IR Notes

The appeal launched by FridaysForFuture, the organisation set up the young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, calling for a week of action starting on 20 September, with a first-ever global “general strike” to save the planet scheduled for 27 September, is aimed this time not only at schoolchildren and students, but workers, too. The movement, which plans to enrol trade unions, speaks of a ”week dedicated to the future and to social justice” and is consistent with the support expressed by the trade unions for a ”just ecological transition”. The movement has announced that on 27 September this month, there should be “No work. No school. No banks.” The appeal has been taken up by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which is calling on all governments attending the United Nations Climate Summit scheduled for 23 September, “to establish a dialogue with workers, so that they can incorporate a number of concrete ‘just transition’ measures into their climate action programmes.” The ITUC is asking them to sign the commitments to just transition put forward by the governments of Spain and Peru, with the support of the ILO. At European level, the European Trade Union Confederation (CES) has contributed its full support. It has written to its 90 national affiliated bodies, calling on them to take further action to stop the climate crisis in their own countries (see press release). However, for national trade unions, this appeal for global mobilisation to tackle climate change, remains a difficult issue. As yet, the TUED initiative lists few actions actually taken by trade unions (see press release). There are several reasons for this: 1° From a legal point of view, workers may find it difficult to strike for climate action. In Germany, the right to strike can be exercised only at the time collective agreements are renegotiated, which is why the President of the Ver.di trade union has issued an appeal for its affiliates to collectively apply for a day’s leave. In the United Kingdom, the trade union UNISON points out that “anti-trade union laws” do not allow its branches to take strike action, but it suggests a number of other ways to take part in the movement (see press release). 2° It is easier for service industries, such as those represented by Ver.di in Germany (see press release), than for sectors hit hard by the ecological transition, such as energy, the car industry, etc., to act on the appeal to speed up the pace of change, in order to meet the goals set by the Paris Agreement. This explains the difficulties encountered by sector-specific trade-union federations in taking a position on this issue, in countries such as Germany and Sweden (see 2. Member States). 3° Lastly, there is no tradition in the trade union movement of mobilising to defend a higher interest extending beyond that of employees alone, and the pursuit of which may even be prejudicial to employees in the absence of social justice measures. Having said that, this issue represents an opportunity to be grasped by the trade union movement, which is ageing and in decline almost everywhere. It would enable the movement to re-engage with the concerns of young people and to reinvent itself. European Works Councils too, which are noticeably silent on this subject, could enhance their legitimacy and demonstrate that they serve a useful purpose in multinational companies, by tackling this theme.

Transparent and predictable working conditions : publication of Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of 20 June 2019 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union. This text, which creates ten days’ paternity leave, establishes ”minimum rights” that apply to every worker in the Union “who has an employment contract or employment relationship as defined by the law, collective agreements or practice in force in each Member State with consideration to the case-law of the Court of Justice” (see IR Notes 112). The directive is due to be adopted into domestic law by 1 August 2022.

• Mutual recognition of seafarers’ certificates: publication of Directive (EU) 2019/1159 of 20 June 2019 amending Directive 2008/106/EC on the minimum level of training of seafarers.


• European Labour Authority: publication of Regulation 2019/1149 of 20 June 2019 establishing the European Labour Authority, which will assist Member States and the Commission with matters relating to the effective application and enforcement of the Union law related to labour mobility across the Union, and the coordination of social security systems. This authority will coordinate and support labour inspections undertaken either in concert or jointly between Member States. Bratislava (Slovakia) has been chosen for its head office and it will start work in October, based in Brussels.

Compensation for loss of earnings resulting from a delayed airline flight : the Court of Justice has delivered a ruling concerning the amount of compensation payable to airline passengers who suffer a delay (CJEU 29 July 2019, case C-354/18, Rusu (no translation in English available). Two Romanian employees who were travelling to London in connection with their work were denied boarding by an airline, because it had chartered a plane that did not have enough seats to accommodate all of the passengers who were booked to fly on it. After they were transferred to a flight that left five days later, their employer deducted money from their wages. In addition to the fixed amount of compensation (400 euros) provided for by Article 7, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph b), of Regulation no. 261/2004, the two employees claimed additional compensation to cover their loss of earnings. The airline argued that its obligation was to pay only the fixed amount of compensation. The Court emphasises that this fixed sum of compensation is intended “to provide standardised and immediate compensation for losses arising from the inconvenience caused, in particular […] by being denied boarding […]”, but not for ”personal losses (…), for which the compensation payable necessarily requires an assessment to be made, on a case-by-case basis, of the scale of the prejudice caused. Consequently, this can only be done after the event and on an individualised basis”. This is the case where a passenger suffers loss of earnings, which “must be regarded as a personal loss, inherent in the particular situation of the passengers concerned”.

