IR Notes

On 25 October, the Sanofi group’s Italian subsidiary, the employers’ organisation Assolombarda and the trade-union federations FEMCA-CISL, FILCEM-CGIL and UILTEC-UIL signed a Pact for Digital Technologies and Artificial Intelligence, with the support of the Digital Innovation Observatories of Milan’s Politecnico university (see Artificial intelligence). This document, which is the result of a collaborative effort involving key figures from the organisation and social partners, establishes principles for the effective, responsible and conscious use of innovative technologies, thus providing Sanofi employees with a framework for their implementation within the corporate ecosystem. This pact, which is the first of its kind in Italy, represents the outcome of a journey that began with the creation of a Digital Innovation Observatory – a body that was established to jointly monitor the company’s digital progress and its impact on work, which also involved organising a great many training sessions on the day-to-day use of artificial intelligence tools.
The pact sets forth several principles: 1) Human-centricity and accountability, with a commitment to “use digital technologies and AI with care, recognizing the central role of the human being and the importance of their involvement and supervision in decisions made or assisted by AI”. This involves establishing “clear human oversight throughout the entire lifecycle of these technologies, while providing transparency in both the development and usage of systems and the decision-making processes”. 2) Ethical adoption and a shared commitment, requiring the signatories to “leverage digital technologies and AI in a manner that upholds the dignity, rights, and liberties of individuals”, and to use these tools “for projects that have societal impacts, contributing to equitable, inclusive, and sustainable development, prioritizing the safety of human life, health, and the environment in the design and use of these technologies, in accordance with ESG principles”. 3) Empowerment and engagement: the parties will ensure that the outputs produced by these tools “are understandable and explainable to end-users and stakeholders”. This means they must “foster a culture of digital competence and critical awareness within the organization by promoting continuous training on the potentialities and implications of digital technologies and AI”. The company must provide its employees with “the necessary skills to ensure the safe and responsible use” of these technologies. These guiding principes exist hand in hand with rules of “golden behavior”, such as ensuring that “the use of these systems’ outputs is always accompanied by information verification, cross-referencing with reliable sources, and the evaluation of the output itself.” The Italian agreement will be submitted to the group’s European Works Council, which has already followed a training module on this topic.

Posting of workers : To mark the Forum on the Posting of Workers organised by the European Labour Authority (ELA), BusinessEurope and four sectoral-level employers’ organisations (Ceemet, ECEG, FIEC, WEC), have issued a joint statement in response to the European Commission’s report on the application and implementation of Directive EU 2018/957 of 28 June 2018 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services (see IR Notes 230). The employers’ organisations believe there is no point in revising the directives on posting at this stage, but at the same time call for the revision of Regulation 883/04 on the coordination of social security systems. They see no need to “over-regulate” the posting of third-country nationals (TCN – see Third-country nationals): once these TCN have entered the EU and are legally residing and working in an EU Member State, they should be treated as regular posted workers in a single market logic and be the subject of the same rules and effective visa procedures. The organisations also support a number of initiatives mentioned in the Commission’s report, such as the introduction of a tool to help employers determine the remuneration payable to posted workers, including all obligatory items. This “remuneration calculator” should be developed by the ELA. They call on the Commission to rapidly put forward its initiative on e-Declaration, as a universal tool to be used on a voluntary basis by the Member States, and at the same time advocate a sector-based approach in order to enhance the supervision of posting, citing the example of social ID cards that function well in the construction sector in several countries.

European Works Councils operating under Irish law : On 24 October, MEPs Gabriele Bischoff (S&D) and Dennis Radtke (EPP), rapporteur of the proposal for a revision of the European Works Council directive, submitted a written question to the European Commission, in response to the matter of the Verizon EWC, in which they explain that “The Irish Labour Court dismissed the case (TID241), stating the EWC Chariman is not acting as an individual before the court, but on behalf of the EWC, and the EWC, as a collective, cannot pursue claims under Irish law”. The two MEPs point out that “If an EWC, as a collective body, does not have the right of recourse to the Irish courts, how does the Commission consider that the rights under Directive 2009/38/EC can be enforced in Ireland?”, and asks the Commission if it intends to bring legal proceedings against Ireland for breaching EU law, following its initial letter of formal notice, sent on 19 May 2022.

Temporary work : The Court of Justice has ruled on a Spanish case concerning the application of Directive 2008/104 of 19 November 2008, on temporary agency work (CJEU, 24 October 2024, Case C-441/23, LM) (see Temporary agency work). After completing a six-month traineeship at Microsoft, the claimant was then recruited successively by three different undertakings, all of which were service providers to Microsoft. Within the framework of her duties, she was responsible for performing the contractually agreed services and in the last of these three jobs, she performed marketing services for Microsoft which were not provided by any of its employees. While she was pregnant, Microsoft terminated the contract with the service provider that employed her. Her employer subsequently dismissed her when she returned from parental leave, due to a reduction in the number of orders placed with them. One of the questions referred to the Court of Justice was that of deciding whether Directive 2008/104 applies only to temporary-work agencies recognised as such under national law, or also to an undertaking that assigns a worker to another undertaking, even though the first undertaking is not recognised by domestic legislation as a temporary-work agency because it does not have the relevant administrative authorisation. The Court of Justice rules that if the directive applied only to undertakings which hold a prior administrative authorisation to operate as a temporary-work agency, this “(i) would mean that the protection of workers would vary between Member States, depending on whether or not national law requires such authorisation, and within the same Member State, depending on whether or not the undertaking in question holds such authorisation, and would risk undermining the objectives of that directive, which are to protect temporary agency workers, and (ii) would undermine the effectiveness of that directive by inordinately and unjustifiably restricting its scope”. Accordingly, it concludes that the directive applies to this case. The Court had also been asked to determine firstly, whether the employer could be classified as a temporary-work agency, and secondly, whether the worker was a temporary agency worker. The Court provides the following guidance for the national court: 1. If the latter finds that the worker’s employer is an undertaking whose activity – whether or not its main activity – is to conclude contracts of employment or employment relationships with workers in order to assign them temporarily to user undertakings to work there under their supervision and direction, it would have to take the view that Directive 2008/104 applies. 2. If the undertaking at which the worker carries out his or her activity, firstly imposes on the worker the services to be performed, the manner of their performance and the requirement to comply with its instructions and internal rules, and, secondly monitors and supervises the way in which the worker performs his or her duties, then it must be deemed to be a user undertaking within the meaning of the directive.

