IR Notes

Elevating the right to a safe and healthy working environment to the rank of a Fundamental Principle and Right at Work was the main outcome of the 110^th session of the International Labour Conference, held from 27 May to 11 June, in Geneva. This conference, which is attended by trade unions, employers’ representatives and governments of the ILO’s 187 Member States, is the UN’s parliament for workplace issues (see Health and Safety). The principle of a safe and healthy working environment now forms part of the ILO’s Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which were adopted in 1998, within the framework of an ILO Declaration. The new principle joins the four existing principles, which are: 1/ freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; 2/) the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour; 3/ the effective abolition of child labour and 4/ the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. Under the 1998 declaration, ILO Member States, regardless of their level of economic development, commit to respect and promote these principles and rights, whether or not they have ratified the Conventions establishing them. The new fundamental Conventions, which even non-signatory States are required to comply with, are the Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155) and the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006 (No. 187) (see ILO press release). This step forward has been welcomed by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which plans to continue campaigning. It is calling for all workers to be granted the following rights: 1/ consultation over risk assessments; 2/ “eradication of toxic chemicals” and “toxic work organisation”, including long hours; 3/ free protective equipment and training; and 4/ the “right to refuse dangerous work”. Another objective is “to extend access to occupational health services beyond the 20% of workers worldwide who currently have it, as well as universal sick pay from day one”. Within companies, the ITUC is calling for more powers for union workplace safety reps and for more joint safety committees (see press release). What impact will this change have in Europe? The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) emphasises that although this decision was widely supported by EU Member States, the fact remains that “a dozen European countries have themselves still not ratified ILO convention 155 on occupational health and safety (…). And they include some of the countries with the highest workplace injury rates in the world, according to the ILO. Their data puts France, Austria, Switzerland and Germany among the 20 countries with the highest number of injuries” (see press release). ETUC Deputy General Secretary Claes-Mikael Stahl calls on the 12 European countries concerned to sign this convention, as “it would be the worst kind of hypocrisy and European exceptionalism to vote to make workplace safety a right in other parts of the world without applying the same standards in your own country” (see press release). It should be noted that the Spanish trade-union confederation UGT is especially pleased with this decision, in the context of the rising number of accidents at work and work-related illnesses, and also in light of the focus on mental health and on combating violence and harassment in the workplace. (see press release).

Towards adoption of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive : On 21 June, the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement concerning revision of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) (see IR Notes 182) (see Due dilligence). This text, which will apply to companies with 250 or more employees, now has to be formally adopted by the Council and the Parliament before it is published in the OJEU. Member States will then have 18 months to transpose it into their domestic law (see press releases issued by the Council and the Parliament, and also the General approach adopted by the Council, with the proposal for a directive appended). The European Commission presented this directive on 21 April 2021 (see IR Notes 163). The directive will apply with effect from: 1 January 2024 to companies that are already subject to the Non-Financial Reporting Directive; from 1 January 2025 to large undertakings (within the meaning of Article 3 of Directive 2013/34/EU (the “Accounting Directive”), which are not currently subject to it, and from 1 January 2026 to any other companies, among others listed SME. The sustainable development report will enable workforce representatives to understand their company’s impact on the environment and on society, and its sustainability strategy. It will have to include information on social issues such as gender equality, equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, training, skills development, working conditions, pay, social dialogue, collective bargaining and worker participation, work-life balance, and a healthy, safe and well-adapted working environment.

Towards adoption of a regulation for safer machinery : On 24 June, the Council adopted a mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament, with a view to adopting the proposal for a regulation on machinery products (see Council press release and the Commission’s executive summary of the impact assessment report). This text amends the 2006 “Machinery Directive” and transforms it into a regulation, i.e. an EU law that is immediately effective and will not have to be transposed into Member States’ domestic legislation. Twin objectives are being pursued here: firstly, promoting the free movement of machinery within the single market, and secondly, ensuring a high level of protection for EU workers and citizens. The regulation keeps open the option for manufacturers to self-assess their conformity and re-establishes the intervention of conformity assessment bodies in respect of a list of products posing risks, which was abolished by the 2006 directive. The European Trade Union Confederation believes that scrapping the requirement for third-party safety checks is behind the growing number of workers being injured by machinery. This figure rose from 75,000 in 2014 to more than 80,000 in 2019 (see press release and ETUC’s position paper on the proposal for a regulation).

New work programme : On 28 June, the European social partners (ETUC, BusinessEurope, SGI Europe and SMEunited) adopted their new 2022-2024 work programme, which includes a commitment to negotiate a legally binding agreement on “telework and right to disconnect” (see European social partners).. The 2022-24 work programme is comprised of 6 joint actions: 1/ revising the 2002 autonomous agreement on telework, with a view to proposing it for adoption as a legally binding agreement to be implemented via a directive, which would be a first since 2010; 2/ adopting a “framework of actions for ensuring a just transition”; 3/ preparing a joint declaration on youth employment, with a view to exploring best practices, challenges and tools to facilitate the employment of young people; 4/ organising a seminar that might result in the creation of guidelines covering workplace control and surveillance technologies; 5/ organising a seminar, followed by a joint research project, on effective access to training, involving the social partners in skills intelligence, and dealing with skills mismatch and skills shortages; 6/ launching a joint project to examine the effectiveness of capacity-building actions and identifying obstacles to implementation of the social partners’ autonomous framework agreements (s. common press release).

