IR Notes

On 14 September, the European Parliament adopted the directive on “Adequate Minimum Wages in the EU” by a large majority (505 votes in favour, 92 votes against, 44 abstentions). This text is due to be formally adopted by the Council later this month and will be published in the OJEU shortly afterwards, granting Member States a two-year period to transpose it into their domestic law. This directive has been welcomed by the main parties in Parliament and the European trade union movement. Laurent Berger, President of the European Trade Union Confederation, describes it as “a victory for the European trade union movement and good news for European workers”. The widespread support received by the directive has led to calls for it to be implemented immediately, in response to the erosion of employees’ purchasing power caused by the high levels of inflation affecting the EU. In additions to its provisions dealing specifically with minimum wage levels (see IR Notes no. 188), this directive is likely to have a “booster effect” on collective bargaining (v. Collective bargaining). Dutch MEP Agnes Jongerius (S&D) explains that this text means “we are giving a boost to collective bargaining, so more workers will be better protected.” Dennis Radtke (CDU), a German MEP who is the EPP‑Coordinator for the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, believes that “collective labour agreements are the best way to achieve fair and just wages.” The directive calls on any Member States with fewer than 80% of their employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement (20 of the 27 EU Member States are in this category) to draw up an “action plan” to promote collective bargaining. Parliament, which has managed to raise the Commission’s initial target from 70% to 80%, has also strengthened the protection granted to those who negotiate these agreements. Thus the text adopted requires Member States to “take measures to protect the exercise of the right to collective bargaining on wage-setting and to protect workers and trade union representatives from acts that discriminate against them in respect of their employment on the grounds that they participate or wish to participate in collective bargaining on wage-setting”. These States must also “protect trade unions and employers’ organisations participating or wishing to participate in collective bargaining against any acts of interference by each other or each other’s agents or members in their establishment, functioning or administration”. This directive clearly marks a turning point: the EU Parliament will now look to social partners to reduce pay gaps.

Prohibiting products made with forced labour : On 14 September, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market. This proposal, which is linked to the proposal for a directive on corporate sustainability due diligence adopted in February 2022 (see IR Notes 181), invites national authorities to assess the risks of forced labour based on many different sources of information (including those provided by NGOs) which, when taken together, should make it easier to identify risks. The authorities can then launch investigations into products for which there are well-founded suspicions of forced labour, and they can ask companies to provide information and carry out checks and inspections, including in third countries. If these national authorities establish that forced labour was used, they will order the withdrawal of products already marketed and will prohibit them from being marketed or exported (to ensure they do not find their way onto other markets). Companies will be required to destroy the goods in question. If national authorities are unable to gather all the evidence they need, for example due to a lack of cooperation on the part of a company or an authority from a State that is not an EU member, they will be entitled to base their decision on the information available. This regulation, which is to be adopted by the Council and the Parliament, will come into force two years after its publication. It will be supplemented by guidelines that the Commission will publish within 18 months after it has come into force. So, after prevaricating for two years, the Commission has now published an ambitious set of measures to combat a phenomenon which, according to the ILO, affects 27.6 million people around the world (see press release, factsheet and Q&A press release). It therefore provides a response to the request from the European Parliament which, by a very large majority, voted for an instrument of this kind in a report adopted on 9 June (see IR Notes 188). Overall, MEPs were satisfied with the proposal, although some of them are planning to seek improvements to it. They include Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D), who wants to see a shorter timescale for implementation and a reduction in the level of proof required to ban a product from the market. The response of the European Trade Union Confederation (see press release) and of IndustriAll Europe (see press release) has been positive, whereas that of BusinessEurope has been slightly more reserved, and SMEunited’s reaction has been somewhat unfavourable (see press release).

> See also: The recent ILO report entitled “Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage”, which estimates that globally, a total of 27.6 million people are engaged in forced labour, including 3.3 million children. This represents an increase of 2.7 million compared with 2016, even though, in adopting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global community committed to ending modern slavery among children by 2025, and universally by 2030 (see Executive summary).

• Trade unions fear their right to strike will be undermined: On 19 September, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a Regulation on a “Single Market Emergency Instrument (SMEI)“, which aims to preserve the free movement and availability of essential goods and services in the event of future emergencies (see press release). This text revokes Regulation 2679/98 of 7 December 1998, Article 2 of which states that it “may not be interpreted as affecting in any way the exercise of fundamental rights as recognised in Member States, including the right or freedom to strike”. In a letter to the Commission, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) expresses its concern that “No such safeguard has been included in the new legislation”, (see press release). Despite Thierry Breton’s assurances, given at the press conference, that the text does not undermine the fundamental right to take strike action  (see Right to strike), the ETUC is calling for this message to appear the body of the text and not merely in recital 36 of the regulation, which is not binding (see press release).

European Care Strategy : On 7 September, the European Commission presented a European care strategy in a communication that introduces two proposals for recommendations: one on the revision of the Barcelona targets on early childhood education and care, and the other “on access to affordable high-quality long-term care”.  Member States will have to produce an annual report on the progress made in implementing these recommendations, while the Commission will monitor their progress in the context of the European Semester. It will compile an initial assessment after five years.

• Early childhood: the Commission proposes to revise the “Barcelona targets” set in 2002, which invited Member States to provide childcare for 33% of children aged under 3 and for 90% of children between the age of 3 and mandatory school age. In addition to the expected educational benefits, these targets are also designed to facilitate women’s access to the labour market. In the new strategy, the targets have been revised upwards: by 2030, at least 50% of children aged under 3 should be participating in early childhood education and care systems: this figure is raised to 96% for children between the age of 3 and the beginning of mandatory school age. Member States must also ensure that childcare services are available at times that allow parents to properly carry out paid work.


