IR Notes

Contrary to the gloomy forecasts circulating six months ago, the spectre of a Parliament dominated by Eurosceptics and the far right has not materialised. The results of these elections are a pleasant surprise for those in favour of building Europe, in several ways: 1° The rise in turnout seen in virtually every country has shown that citizens are keen to build Europe and that they have rejected those who advocate leaving the EU. In the words of Markus J. Beyrer,  of the employers’ organisation BusinessEurope, “European citizens made Europe their business” (see video in English). 2° The fact that Eurosceptics and the far right have been confined to two or three political groups within the Parliament should reduce their ability to create disruption. 3° A majority should be formed, either on a stable footing or at least on an ad hoc basis, between the various “progressive” groupings involving the Conservatives of the PPE and the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), which have hitherto been the two dominant groups but lost seats this time, and the two major winners at these elections: the Liberal Democrats and above all the Greens. 4° In all cases, the requirement to reach a four-way consensus can only enrich the debate. This new coalition “must be based on a forward-looking programme”, emphasises Luca Visentini, Secretary General of the European Trade Union Confederation, “promoting a sustainable economic model based on social justice and climate action.” (see press release issued by ETUC) 5° Traditionally, the European Parliament is more progressive than the Commission and the Council, and its new composition should make it even more so, especially in view of the influence of the Greens. This should put pressure on governments to speed up the process of ecological and social transition. 6° Lastly, based on the profile prepared by the Twenty-Eight for the purpose of selecting the new President of the Commission, the candidate should “draw up a detailed programme”, emphasises the daily newspaper Libération (29.05), “dealing with growth and innovation, the environment, immigration, defence policy and a social Europe.” The concept of a social Europe that emerged during Jean-Claude Juncker’s term of office should therefore gather momentum.
> see also: full results of the European Parliament elections, country by country; commentary by Juan Menéndez-Valdés, Director of Eurofound, based on the report Living and working in Europe 2015-2018.

A congress for continuity : the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) held its congress in Vienna, from 21 to 24 May, amid an atmosphere of great uncertainty regarding the European election results. The issue at stake was one of great importance, because in the absence of an effective social dialogue at European level, progress on the social front will be made primarily through the Parliament. “This is a congress for continuity”, explains Philippe Pochet, Director of the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI). “The aim was not to define a new policy, but to ensure that the one adopted in 2015 is implemented, and to bring it closer to fruition by setting ourselves concrete objectives to be achieved within four years.” “Both the Germans and the French want to make ETUC more pragmatic and to ensure that it is more than just an institutional tool serving the needs of trade-union lobbying”, explains Fabrice Warneck, Head of the Brussels office of the consultancy firm Syndex. ETUC thus plans to play a more active role in areas such as workers’ information and consultation rights, European Works Councils and the duty of care incumbent on multinationals vis-à-vis respecting human rights and labour rights. Another issue that has been raised many times in the past is that of increasing the levels of trade-union membership. This means going out and encouraging young workers to join a union. “Trade unions need to earn the trust of young people”, warns Peter Scherrer, ETUC’s former Confederal Secretary, “especially those who are climate change activists: the unions need to rejuvenate their membership and hold on to the place they occupy in the ecological transition debate”. “However”, argues Philippe Pochet, “young people are not asking the trade unions to support them: they want the unions to take action and to convey the message, in the discussions they hold, of achieving a fair ecological and social transition”. Although the trade-union movement as a whole is not yet convinced, “we have initiated a dynamic”, he notes.

A new-look team : Luca Visentini was re-elected to the post of Secretary General at the ETUC congress. Laurent Berger, Secretary General of the CFDT, France’s main trade union confederation, will be the organisation’s President, in principle for a two-year period. However, even though this position is primarily an honorary one, he has already issued a warning that he won’t simply be there “to watch the world go by”. Luca Visentini will be supported by two Deputy General Secretaries: Esther Lynch, from Ireland, who was elected as Confederal Secretary at the 2015 congress held in Paris, will monitor the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights. Alongside her will be a newcomer, Per Hilmersson from Sweden, who was previously Director of International Affairs and Head of the Europe and Legal Affairs team of the Swedish trade union confederation TCO (a grouping of 14 unions representing “white collar workers”).  The new team also includes three Confederal Secretaries: Liina Carr, from Estonia, who had already been elected to this post in 2015; Isabelle Schömann from France, who is supported by the German trade union confederation DGB (she is a legal expert and previously worked as a researcher at the European Trade Union Institute); and Ludovic Voet, who has hitherto been head of youth affairs at the Belgian trade union confederation CSC. This time, the team comprises one post fewer than last time, the reason being that the fall in trade-union membership numbers is also affecting ETUC’s finances.
> Find out more: the Manifesto adopted by ETUC, the Action Programme 2019-2023 ; the Activity Report 2015-2019, the ETUC press release issued regarding the team composition and it’s presentation).