Family benefits cannot vary according to children’s country of residence : Austria will have to review its family benefits legislation. In his opinion, the Advocate General of the Court of Justice pointed out that EU law on the coordination of social security systems “is based on the general idea that, if a migrant worker pays social contributions and taxes in a Member State, he or she must be able to benefit from the same allowances as nationals of that State”. In its judgment, the Court of Justice takes the view that the “adjustment mechanism, which is based on the criterion of the children’s residence abroad for determining the amount of the family benefits and social and tax advantages, affects migrant workers more” and “therefore constitutes indirect discrimination on grounds of nationality, which is permissible only if it is objectively justified”. Which it is not. This “difference in treatment (…) is neither appropriate nor necessary for the purposes of ensuring the supportive function and the fairness of the social system”. (see CJEU, 16 June 2022, Case 328/20, Commission v. Austria and press release). The self-employed workers’ trade union Vidaflex emphasises that this decision, which it had fervently hoped for, primarily concerns workers who spend 24hrs/day looking after one of the 35,000 people in Austria who require home care. It calls on the government to review its legislation as soon as possible, and to compensate the workers concerned (see article on APA OTS). The Austrian trade union confederation ÖGB “has warned that index-linking is illegal under EU law and condemned the dangers of making unrealistic calculations”, which were intended to produce annual savings of 114 million euros from the State’s budget. A reply to a parliamentary question submitted in May 2022 indicated that Susanne Raab (ÖVP), who is Austria’s Minister for the Family, had already earmarked 220 million euros to cover subsequent payments (see press release).

Trade-union cooperation in combatting LGBTI phobia : On 27 June, the two trade-union confederations CCOO and UGT signed an agreement to combat the inequality and harassment faced by LGTBI+ persons who are victimised in the workplace. Both organisations believe that it is “important to provide for measures that eradicate and prevent harassment based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender pressure, via the use of collective bargaining, and to strengthen the commitment of employers to guarantee the conditions of access to employment and to enhance the employability of LGBTI+ persons” (see press release). For its part, on 16 June, CCOO published a guide on how to guarantee equality and diversity in collective labour agreements, one aspect of which is the removal of any clauses that might give rise to discrimination against LGBTI+ persons.

Anti-corruption : On 16 June, Italy’s anti-corruption authority (ANAC) and the three trade-union confederations CGIL, CISL and UIL, signed a cooperation protocol to improve the collaboration between this authority and the trade unions, including via the creation of a permanent observatory to monitor public procurement contracts. For example, the trade unions will be able to feed information back to the authority on the proper application of collective labour agreements, and efforts to combat social dumping and undeclared work. This initiative seeks to ensure that funds released under the national recovery and resilience plan are used properly, and that the simplification measures adopted in the legislation governing public procurement contracts are “implemented in accordance with collective labour agreements and with rights protecting workers”.

Artificial intelligence : The government has unveiled the report on the skills needed for the deployment of artificial intelligence, which was submitted on 23 June, by a group of experts. This document emphasises the need for everyone, regardless of whether they work in the technology sector, to acquire a sufficient level of knowledge and understanding of AI. The study focused on four groups, identifying the skills needed not just for AI developers and experts, but also for public sector employees, teachers and educators, as well as for the general public. The report emphasises the need for organisations and individuals to identify the impact of AI on their job or sector and to prepare for this by seeking the necessary training. One of its proposals is to make AI-related micro-credentials – at Higher Education (HE) and Further Education and Training (FET) levels – available broadly to both learners and  workers across the economy (see press release). The experts’ view is that “whether jobs are transformed rather than replaced will depend, to a great extent, on how well the strengths of AI and the strengths of human beings can complement each other within each job”.

Restructuring : The secretary of the Unilever European Works Council, Hermann Soggeberg, has announced that management has informed it that the company will stop production at its Röszke plant in Hungary in 2023. As a result, 80% of the 190 workers and their families “are at risk of losing their livelihoods”, says Hermann Soggeberg, who expects management “to take responsibility for its workers in Röszke and offer them a perspective”. The EWC is relying on the consultation procedure, which has just commenced, to provide assistance for the Hungarian employees.

Conversion : The Korian group, which manages care homes serving the elderly and vulnerable, has signed an agreement establishing its SE works council, with a special negotiating body supported by EPSU, following the group’s conversion into a European company. The new agreement broadly adopts the content of the Agreement on the establishment of a European Works Council, which was created in 2019 (see IR Notes 119). The new agreement, which we will publish on line once management have given us the green light, strengthens the role of the select committee, which will meet four times a year (instead of two) and can be consulted on subjects “not requiring the involvement of the full Council”, as stated in the press release. The text also introduces “consultation thresholds depending on the importance and impact of the subjects submitted” and “clarifies the list of subjects open to information and consultation”. The agreement confirms the presence of “observers” such as workers from cooperatives in Italy (already represented under the previous agreement) and in the United Kingdom. The Council’s 20 members will be entitled to receive at least 2 days of training per year.

Minimum wages in 2022 : On 15 June, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) published its annual review of minimum wages, which has now established itself as a benchmark. This year, its report is of particular importance, given that the Twenty-Seven are in the process of finalising the minimum wage directive, and inflation is returning with a vengeance. The study emphasises that while minimum wages increased substantially between 1 January 2021 and 1 January 2022 in nominal terms, the real-life impact does not signify a boost to living standards when rising inflation is taken into account. Minimum wage workers in 15 out of the 21 Member States with a statutory minimum wage actually saw a decline in their wages in real terms. As a result, Eurofound warns that if present inflation trends continue, minimum wages will barely grow in real terms in any country in 2022, and significant losses in the purchasing capacity of minimum wage earners will become a dominant theme.