The government is introducing protective measures for platform delivery workers : a decree-law governing the terms of employment of platform workers came into force on 4 September. It introduces a presumption of “hetero-organised work”, i.e. a quasi-subordinate type of employment, designed for delivery workers employed through digital platforms that organise the delivery of goods, set their price and determine how the work is to be performed. Their pay can also, though not predominantly, be based on piece-work, provided that appropriate remuneration schemes tailored to the various ways in which the work is organised, can be introduced via collective agreements. The new provisions ensure that delivery platform workers have guaranteed insurance cover for accidents at work and facilitate access to social security benefits for quasi-subordinate workers whose work patterns are discontinuous. The new rules have not met the expectations of trade unions, which were calling for stronger protective measures and a recognition of the role played by collective bargaining.
> To find out more about political and trade-union initiatives concerning platform work, follow the Don’t Gig Up project: www.dontgigup.eu

Will there be a “Greta strike”? : The Swedish environmental activist, Greta Thunberg, who is 16 years old, has urged the Swedish trade unions to join forces with “FridaysForFuture” at a demonstration demanding climate action, to be held on 27 September (see Lead story). “It’s now up to adults to continue what we, the children, have started”, says Greta. However, Sweden’s three main trade union confederations, LO, TCO and Saco, are sceptical about using the strike weapon for this purpose. These confederations emphasise that political strikes are very rare in Sweden, that they do not form part of the Swedish industrial relations system and that trade unions employ other channels to influence the political system. Instead, these confederations say they are prepared to organise joint meetings with FridaysForFuture. Nevertheless, the SAC trade union has expressed interest in the demonstration, and the electricians’ trade union affiliated to LO has announced that it would like to take part on 27 September in some way, though without striking.

New agreement following a merger : On 25 April, the management of the TechnipFMC group (14,436 employees), which came into being following the merger between Technip and FMC Technologies in 2017, signed an agreement to create a European Works Council. The agreement provides for consultation of the European Works Council in the event of a project that “impacts significantly” on workers’ interests and affects “at least 50 workers within a Member State with fewer than 100 workers or at least 15% of  workers within a Member State with more than 100 workers, with an absolute minimum of 50”. It states that “the impact of each project undertaken by the group or by a group company must be looked at in isolation”. This means that the impact of several small projects executed for different reasons, whose impact when considered in isolation lies below the abovementioned threshold, will not be treated cumulatively”. Moreover, “the closure of companies in more than one Member State will always be deemed to have a significant impact”.

New agreement following a disposal : On 20 March, the management of the travel company American Express Global Business Travel (16,000 employees), created through the sale of the travel division of American Express, signed a revised European Works Council Agreement, governed by English law. A surprising clause in this agreement stipulates that no European Works Council member shall spend more than 10% of their working time on the activities of local and European Works Councils. The European Works Council has annual budgets of 10,000 euros earmarked for training and 15,000 euros to be spent on expert advice.

Dispute relating to the right to be informed and consulted : In a judgment, the UK’s Employment Appeal Tribunal confirmed the position taken by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) – which, in the United Kingdom is responsible for dealing with disputes relating to European Works Councils – in a case brought by the Oracle European Works Council against the group’s management concerning a failure to inform and consult the Council. In the absence of an agreement establishing Oracle’s European Works Council, the Court relied on the British texts transposing the 1994 and 2009 directives. Like the CAC, it believes that the employer should not have to wait for the European Works Council to pronounce its opinion on a project involving exceptional circumstances, before reaching and implementing its decision.

Digitalisation and protection of personal data : On 31 July, the French bank Crédit agricole (75,000 employees) signed a global framework agreement with the Uni Global Union federation. This agreement relates to human rights, fundamental employment rights and the development of social dialogue (see press release). According to Uni Global Union, this is the first framework agreement in this sector to devote a chapter to digitalisation (see press release). The group “is committed to using the possibilities offered by new technologies to improve working conditions, in particular by eliminating repetitive tasks and/or those with low added value and by striving to strike a better balance between work and personal life”. In association with its workforce representatives, the group “is also committed to mitigating the potential negative impacts of these new technologies”. With effect from 1 January 2021, the group is also introducing sixteen weeks’ paid maternity leave. The introduction of measures such as adoption leave or paternity leave is encouraged.

Workplace gender equality and combatting domestic violence : On 17 July, the management of the telecoms operator Orange (149,000 employees) and the Uni Global Union federation signed a global agreement on workplace gender equality, concerning pay in particular. The agreement follows on from two other worldwide agreements on fundamental rights, dating from 2006, and on health and safety, dating from 2014. The agreement is based on ”an inclusive approach involving all stakeholders”, which allows “local reviews” to be drawn up and “action plans to be defined” as part of a ”structured social dialogue”. It covers the themes of gender equality in the workplace, combatting discrimination and violence, and work-life balance. The application of the agreement involves setting up ad hoc committees in each subsidiary company, with equal representation of management and unions. These committees will meet at least once a year. The agreement offers a practical application of the recent ILO Violence and Harassment Convention: ”Regarding domestic violence, Orange agrees to offer both male and female employees who are victims of domestic violence, and who request it, support adapted to their situation”, such as relocation, special work time arrangements or emergency accommodation assistance (see press release issued by Uni Global Union and Orange).

A new survey on European Works Councils: At the International Labour and Employment Relations Association (ILERA) conference held in Düsseldorf from 5 to 7 September, Stan de Spiegelaere, a researcher at the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) presented the initial results of a new study of European Works Councils. An initial version of the results is due to be published in November. One of the aims of the study is to reach a better understanding of European Works Council members and how they exercise their mandate. The study is based on responses submitted by 1635 council members, representing a total of 365 European Works Councils. It appears that 81.5% of these council members are men. The average age of members is 51 and 84% of them are affiliated to a trade union. Compared to the initial study in 2008, the proportion of European Works Councils that meet twice yearly has risen from 32% to 42%, making it possible to measure one of the few impacts of the revised 2009 directive. 21% of members say that the European Works Council is consulted before a decision is taken. 43% of members say their council is consulted before measures are implemented, while 22% believe that it is consulted during the implementation process and 10% afterwards. 22.5% of members believe that they can influence decisions taken by the employer.