• Asbestos : On 15 May, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted an own-initiative opinion on “Working with asbestos in energy renovation“, calling for enhanced protection of workers engaged in renovation activities linked to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which was revised in 2018.

• Transfers of undertakings : the Court of Justice indicates, in a judgment concerning a transfer of an undertaking in Belgium (CJEU 16 May 2019, case no. C-509/17, Plessers) that Directive 2001/23/EC of 12 March 2001, relating to transfers of undertakings, and in particular Articles 3 to 5 thereof, precludes legislation which, “in the event of the transfer of an undertaking which has taken place in the context of proceedings for judicial restructuring by transfer under judicial supervision applied with a view to maintaining all or part of the transferor or its activity, entitles the transferee to choose the employees which it wishes to keep on.”

An industrial icon goes bankrupt : On 24 April, the Pazin Commercial Court initiated bankruptcy proceedings concerning the Uljanik shipyard at Pula. Uljanik employs 1,118 workers, 1,058 of whom are based at Pula and 60 at Rijeka; all of them will be made redundant.  This bankruptcy will have traumatic consequences for the entire Croatian economy. Uljanik is an economic and cultural icon of the Istrian peninsula and has provided a living for thousands of families during its 163-year history.

• Protection of personal data: : an amendment to the Employment Code which entered into force on 26 April, adapts the country’s employment legislation to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The main change is that an employee must use only the computer provided by their employer to carry out their work. Nevertheless, the parties can expressly agree that the employee can also use his/her own computer. In both cases, the employer is entitled to check the data on the computer that is used for work purposes. The law also states that the employer is entitled to ask an employee or a job applicant to provide details of their police record only in very limited circumstances.

• Working time account for the private sector : the law of 12 April 2019 introducing a working time account (WTA) for employees in the private sector has been published. The aim is to improve employees’ work-life balance by enabling them to log leave days on their WTA before using up this leave as they wish. The employee’s agreement must be obtained before setting up a WTA, which is to be implemented on the basis of a sector-specific or company-specific collective agreement.

A minimalist agreement : On 22 May, a European Works Council agreement was signed within the Lactalis group (30,824 employees within the EU), after the trade unions secured the opening of negotiations by bringing legal action before a French court (see IR Notes 91). According to the European trade-union federation EFFAT, the text of this agreement, which was approved by 11 of the special negotiating body’s 19 members, is “the worst one ever signed”. As far as we are aware, the Lactalis agreement is probably the only one ever to explicitly initiate consultation regarding events that have already happened. Firstly, under the agreement, the Social Dialogue Body’s scope of competence is limited to just two areas: 1° “Restructuring and mergers with an international impact”; 2° “Reduction or closure of a company with a transnational origin, be it structural or short-term”. Moreover, in connection with these two limited areas, the Social Dialogue Body is consulted only on “international issues that have occurred since the previous [annual] meeting”. Even though Directive 2009/38 on European Works Councils grants the parties extensive freedom to decide on the content of an agreement, management still runs the risk that, in the event of a dispute, a domestic court will set aside any clauses that are in breach of the letter and the spirit of the Directive. The question can indeed be asked as to whether a body can be validly consulted after a proposal has already gone ahead. This would probably be regarded as clearly prejudicial to the beneficial effects of the directive.

Trend in minimum wages in 2019 : “minimum wages have risen throughout Europe, but will workers on low wages feel the difference?” asks the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), in a study unveiled on 4 June. It is true that in most EU Member States, minimum wages have risen since January 2018, with significant increases being seen in Lithuania (39%), Spain (22%), Greece (10%) and also in the new low wage-cost Member States. However, the effects of these increases are sometimes limited by inflation, changes in taxation arrangements or by the fact that many groups of workers do not enjoy the benefit of minimum wages. This report, which will come in very useful in discussions on the introduction of a minimum wage at EU level, shows that in the wake of Germany in 2015, a number of new countries, such as Italy and Cyprus, are considering the introduction of a minimum wage set by law. “Sudden and high increases of minimum wages may be popular – but can pose risks to employment and compliance: for this reason, involving the social partners in the process of setting up mechanisms and adapting minimum wage rates is important”, say the authors.
> Download the full report: Minimum wages in 2019 – Annual review