IR Notes

On 13 March, the Commission put forward a series of initiatives seeking “to increase social fairness”, comprised of several proposals involving both legislative and non-legislative measures (see the Commission’s press release). In the first instance, the Commission proposes a regulation establishing a European Labour Authority, which would have three main roles: 1° improving access to information for mobile employees and for employers; 2° making operational cooperation between Member States genuinely effective; 3° acting as a conciliation body for cross-border disputes, such as disagreements between national social security authorities or disputes linked to a restructuring of companies affecting several Member States.
Next, the Commission also put forward a Proposal for a Recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed(see the Commission’s Questions & answers fact sheet). This type of text is not as binding as a directive, but is intended to “promote upward convergence between Member States.” The European Trade Union Confederation welcomed this package of measures (see press release). There was no immediate reaction on the employers’ side, but BusinessEurope has already set out its views on improvements in coverage of social protection, stating that it is in favour of the idea, provided that the Commission does not propose a binding instrument and abides by the principle of subsidiarity, which is the case here. As for the European Labour Authority, BusinessEurope sees little added value in this, emphasising the risk of adding yet another body to a set of organisations that are already in existence.
Lastly, the Commission announced that it was working on the introduction of a European social security number that would enable workers exercising their right to free movement to “easily prove that they are covered in their country of origin” and to “benefit more quickly and more easily from the benefits they are entitled to”.
> To consult all of the documents adopted from the “package of social fairness initiatives”.

Towards the introduction of a European Labour Authority: the various missions devolved to the future European Labour Authority (see Lead story and proposal for a regulation, include: 1° The possibility of supporting (at the request of the Member States concerned) cross-border monitoring missions, notably within the framework of combatting fraud associated with the posting of workers. 2° A desire to increase operational cooperation between social security institutions, especially in the event of a dispute concerning the validity of an A1 certificate, which is issued by a national social security authority to confirm that a posted worker belongs to the social security scheme in his own country. 3° A mediation role to help find solutions in the event of a cross-border dispute between these social security authorities or of a restructuring of companies affecting several countries. The latter objective is a surprise, because the Commission had refused to intervene in the area of corporate restructuring plans affecting several countries, since the introduction of its “Quality Framework for Anticipation of Change and Restructuring”; this was adopted in 2013 but virtually nobody is familiar with it. Consequently this project is likely to provoke the wrath of the European employers’ organisation BusinessEurope, which is certain to engage in intense lobbying to thwart it, fearing any intervention that might look like a European labour inspectorate, whether viewed up close or from afar.
> To find out more, see a policy paper on the ambitions for the European Labour Authority, drafted by the Institut Notre Europe think tank, founded by Jacques Delors. The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) welcomes the initiative, but would like the Council and the Parliament to “give this paper tiger some teeth”. As the situation currently stands, this authority “lacks hard power, independence, and workers’ representation” (see press release). The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers, which covers the construction sector and is particularly exposed to posting-related fraud, also welcomes this initiative (see press release).

• Social protection for all workers: on 13 March, the European Commission put forward a Proposal for a Recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed (see the Commission’s Questions & answers fact sheet) pursuant to principle 12 of the European Pillar of Social Rights, which states that “Regardless of the type and duration of their employment relationship, workers, and, under comparable conditions, the self-employed, have the right to adequate social protection”. This is a non-binding text that nevertheless invites Member States to change their national social security system. The recommendation lays down “minimum standards in the field of social protection” to provide all workers with “formal and effective coverage, adequacy and transferability of social protection, transparency of social protection entitlements”. Where a risk arises, States should “ensure that schemes provide an adequate level of protection to their members, i.e. sufficient and timely to uphold the standard of living, provide appropriate income replacement, while always preventing those members from falling into poverty”. “Contributions to social protection” should be “proportionate to the contributory capacity of workers and the self-employed”.


• Benchmark on closing the gender pay gap: on 15 March, Ministers of Employment debated ways of eliminating the difference in the pay levels of men and women, on the basis of a Note issued by the EU Presidency. They discussed ways of improving wage transparency and exchanged views on the domestic measures that have been most effective in reducing horizontal and vertical sexual segregation in the employment market.

Council adopts European framework to promote apprenticeships: on 15 March, the Council of Employment and Social Affairs adopted a recommendation proposing a set of criteria to be followed in order to guarantee the quality of the training courses followed by young people. The text recommends that a written agreement should be concluded before the apprenticeship starts. At least one half of the duration of the apprenticeship should “be carried out in the workplace”. Apprentices should “be entitled to social protection” and “should be paid or otherwise compensated” (see press release). “This is good news for young people entering work”, says Thiébaut Weber, confederal secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (see press release). The employers’ organisation BusinessEurope also welcomes this text and describes it as “having a good balance” (see position).

• Tripartite social summit: on 21 March, the representatives of the European institutions and the European social partners held their tripartite Spring Social Summit (see European Council press release). At the summit, the European social partners insisted, in a joint statement, that the 2020 Multiannual Financial Framework should be adopted before the election of the new European Parliament, in order not to delay the necessary investments at EU level. The representatives of the European Trade Union Confederation also asked the three employers’ organisations to establish an ambitious programme of work to deploy the principles set forth in the European Pillar of Social Rights.

• Central government administrations: on 21 December 2015, the social partners of the central government administrations sector signed a European general framework for informing and consulting civil servants and employees of central government administrations. They called on the European Commission to submit a decision proposal to the Council, seeking to make their agreement applicable at EU level, via a directive. However, on 6 March, the Commission informed them of its refusal to submit a text to the Council. Consequently, there will be no directive requiring Member States to incorporate this agreement into their domestic law. The social partners denounce an “unprecedented decision” that denies 9.7 million civil servant the right to receive information and consultation, as guaranteed by the European Pillar of Social Rights (see press release issued by the social partners).

