day one of the employment relationship (instead of within two months, as at present). However, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) believes that the text does not offer sufficient guarantees to workers employed by digital platforms (see press release).

• New council to be created? The European Transport Workers’ Federation (EFT) has called for the creation of a European Works Council at the airport services company Menzies Aviation (30,000 employees), which supplies ground handling, freight handling, cargo transfer and refuelling services.

New European company created: On 14 December, the German group Traton (81,000 employees), which is the company behind the brand names owned by Volkswagen’s commercial vehicle manufacturers (MAN, Scania, Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus and RIO), was converted into a European company (SE). The agreement on worker involvement in the SE stipulates that one half of the 20 supervisory board members are to be workforce representatives from the company’s European sites. Employees from these sites will be represented on the SE’s future works council which, according to its secretary Athanasios Stimoniaris, “will offer workers right across Europe the opportunity for codetermination”.

• International social dialogue: On 13 December, the international trade-union federations ITF and UNI Global Union and the management of the Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL) published a press release on the progress of their cooperation via the procedure established by the OECD protocol in July 2016 (see UNI Global Union press release). The IndustriAll Global Union federation also passed a resolution demanding that Volkswagen urgently withdraw any form of legal action brought against trade unions attempting to organise workers at its plant at Chattanooga (Tennessee), in the USA. The federation is threatening to tear up the global agreement on fundamental rights signed with the car maker.

Under-recognition of occupational cancers: “Regardless of the number of cancers recognised by each country and qualifying for compensation because they are work-related, everyone agrees that they are under-declared”, says a recent French study performed by Eurogip. The publication presents an analysis of the extent to which occupational cancers are recognised in nine countries: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. In all countries except Germany, cancers caused by asbestos dust constitute the vast majority of cancers recognised as occupational diseases.
> see also the comments of the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI).