IR Notes

On 27 June, the European Council adopted the Strategic Agenda for the Union for 2024-2029, which had been under preparation for a year, to set the EU’s future political priorities. The programme set out in this agenda, which is broad enough to be acceptable to everyone, sets a number of objectives: strengthening competitiveness and becoming “the first climate-neutral continent (…) leaving no one behind”. The agenda seeks to “improve citizens’ economic and social wellbeing” in various ways, including by increasing “their purchasing power”, creating “good jobs” and assuring “the quality of goods and services in Europe”.
At economic level, the Twenty-Seven want to make Europe “a technological and industrial powerhouse” and close “our growth, productivity and innovation gaps with international partners and main competitors”. This will require a “significant collective investment effort, mobilising both public and private funding, including through the European Investment Bank”. Another policy avenue, which had already been mentioned in Enrico Letta’s report entitled “Much more than a market”, is further deepening the Single Market, “notably in the areas of energy, finance and telecommunications”. This will involve removing “remaining barriers, particularly in relation to services and essential goods” and creating “truly integrated European capital markets, which are accessible and attractive to all citizens and businesses and benefit all Member States”.
The agenda adheres to the objectives of the EU Treaty and emphasises that “economic growth needs to benefit all citizens”, before going on to uphold the “social dimension of the European Union”. It makes reference to the European Pillar of Social Rights and aims to “strengthen social dialogue, uphold equal opportunities and reduce inequalities”. When it comes to the labour market, the agenda is consistent with current orientations: investing in people’s skills, training and education throughout their lives and encouraging talent mobility. And to address their labour shortages, the Twenty-Seven are banking more on “increasing participation in the labour market and promoting youth employment” than on migration, which is seen more from the viewpoint of combatting illegal immigration, rather than as a solution to the demographic challenge facing the Union. Another constant is the desire to “ambitiously reduce the bureaucratic and regulatory burden at all levels”, which always poses a risk of reducing the protection provided by labour law.

• Due diligence: Directive (EU) 2024/1760 of 13 June 2024 on corporate sustainability due diligence and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937 and Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 (see IR Notes 229) has been published in the OJEU. Member States now have two years to transpose it into their domestic law.


• People trafficking: Directive (EU) 2024/1712 of 13 June 2024 amending Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims has been published in the OJEU. Some aspects of this law apply to legal persons, i.e. businesses, imposing a further obligation on them, in addition to their due diligence responsibilities. It will have to be transposed within two years (see IR Notes 232).

Recognition of professional qualifications : In a report published on 1 July, the EU Court of Auditors highlights the weaknesses of the EU mechanism for recognising professional qualifications, which was established by a 2005 directive. EU citizens are entitled to move freely within the Union for professional purposes or to set up a business, and to this end, the directive, which was revised in 2013, provides for a mechanism for recognising qualifications in “regulated professions” (doctors, nurses, etc.). The Court of Auditors believes that the mechanism “is an essential mechanism, but it is used sparsely and inconsistently”. The application of the Directive by the Member States “has shortcomings. These directly affect citizens” who wish to exercise their mobility (see press release).

ILO International conference : Delegates representing governments, employers and workers from the ILO’s 187 Member States met in Geneva, from 3 to 14 June, to discuss a wide range of subjects, including the protection of workers against biological hazards in the working environment, the care economy and fundamental principles and rights at work. These principes lie at the heart of the report submitted by the ILO Director-General, Gilbert F. Houngbo, calling for a “renewed social contract”. The report notes that “while voluntary corporate initiatives are commendable, they cannot be a substitute for the effective enforcement of and compliance with national laws and respect for the fundamental principles and rights at work.” The conference adopted the report prepared by the Standard-Setting Committee on Biological Hazards, which should result in the first international standard governing biological hazards in the working environment being agreed at the next conference, in June 2025.

Dismissal of a pregnant worker : The Court of Justice has issued a ruling on a German case concerning a care-home employee recruited under a one-year employment contract in August 2022. She was dismissed on 6 October, with effect from 21 October. Following her dismissal, she informed her former employer, on 10 November, that she had been medically certified as being seven weeks pregnant at the time she was dismissed. One month later, she brought an action before the competent court, challenging her dismissal. Under German law, to be eligible to appeal, a pregnant worker who becomes aware of her pregnancy only after the time limit (three weeks) allowed for an appeal against her dismissal has expired, must submit a request for leave to bring an action out of time within a period of two weeks. The Court of Justice holds that such time limits “render excessively difficult the implementation of the rights which pregnant workers” derive from Article 10 of Directive 92/85, and “do not comply with the requirements” of the principle of effective judicial protection conferred on individuals by the Directive (CJEU, 27 June 2024, Case  C-284/23, Haus Jacobus and press release).

Telework and workers’ right to disconnect : On 30 April, after the failure of their negotiation aimed at reaching a European framework agreement on telework and the right to disconnect (see IR Notes 219, Telework and Right to disconnect), the European social partners responded to the first-phase consultation launched by the European Commission, with a view to taking a legislative initiative in this area (see IR Notes 229). In a document adopted on 25 June, the European Trade Union Confederation reiterates its desire for the Commission to put forward a proposal for a directive in this area, and another directive to oversee algorithmic management. It calls for telework to remain voluntary in nature, with employees having the right to perform their work on the employer’s premises, and for the creation of a right to disconnect, in order to protect the health and safety of workers (whether or not they are performing telework), while linking this right to workload assessment. The ETUC argues that collective bargaining will play a key role in achieving the objectives of the forthcoming directive, and should therefore be promoted. CEC European Managers, the confederation representing managerial staff, also emphasises this point in its response. Its recommendation is: “It’s important not to overregulate telework and the right to disconnect”, as doing so can “stifle flexibility and innovation”. Therefore, it argues, the directive should focus “on setting minimum standards and providing guidance, while allowing Member States and social partners to adapt these frameworks to local contexts.” This is also a pressing demand made by the Nordic trade unions. CEC European Managers also “advocates for an EU-wide legal framework for cross-border teleworking and digital nomads, standardizing health and safety regulations for teleworkers, and providing clear guidelines on tax obligations and labor laws for remote workers and employers.” (see press release). For its part, the employers’ organisation BusinessEurope has submitted its response to the “consultation on right to disconnect”, omitting the reference to “telework” in the title of this response. The organisation believes that the Commission “should refrain from legislating at EU level in an area already covered by an EU autonomous framework agreement”, even though BusinessEurope was unable to successfully conclude the negotiation of a European agreement. This would “weaken the role of EU autonomous framework agreements”, whose role “needs to grow in future”. If an initiative were to be taken, BusinessEurope believes that the priority should be to ensure compliance with the existing rules governing rest periods, rather than adding rules on the right to disconnect.  This initiative should also “avoid setting all the details in stone and include wide Member States discretion and a possibility for both individual and/or collective agreements” or make use of other forms of social dialogue. Lastly, like CEC European Managers, BusinessEurope believes that “teleworking abroad must be feasible without major bureaucratic hurdles and without economic disadvantages for employees and employers”.

Telework : Parliament has adopted new rules governing telework, which distinguish between “telework in the strict sense” and “telework in the broad sense”. In the first case, it is expressly stipulated that the employee’s insurance cover will apply to accidents at work, and accidents they are involved in during their journey between their home and the location agreed with their employer where telework will be performed (e.g. an apartment belonging to a friend or family member, coworking space), provided that the length of the journey in question is similar to that of the employee’s normal journey to work. In the second case, if the employee works at a different location, e.g. in a park, a café or a hotel, they will have insurance cover for accidents at work, but not for their journey to/from work. The law also stipulates that telework and the locations where it can be performed must be agreed in writing in a telework agreement. These provisions are due to enter into force on 1 January 2025 (see press release).

Burn-out : In a decision dated 28 May, the country’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’État [Council of State], issued a final ruling on a dispute in which the employers were challenging periods of sick leave prescribed by doctors for employees suffering from burnout. Many employers were disputing these periods of sick leave on the grounds that they were prescribed by a doctor who had not seen an analysis of the employee’s working conditions performed by an occupational health officer, and that they were based solely on the employee’s own declarations, i.e. a statement that their stress and anxiety were caused by their work. The Conseil d’État holds that the mere fact that a doctor states that they have diagnosed burnout syndrome without seeing an occupational health officer’s analysis of the employee’s working conditions, does not mean that the medical certificate provided can be regarded as biased or issued on grounds of convenience.

Brexit : On 4 July, the UK’s Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), which is based in London, handed down a judgment on appeal against two decisions issued by the statutory body responsible for hearing EWC disputes – the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) – in a case concerning the impact of Brexit on the HSBC bank’s European Works Council (see IR Notes 168 and Brexit and labour standards). The EAT confirms the position taken by the CAC: the appointment of the representative in Ireland as central management’s representative automatically leads to a change of the applicable implementing law, without having to negotiate an amendment to the agreement. In point of fact, the agreement stated that for the purposes “of the EWC Directive, HSBC Central Management is situated in the United Kingdom, which means that this agreement is subject to the United Kingdom’s Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations […] (“TICER”).” “The highlighted words clearly indicate that the parties’ intention was that the location of the central management, for the purposes of the Directive, would determine the applicable implementing law”.

Health and safety : On 3 April, the management of the Veolia group and its Group European Works Council (CGE) adopted “Joint resolutions to develop and accelerate the implementation of policies and a culture of safety, health and well-being at work” produced by a Council working group made up of representatives from eight countries. The document comprises 10 fundamental guidelines on health and safety at work, and 10 priorities for actions aimed at strengthening performance in terms of health, safety and well-being at work, such as “define appropriate action plans for each country in terms of psychosocial risks”. In concrete terms, each Country Social Dialogue Forum (CSDF) put in place should become “a relay and lever for progress in the culture and performance of health, safety and well-being at work”. Country HRDs, together with CSDF members, will be asked to define at least three priorities for action out of the 10, with a view to implementing them. These actions will be monitored by a “Health and Safety” Monitoring Committee at CGE level.

Digitalisation in the financial sector : The Italian trade union federation for the financial sector, FISAC-CGIL, has published the results of the European LUCK project, which is financed by the European Commission, with the support of UNI Europa Finance and the European Banking Federation (EBF). This project is supported by several European Works Councils – BNP Paribas, Crédit agricole, Generali and UniCredit – and, says Alessandra Cialdani, International Policy Officer at FISAC-CGIL, it “will produce a number of concrete tools that can be mobilised by EWCs and others, such as a website listing good practices for those who want to negotiate on digitalisation-related topics” and Guidelines on Digitalisation in the Financial Services Sector.

New Bureau created : On 28 May, on the occasion of the renewal of the European Works Council’s mandate, the management and EWC of TotalEnergies SE (55,123 employees in the EU) signed an amendment to the agreement establishing the Council, relating, among other things, to the creation of a Bureau. The amendment provides for the creation of a Bureau comprised of the Secretary, the Deputy Secretary and the four Rapporteurs of the committees established by the agreement. The Secretary, who is entitled to make four trips a year, can share one or more trips with members of the Bureau. This Bureau is in addition to the select committee (the European Operational Committee), which is made up of management representatives, the EWC Secretary and the 16 EWC members, including the Deputy Secretary and the four Rapporteurs. The Bureau also oversees the terms governing the appointment of any members who are replaced during the course of their mandate.