Introduction of a ”home-working alert”: on 7 March, Federal Employment Minister Kris Peeters set out the “home-working alert “ arrangements that can now be triggered by the Royal Meteorological Institute (IRM) if there is a risk of black ice on the roads. Companies are invited to make plans, either via labour regulations or company agreements, for procedures allowing occasional teleworking, so that their employees can work from home in the event of severe winter weather.

• Conflict over weekend working at banks: trade unions in the financial services sector have called for strike action within the framework of negotiations concerning a renewal of the collective agreement that applies to the sector. The conflict relates to the introduction of weekend working. The employers want to be able to decide this unilaterally, whereas the unions insist that the changes should rely on voluntary agreements and local collective agreements to determine the terms of employment (see press release issued by the Pro trade union). This industrial action is taking place after five months of negotiations, an initial series of strikes between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and mediation conducted by the national negotiation body, which failed. The trade unions are also considering the possibility of organising sympathy strikes in other sectors, and the trade unions in the financial services sector in other Nordic countries have declared their support.

Jurisdiction over disputes involving airline pilots: the Court of Cassation has issued two rulings applying EU Court of Justice case law relating to the implementation of Regulation 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 concerning jurisdiction (Cass. soc., 28 February 2018, no. G 16-17505 and no. 16-12754). In the case of one pilot, the Court of Cassation notes that he was assigned to Marseille airport, which was designated as his “home base”, where he began or ended his working duties and from where he joined the aircraft managed by his employer. It was at this home base that the pilot received his instructions and undertook almost one quarter of the flights to or from France. He also lived nearby. Even though the timetables were prepared in Lisbon and he had to follow training courses elsewhere, the court took the view that “Marseille airport (…) was the place where the employee habitually carries out his work, within the meaning of Article 19, point 2, subparagraph a), of Regulation 44/2001. Consequently, although the home base is not automatically designated as the place of jurisdiction, it forms part of a body of evidence indicating “the place where the employee habitually carried out his work”.

• Changes to legislation governing transfers of undertakings: in the wake of the controversy surrounding PT Portugal’s misuse of the mechanism governing transfers of undertakings, which enables companies to transfer workers’ contracts of employment to other businesses without their consent, with the associated risk that they will then lose all of their acquired rights one year after the transfer, Parliament, supported by the left-wing parties, has decided to amend the Employment Code. Law 14/2018 of 19 March 2018 thus strengthens the rights of employees concerned by a transfer, notably their right to reject the transfer.

A pending conflict in the Swedish ports: after a long-standing disagreement between APM Terminals and the Swedish Dockworkers’ Union (Hamnarbetarförbundet) in the port of Gothenburg, which is the largest port in Northern Europe, the employers’ association Ports of Sweden (Sveriges Hamnar, which is affiliated to the Swedish Confederation of Transport Enterprises) has decided to discontinue all cooperation with Hamnarbetarförbundet nationwide from 1 April onwards. After almost a year of stalemate, Sveriges Hamnar’s decision to forbid all of its affiliates to cooperate in any way with Hamnarbetarförbundet thus came as a big surprise to many observers. Most notably, all safety representatives nominated by Hamnarbetarförbundet will lose their rights, and the union will no longer have any access to premises linked to the workplace.
> Read more.

• A new measure to facilitate integration into the labour market: an agreement has been signed between the government and the social partners to make it easier for newly arrived immigrants and the long-term unemployed to enter the labour market. It will now be possible to recruit these categories of workers for a period of up to two years, at the minimum wage level that applies within the industry (to be partly funded by the State), while they are following a vocational training course (see press release).

Rockwell Collins: in September 2017, the aircraft parts manufacturer Rockwell Collins (which employs 3,500 people in the EU) renewed its 2014 European Works Council agreement. The initial agreement comprised three pages, whose terms and conditions cross-referenced all of the articles contained in the Luxemburg Employment Code, adopting the subsidiary provisions of Directive 2009/38. Following the acquisition of parts manufacturer B/E Aerospace, the company’s management and its European Works Council members amended the initial text without setting up a special negotiation group. From now on, the European Works Council will meet twice a year. It comprises 15 members. The United Kingdom is the country with the most members (6), ahead of Germany (4), France (3) and the Netherlands (1). A member also represents the workforce of a subsidiary company whose employees are split between France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. The agreement stipulates that it will continue to cover the United Kingdom after Brexit.

• A project to develop European Works Councils in the metalworking industry: on 12 March, the French trade-union federation FGMM-CFDT organised the launch meeting for a European project that seeks to identify good and bad practices among European Works Councils in the metalworking industry, notably in terms of informing and consulting workers. This project is supported by the European Commission and by ten or so national trade-union federations from other Member States. Five seminars will be organised in 2019 in five EU cities with the participation of experts, and a final conference will be held in Brussels. Syndex, the designated expert, will be required to produce 30 CVs setting out details of European Works Councils and to perform eight case studies.

• General Electric: following a meeting with the directors of General Electric concerning the group’s strategy within the energy industry, held on 13 March in Paris, in a joint declaration adopted on 20 March, the European trade unions affiliated to the European federation IndustriAll Europe reiterate the warning they have already issued against restructuring decisions “that will have irreversible consequences for GE’s future” (see press release).

Trends in employment and labour costs in the EU: Eurostat recently published a set of statistics concerning evolution of employment, employment rates in the EU regions (they rose in 8 out of 10 regions in 2017), job vacancy rates and hourly labour costs. The latter document reveals that earnings are catching up to a certain extent in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, because in the fourth quarter of 2017, the ten highest annual increases within the EU were all registered in the new Member States, such as Romania (+14.3 %), Bulgaria (+12.2 %) and Hungary (+8.6 %).