• Long-term care: this type of care, which “empowers people, who (as a result of old age, illness and/or disability) depend on help for daily activities, to maintain their autonomy and live with dignity” is “still not affordable, available or accessible” for many people. The Commission recommends that Member States draw up national action plans to make “care in the EU more available, accessible and of better quality for all” and to enhance “carers’ leave” – which was introduced by the directive on work-life balance – by supporting carers “through training, counselling and psychological and financial support”. Another important section of the document seeks to improve working conditions and to make the sector more appealing to workers, in order to tackle the current severe labour shortages. The Commission recommends that Member States promote collective bargaining “with a view to improving wages and working conditions” and ensure the highest standards of occupational health and safety.

> Reactions of social partners: The European Public Service Union (EPSU) welcomed “a piece of good news for care workers”. However, it bemoans the fact that no limits have been placed on the “commodification” of the sector (see press release). EFFAT believes that the strategy overlooks the reality faced by domestic workers (see press release). The employers, represented by the Federation of European Social Employers, have welcomed this initiative (see press release).

Professional qualifications : In her State of the Union Address, delivered on 14 September, the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, stressed the need to put “much more focus in our investment on professional education and upskilling” and to “match” the needs of companies with “the personal aspirations and objectives of jobseekers”. She also reaffirmed the commitment to “attract the right skills to our continent” and to “speed up and facilitate the recognition of qualifications of third country nationals”. Finally, she proposed “to make 2023 the European Year of Skills, and of upskilling in particular”.

• Social services : At the presentation of the long-term care strategy (see above), the Commission explained that, at the request of European social partners in the sector (Social Employers and the EPSU), it was continuing to explore ways of setting up a new sectoral social dialogue committee focused on social services.

Recording hours worked : In 2019, in a Spanish case involving the CCOO trade union and the Spanish branch of Deutsche Bank (CJEU, 14 May 2019, Case. C-55/18, Federación de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras v. Deutsche Bank), the EU Court of Justice ruled that “Member States must require employers to set up an objective, reliable and accessible system enabling the duration of time worked each day by each worker to be measured” (see IR Notes 120). Scarcely three years later, this ruling is having a major impact in Germany: on 13 September, the Federal Labour Court handed down a decision in which it interprets German law in accordance with EU law, affirming that the employer is required to set up a system for recording hours worked by employees (see press release). “Until now”, explains the IG-Metall trade union, “there has been no general obligation in Germany to record hours worked. The Federal Labour Court ruling changes everything. Employers will now have to meticulously record the hours worked by their employees” (see press release and also the DGB’s analysis).

• Sick leave : On 14 September, the government announced plans to defer the introduction of paid sick leave to 1 January 2023. This leave will initially consist of 3 days a year, rising to 10 days in 2026 (see IR Notes 183). The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has denounced this delay.

• Skills : Andrea Orlando, the Minister of Employment and Social Policy, has signed the decree regulating the Fund for New Skills, which has been endowed with one billion euros and will be used to invest in the skills needed for the digital and ecological transitions (see press release).

Renegotiation : The French group Safran and IndustriAll Global Union have embarked on the renegotiation of their Global framework agreement on working conditions, social responsibility and sustainable development, signed in 2017. Corinne Schievene (CFDT), Secretary of the Safran EWC, says: “The aim is to ensure that the agreement really is applied, which is currently not the case”. The parties do in fact agree that within the group, there is little awareness of the text, whose content is of very high quality, and that it has to be provided with the resources needed to implement it. Subjects on the table include organising training courses on the agreement aimed at HR departments and employee representatives, strengthening the monitoring committee and organising site visits.

FWorld Forum : The Engie group has convened its World Forum for the first time. It is made up of international trade-union federation leaders and workforce representatives, who are stakeholders in the Global Framework Agreement on Fundamental Rights and Social Responsibility, signed in January 2022 (see IR Notes no. 178). The World Forum evaluated the initial progress made on social issues, and each of the group’s four regional hub HRDs presented a country-specific schedule of their key social performance indicators: percentage of employees trained, proportion of managerial staff represented by women and the existing gender pay gap, percentage of employees and entities covered by the Engie Care programme (maternity and paternity leave, hospitalisation, invalidity and life insurance cover) (IR Notes 141).

Pay transparency : While the proposal for a directive on pay transparency, presented in March 2021, (IR Notes 159) is still being scrutinised by the Council and the Parliament (see Pay transparency), the ILO has just published a new study on this subject. It notes that pay transparency measures can help to close the gender pay gap and – at a more general level – to reduce gender inequalities. Firstly, these measures can “provide workers with the relevant information and evidence that they require to negotiate pay rates and also provide them with the means to challenge potential pay discrimination”. Secondly, they provide an opportunity for employers to “identify and address discrimination in pay that might otherwise negatively affect the good functioning of the enterprise and its reputation”. The study also includes a detailed mapping of existing equal pay legislation in countries all over the world (with details for 21 countries, 13 of which are EU Member States) (see press release).

Combating racism : The UK’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) has published a report entitled (Still rigged – Racism in the UK Labour Market 2022), which refers to “everyday racism, […] institutional racism and structural racism” affecting Black and Ethnic Minority workers. The study is based on a survey of 1750 workers. TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady concludes that “Now is not the time for incremental measures or half-hearted policy initiatives, but for transformative change”. Among other things, she suggests “introducing mandatory Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting – alongside Action Plans to address discrepancies” (see press release).