• Personal and Household Services : On 16 October, European social partners in the personal and household services sector issued a joint statement, calling on the European Commission to take urgent action to tackle the severe labour and skills shortages facing the sector.

Strong measures to boost employment : On 2 October, the Federal cabinet approved new measures aimed at boosting the labour market, strengthening social cohesion and promoting growth. One of these initiatives allows employees to try out a job before making a firm commitment to their new employer (see press release).

• Fewer workers now covered by collective bargaining agreements : Since 1996, the proportion of employees working at companies that are subject to collective labour agreements has fallen by 25 percentage points (see study). In 2023, 51% of employees did not benefit from any collective bargaining agreement, while just 42% were covered by a branch-level agreement and 8% by a company agreement. The level of collective bargaining coverage varies according to several factors, such as the size of the company and the region concerned, with a more favourable environment in the West of Germany (see press release).

Collective bargaining agreement in the metalworking industry : The Pro-GE and GPA trade unions have finalised a new collective bargaining agreement for the metalworking industry, affecting around 200,000 employees (see press release). This agreement includes a 4.8% pay rise and a mileage rate, plus an increase in the income earned by apprentices (see press release). Companies that are experiencing difficulties will be able to negotiate a lower pay rise, provided that this is offset by more free time, a single payment or other forms of compensation.

Residence permits : The Ministry of Employment recently presented a bill to Parliament, aimed at systematising oversight of work-related residence permits granted to foreigners from countries that are not EU members (see press release). This new legislation stipulates that foreign workers who lose their job will have three months to find a new job in Finland. If they fail to do so, they will have to leave the country. In some cases, such as highly specialised experts, posted workers and senior managers, the period allowed for job-hunting will be extended to six months. These measures will apply to approximately 50,000 non-European foreign workers.

• Gender balance : The government has issued an edict transposing Directive (EU) 2022/2381 of 23 November 2022 on improving the gender balance among directors of listed companies. The edict was published in the 16 October edition of the country’s Official Journal. It supplements the rules laid down by the Copé-Zimmermann law of 27 January 2011.

Early retirement for workers doing arduous jobs : The government, in consultation with the trade unions and employers, has concluded an agreement to facilitate access to early retirement for workers employed in arduous jobs (see press release). Under this agreement, people whose jobs are recognised as being arduous, as defined by a third-party body appointed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, will be entitled to retire up to three years early. Workers who are experiencing financial difficulties will also qualify for an additional allowance, capped at a gross annual level of 3,600 euros, to ease their pathway to early retirement.

Wage rises : On 1 October, the government signed the 2025-2028 Tripartite agreement on wage increases and economic growth, with the Portuguese Confederation of Companies (CIP), the Portuguese Confederation of Commerce and Services (CCP), the Portuguese Tourism Confederation (CTP), the Portuguese Farmers’ Confederation (CAP) and the General Workers’ Union (UGT) (see government press release). This agreement fixes the increase in the minimum wage at 870 euros gross from next year, i.e. a rise of 50 euros. The minimum wage will progressively be raised to 920 euros in 2026, to 970 euros in 2027, and to 1,020 euros in 2028. The agreement also includes tax incentives for companies that pay higher wages, allowing them to deduct 50% of the cost of these increases from their corporation tax (IRC) bill.

Immersion in Brussels : The 52 full and alternate members comprising the construction group Vinci’s EWC, who come from 10 EU countries, have taken part in a week-long training course, focusing on strategic issues facing the group’s employees. Among other topics, they focused their attention on the CSRD directive and the impact of artificial intelligence. They met with representatives of the European trade-union federation EFBWW, visited the European Parliament and held discussions with political groups on subjects that preoccupy EWCs, such as the proposed revision of the European Works Council directive, due diligence and protecting workers against asbestos. They also took part in a dialogue with management on the issues of global social protection and bringing the group’s environmental actions into line with social and ecological challenges. Another topic they looked at, that of sustainable employability, is also being examined by an EWC working party, with a view to drafting a charter of good practice applicable in all European countries, to promote sustainable employability at Vinci.

A new EWC : In mid-October, after three years spent on this task, the Kyndryl group (90,000 employees), which came into being following the demerger in 2021 of IBM’s infrastructure services, completed its negotiations on the creation of an European works council.

Cyberbullying : A Eurofound study highlights significant differences between the regulations in force in EU Member States and Norway, in terms of intimidation, harassment and cyberbullying in the workplace. Cyberbullying is often regarded as an extension of conventional bullying in EU Member States, although Denmark’s laws explicitly recognise the offence of “cyberbullying”. To this end, ratification of ILO Convention no. 190 is expected to lead to regulatory changes in those countries that adopt it. Incidence of work-related harassment and intimidation varies from 2% to 40%, with higher levels apparent in certain sectors (e.g. healthcare and education). Although cyberbullying in the workplace is less common and has been less closely studied than face-to-face bullying, it nevertheless affects employees’ mental health to an equal extent, and thus calls for specific preventive measure.