IR Notes

The commissioner-designate in charge of Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen, came through her hearing before the Employment and Social Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, held on 1 October, without difficulty. With her knowledge of the parliament and the issues, she came across as a credible personality with a belief in consensus. She outlined the four priorities of the Commission as follows: to foster the creation of jobs, in particular in SMEs; to improve access to the labour market for young people, the low-skilled, women, older workers and people with disabilities; to increase the skills and qualifications of Europeans; to strengthen social protection, which she described as an “investment in our prosperity”, but which needed to become more effective and more result-oriented. Although she did not reveal any legislative proposals, she did announce the need to re-open the discussions on maternity leave (see Phrase of the Fortnight) and, on the subject of the posting of workers, she stated that the current task would be to implement the enforcement directive adopted this year before conducting a review in two years’ time. She made it clear that neither the principle of posting workers nor that of the free movement of workers was at issue, which earned her warm applause.

• Transparency about non-financial information: The Council of the EU on 29 September 2014 definitively adopted the directive concerning the disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups. This text will affect around 6,000 major companies in the EU which will be required each year to publish a non-financial statement (link to the press release). The text, which will shortly be published in the OJEU, affects around 6,000 major companies in the EU. It targets “public interest entities whose average number of employees during the financial year exceeds 500 on their balance sheet date” without any stipulation of turnover, contrary to the initial draft of the European Commission. They will be required each year to publish a non-financial statement containing information “on the impact of the undertaking’s activities relating to, as a minimum, environmental, social and employee matters, including social dialogue, and respect for human rights and the fight against corruption”.  The directive does not envisage any sanctions, but a company “which does not pursue policies in relation to one or more of those matters” will have to provide “a clear and reasoned explanation for not doing so”. It will in some cases be able to withhold certain sensitive information, but will then be required to submit a duly justified opinion from its management and supervisory bodies. In other respects, between now and July  2018, the Commission must present a report with a view to extending this transparency to taxation, whereby each company concerned will be required to produce a country-by-country report for each Member State and third country containing information on profits made, taxes paid and public subsidies received. The Member States have two years to incorporate the new provisions in their national legislation.

• Maintenance of restrictions when employing temporary agency workers: The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on 9 September 2014 published a press release (EN) concerning a Finnish case brought before the European Court of Justice. As the ETUC explains, in this case the Court has been asked to decide whether a collective agreement concluded in the oil industry allowing the use of temporary agency workers only in very specific cases is in line with the directive. The issue is whether article 4 of the directive on temporary agency work does or does not require Member States to review restrictions or prohibitions on the use of temporary agency workers with a view to removing them. The employers are in favour of removing the restrictions.

• Equal opportunities in telecommunications: The European social partners – the UNI Europa European trade union federation and the employers’ organisation ETNO – on 22 September 2014 adopted a joint declaration on gender equality. The signatories underscore that diversity in all functions and at all levels of a company is a guarantee of success. They call on employers and trade unions to adopt a proactive approach in relation to equal treatment by intervening in four key areas: 1/ Work-life balance (by taking a positive attitude to requests for flexible work arrangements for mothers and fathers, and facilitating the return to work following maternity or paternity leave); 2/ Employment and recruitment (by increasing the presence of women in technical professions); 3/ Pay and compensation (by eliminating the wage gap on the basis of statistics and pay audits); 4/ Career development (by facilitating women’s access to positions of responsibility by means of competence development programmes, long-term training, career planning, setting up women’s networks etc.).


• Civil aviation: The social partners in the civil aviation sector have launched a survey on new forms of employment and, in particular, the terms of employment and working conditions for pilots. The survey is being led by Ghent University (IR Share being involved as a national expert for France) and is based in part on an online survey open to all pilots in Europe. More than 7,000 responses have already been collected.

• The right to organise also applies to the armed forces: The European Court of Human Rights on 2 October delivered a judgement in a case centred on the prohibition of trade unions in the French army (case Matelly v. France, application No. 10609/10). The Court found there had been a violation of article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the opinion of the court, the decision by the authorities in respect of Mr. Matelly (who was ordered to resign from the association of which he was a member) amounted to an absolute prohibition on military personnel joining a trade-union-like occupational group, formed to defend their occupational and non-pecuniary interests, and that the grounds for such a decision had been neither relevant nor sufficient. It concluded that, while the exercise by military personnel of freedom of association could be subject to legitimate restrictions, a blanket ban on forming or joining a trade union encroached on the very essence of this freedom, and was as such prohibited by the Convention (link to the press release).

• Register of nanomaterials: A royal decree dated 27 May 2014 concerning the marketing of manufactured substances containing nanoparticles has been published in the Belgian official gazette.  As of 1 January 2016, a large number of nanomaterials will need to be registered with the authorities before they can be marketed. Preparations containing nanomaterials will require to be registered with effect from 1 January 2017. Employers who register or use registered nanomaterials must inform their health and safety committee accordingly (see press release of the Belgian Federal Public Service).

• Equal treatment for online journalists: With effect from 1 October, journalists working on online media for newspapers covered by the collective agreement for the press sector will benefit from the same pay conditions as their colleagues employed on print editions. Ver.di and the BDZV employers’ organisation had negotiated this equality of treatment in a collective agreement concluded at the end of April 2014, applicable to the 14,000 journalists in the sector. From 1 July 2016, all the remaining terms of the collective agreement will apply to all journalists (see Ver.di press release, in German).


• Minimum wage in the waste disposal sector: The ministry of labour on 25 September 2014 decided to make the new minimum wage, which was negotiated by the social partners, compulsory on all employers in the sector as of 1 October. The social partners had set the minimum wage level at 8.86 euros per hour compared to 8.68 previously (see Verdi press release, in German).

• Reduction in pensions and civil service pay are constitutional: The supreme administrative court has delivered two decisions confirming the cuts made by the government in order to restore public finances, as requested by the Troika (IMF, ECB, European Commission). The first ruling concerns the reduction – in the order of 37% according to ADEDY, the trade union confederation for the public sector – of the lump sum paid to civil servants who take retirement. The second relates to law 4024/2011, which brought about a 25% cut in civil servants’ pay. Taking preceding reductions into account, this has resulted in an overall decrease of nearly 60% in their remuneration. For the Court, these reductions are legitimate in the light of the country’s financial situation, and no provisions of the Greek Constitution or the European Convention on Human Rights have been breached.


• Reform of industrial relations law: Discussions have taken place between the labour ministry and the representatives of the Troika (IMF, ECB, European Commission) on the law on collective dismissals, the law on industrial action and the law on trade union rights. The status of the discussions is not publicly known but, according to the press, the Troika is said to wish to make collective dismissals easier, to legalise the right to conduct lockouts (currently prohibited) and to limit trade union rights. However, during a tripartite meeting organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva with representatives of the ministry of labour and the Greek social partners, the ILO stressed, on the basis of a study (see ILO press release), that the legal frameworks for collective dismissals and trade union rights are in line with EU legislation and with existing practices. As regards lockouts, the social partners do not see any reason for its introduction.

• Protection for pregnant women: The constitutional court (decision No. 17/2014) held that article 65.5 of the Labour Code relating to the ban on dismissing pregnant women was not constitutional. The Labour Code provides that an employer cannot terminate an employment relationship during pregnancy or, in the case of women following a treatment linked to medically assisted conception, during a maximum period of six months after such treatment has begun (art. 65.3). In both cases, the ban on dismissal applied only if the female employee had informed the employer that she was pregnant or following a treatment in advance of the dismissal letter being sent (art. 65.5). The court found that the obligation to inform the employer before the dismissal was announced was unconstitutional. Consequently, the new wording of this article no longer refers to the provision of information “in advance”, but simply to the obligation to provide information, which could therefore occur even after notification.

• Capio: The EWC of the Swedish group, which manages healthcare establishments, has conducted a survey of staff representatives in the group and local managers in order to evaluate whether information and consultation rights are being respected at local level and whether they can be improved (see press release, in English). The questionnaire comprises ten questions, such as: Do you meet often enough? Do you receive information in good time before the decisions are taken? What is the quality of the information received? Do you have the opportunity to influence decisions? … The response rate was 80%, and the results will be presented at the end-of-year meeting. “We are convinced that we cannot deliver quality healthcare unless the employees are motivated and involved,” stresses Kevin Thompson, employee chairman of the European works council. “That can only happen if the employees are heard and can influence decisions.”


