IR Notes

Une loi de la région italienne du Latium pour protéger les travailleurs des plateformes : A law aimed at protecting workers employed by digital platforms came into force on 17 April in Italy’s Lazio Region. This regional legislation bans piece-rate pay and entitles platform workers to receive minimum rates of pay set by collective bargaining. It obliges platforms to ensure they provide social security coverage, insurance for workers against accidents at work and damage to third parties, transparency of algorithms and pricing systems, portability of worker ratings, and coverage of expenses linked to maintenance of working tools. A set of measures, communicated via a website, is also envisaged, to raise workers’ awareness of their rights. The law may prompt interesting political developments at national level, as the government can challenge the provisions of a regional law that may be in conflict with national legislative powers, such as those governing pay and social protection rights for platform workers.
> Find out more: Regional Law 12 April 2019, n. 4 Disposizioni per la tutela e la sicurezza dei lavoratori digitali and the report on the “Don’t Gig Up” project led by the Fondazione G. Brodolini.  The report also makes reference to a law which was passed by the Piedmont region in January 2019, but instead of entering into force, was referred to the Italian Parliament for debate with a view to national legislation being adopted.

Unemployment : In the EU, the unemployment rate stood at 6.4% in March 2019 compared to 6.5% in February and 7% in March 2018. This is the lowest rate since January 2000. The rates posted range from 1.9% in the Czech Republic to 18.5% in Greece. As far as the unemployment rate by European region is concerned,  the Union is split into two, with high rates particularly affecting the countries of the South, including France. Unemployment rates range from 1.3% to 35.1%.

• Several collective agreements adopted : On 23 April, the country’s National Labour Council (CNT), a body representing the social partners, adopted several collective labour agreements (see CNT press release), notably regarding the increase in the level of transport costs payable by the employers, and also changes to early retirement arrangements (chômage avec complément d’entreprise).
  > And also the law of 4 April 2019 was published, setting out the arrangements for the forthcoming social elections due to take place from 11 to 24 May 2020.

Nature of a trade union representative’s position on the European Works Council : The Court of Cassation has confirmed (Cass. soc., 17 April 2019, n° 17-17.986) the validity of the representation mandate of two members of the European Works Council of Axa who, in 2015, left their trade union, the CFDT, during their term of office, to join another trade union, the CFE-CGC. The CFDT’s Banking and Insurance Federation then decided to appoint new members to the European Works Council, a move disputed by the company’s management. Rightfully so, according to the Court of Cassation: the appeal court decided with good reason that the mandate of a European Works Council member “is not a trade union representation mandate, and therefore a change in the union affiliation of an elected workforce representative appointed by a trade union does not permit this union to terminate the representative’s term of office.”

• Additional leave : The law of 25 April 2019 has been published. It provides firstly for an increase in the legal minimum amount of paid leave, from 25 to 26 days per annum, and secondly, for Europe Day, celebrated on 9 May, to be declared by law as a public holiday. The law entered into force retroactively on 1 January 2019.

Dockers’ dispute comes to an end : For the first time in 47 years, the Swedish dockers’ union has managed, following two years of negotiations and several strikes, to establish a national collective bargaining agreement for dockers. The employers, for their part, preferred to negotiate with the transport union, which is affiliated to the large central trade union LO, whereas the dockers’ union is an independent body.
> Find out more: In the interview with our expert, Christer Thornqvist (University of Skövde), on Radio Sweden (starting at minute 12, in English).

An innovative new agreement : On 29 April, the French group Korian (52,000 employees) signed an agreement creating a European Works Council; this is a first in Europe in the sector providing care services for the elderly and infirm. The special negotiating body was made up of representatives of German, Belgian, Italian and French employees. It was supported by the European trade-union federation EPSU. This agreement adopts a wide-ranging definition of “transnational questions”, and they include decisions “taken in a Member State which, following feedback, might be duplicated in whole or in part in other Member States of the group”. The agreement also provides for ad hoc and two permanent working parties to “facilitate and deepen the work undertaken by the body”. One of them is devoted to the issues of employment, training and skills, and the other to quality of life at work and to health and safety.  Management is also required to state the reasons why a particular piece of information should remain confidential and vis-à-vis which public, and for how long. The council is entitled to “challenge the confidential status of a piece of information and to call on central management to reconsider its position”.

Alert procedure for monitoring a reorganisation : At an extraordinary meeting held on 24 April, the European Works Council of Nexans issued a unanimously unfavourable opinion regarding the proposed reorganisation of the business, which would lead to 939 job losses in Europe. That same day, the European trade-union federation IndustriAll organised a day of action outside Nexans’ head office (see press release). The council states in the opinion that it would like to see the introduction of an alert procedure led by employee representatives at local level, in order to feed back to the European Works Council any problems with implementing the reorganisation, so that meetings can be organised with management to make sure that answers to questions are received, culminating in an action plan.

• Negotiation of a European Works Council agreement: A demonstration was organised, on 29 April, with the support of the European trade-union federation EFFAT, at the head office of Coca-Cola European Partners, calling for the rapid creation of a European Works Council, following almost three years of negotiations (see press release)

Profit-sharing : On 5 April, the management of the Belgian chemicals group Solvay (27,000 employees) and the Solvay Global Forum, which represents employees at global level, signed their fifth global agreement on profit-sharing at group level. If the targets are met (80% linked to financial criteria / 20% linked to sustainable development criteria), employees will qualify for a share of up to 12 million euros in the company’s profits.

• Employee share ownership: On 29 April, the world’s second-largest producer of wines and spirits, Pernod Ricard (18,900 employees), launched its first employee share ownership plan. This involves 18 countries, i.e. 75% of the group’s workforce. (see press release).

• Sexual harassment : On 14 April, the global trade-union network set up by the international union federation IUF within the hotel group Accor, held a meeting in Casablanca (Morocco). The participants decided to intensify their efforts to persuade Accor to sign an agreement aimed at eliminating sexual harassment in hotels operating under its brands (see press release).

More predictable working hours : Following six days of strike action by 4,000 pilots in the three Scandinavian countries – Denmark, Norway and Sweden – an agreement was signed, on 2 May, between the management of the airline SAS and its pilots (see press release) who were seeking both a substantial pay rise and an improvement in their working conditions. The increase will not be as much as the pilots wanted, but they have secured more predictable working hours. The high degree of cross-national coordination of the negotiations facilitated the process of resolving the dispute.

Future of Work : The OCDE has published its Employment Outlook 2019, a major report focused on the future of work. One of the studies evaluates the proportion of jobs firstly at high risk of automation and secondly those exposed to a high risk of change. On average, at OECD level, 14% of jobs are at high risk of automation. They also report a significant rise in robot sales, and forecast a tripling of sales in 2021 compared to their 2014 level.

• Employment of people with disabilities: The European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities and the European Platform for Rehabilitation have published a study on the theme of “employment models within the social economy and their role in including persons with disabilities into the labour market and society“, produced by our Lithuanian partner Policy Impact Lab. The report provides an overview of these employment models at EU level, plus a number of specific case studies from Belgium (Flanders), Germany, Lithuania, Norway and Spain.