• Deutsche Bahn: Having last May opposed the management’s plan to create a shared service company in Romania to bring together the group’s entire European accounting activities, the European works council on 4 September announced it had obtained a management commitment to reach agreement on a package of minimum measures (training, substitute jobs, early retirement, financial compensation) to benefit the employees affected by the reorganisation before the plan is implemented in each of the countries concerned (see EWC press release).


• Gorenje: The manufacturer of domestic appliances has become the first Slovenian company to set up a European works council. The installation agreement was signed in December 2013 and the first meeting was held on 25 September last in Velenje. The EWC has 17 members representing the main countries in which the company has locations (Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden), as well as an observer on behalf of Serbia. The EWC will meet twice a year (link to the group’s press release).

• Allianz SE: The German insurer Allianz has revised its agreement on worker participation in the SE signed on 20 September 2006. The new text, concluded on 3 July 2014, takes account of the experience accumulated in the SE works council’s operation, the proliferation of cross-border units and the creation of new European companies at subsidiary level. The new agreement explicitly provides for the SE works council’s competence over dossiers relating to the transfer of undertakings or operating units to non-EU countries, as well as a visiting right for members of the select committee to the transferred units, if the request is justified.

• Alstom-General Electric: The IndustriAll European trade union federation organised a meeting of the trade unions represented in the Alstom and General Electric (GE) groups, three months after Alstom’s decision to sell its energy division to GE. The trade unions are demanding that the information and consultation procedures are respected, as well as calling for commitments concerning the retention of sites and personnel. IndustriAll warns that “trade unions and workers’ representatives will be mobilising at all levels to make their voices heard” (see IndustriAll press release).

• Volkswagen: The United Auto Workers (UAW) trade union has announced that, on 26 September 2014, it signed a letter of intent with the German trade union IG Metall and the world group council of Volkswagen (VW) with a view to facilitating the establishment of the UAW at the VW car plant in Chattanooga (Tennessee). According to the Reuters news agency, the letter is intended to allow the UAW to become recognised as the majority union inside VW’s only plant in the USA and thus to establish employee representation at the site. Following a major campaign by opponents of the introduction of a trade union (local and State of Tennessee authorities), the workforce had, in February, voted against the establishment of the UAW at their plant (see IR Notes 4). The UAW is therefore preparing for a new vote, which cannot take place before next February, one year after the first attempt.

• Global retirement systems: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has published a report on “Social protection for older persons“, which provides an overview of the organisation of pension systems, their coverage and benefits, as well as  public expenditures on social security in 178 countries. The document analyses recent trends, such as the extension of coverage in many middle- and low-income countries, along with the negative impacts of fiscal consolidation and adjustment measures in certain higher-income economies. The report notes that “the achievements of the European social model, which dramatically reduced poverty and promoted prosperity and social cohesion in the period following the Second World War, have been eroded by short-term adjustment reforms”. Its report calls for the expansion of social protection in pursuit of crisis recovery, inclusive development and social justice.


• Unemployment in the EU: The unemployment rate stood at 10.1% in August 2014 in the EU, the lowest recorded level since February 2012. In July the rate was 10.2%. In the euro area the unemployment rate was 11.5% in August 2014, stable compared with July 2014, but down from 12% in August 2013 (see Eurostat press release).

Council directive 92/85 of 19 October 1992, on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding provides for female workers to benefit from “maternity leave of at least 14 continuous weeks, allocated before and/or after confinement”. A minimum period of leave lasting two weeks must be taken. However, the directive does not impose salary continuance or payment of compensation – hence the deadlock when the directive was reviewed between the Council, which represents the Member States, and the Parliament, with the former rejecting any suggestion of extending maternity leave to 22 weeks on full pay. Marianne Thyssen announced that the discussions should be resumed on a “less ambitious” basis.