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January 1999

• 28 Jan 1999
  Austria: National Action Plan on Employment poses challenges

  Both employment and unemployment rose simultaneously in Austria in 1998. This poses a difficult challenge for the country's National Action Plan for employment, drawn up in response to the EU Employment Guidelines, as it reveals that some of the Plan's most important and ambitious goals - to raise the level of employment and reduce the rate of unemployment - may prove to be consistent in theory but incompatible in practice.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Austria: New issues emerge in 1999 banking bargaining round

  Negotiations over pay in the Austrian banking sector got off to a slow start in December 1998. Yet at the same time, new and important issues, such as pensions, tenure, changes to the structure of employment and new forms of marketing and service provision, are being resolved swiftly in a spirit of cooperation.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Austria: Public sector bank restructures

  In early 1999, Austria's Post Office Savings Bank is preparing for privatisation - that is, sale to another bank - probably in 2000. However, the process of reducing employment in the run-up is creating less tension than speculation about potential future owners and their intentions.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Austria: Works councils elections held in football clubs

  Football players in top Austrian clubs have been holding works council elections, and by mid-January 1999, 14 elections had been held and two works councils had been formally constituted. Meanwhile, a sectoral agreement for football is still under negotiation but has attained new urgency in the light of attempts to market the league more intensively.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Austria: Competitiveness and employment challenge banking sector

  The Austrian banking sector is struggling for greater productivity and profitability in 1999 in a bid to preserve independence and market share. The banks are aided by new technology and EU Economic and Monetary Union, and the social partners have made efforts to preserve employment in the wake of these developments.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Austria: European Works Councils in Austria

  According to the most recent estimates, there are about 330 companies active in Austria (both Austrian- and foreign-owned) which are covered by an obligation to set up European Works Councils. About 135 of these companies are thought to have complied by the end of 1998.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Austria: Bill aims to combat organised illegal work

  From 1 July 1999 measures to combat illegal employment, particularly of foreign nationals, should be enhanced substantially in Austria. The relevant bill, agreed within the coalition government and issued in January 1999, was preceded by a dispute that lasted over a year, and is the subject of fierce criticism from employers.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Austria: New rules on flexible parental leave

  In January 1999, the Austrian government set out the lines along which it intends to transpose the EU Directive on parental leave from the beginning of 2000. Key details are to be agreed by the social partners.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Belgium: Social partners face up to challenge of the benefit trap

  Following the conclusion of the 1999-2000 intersectoral collective agreement, in early 1999 the Belgian social partners are seeking to find a joint solution to the "benefit trap", whereby unemployed people are discouraged from finding work because of the small difference between benefits and minimum pay. The social partners with to resolve the issue without government intervention, though the Higher Council for Employment is advocating specific solutions.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Belgium: Social partners split over ownership of Walloon water board

  Employers' organisations and trade unions may agree that they want more say over the new water board to be set up early in 1999 by the Walloon regional government in Belgium, but they disagree over whether the company should have public or private status.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Belgium: Minimum wage for workers in sheltered workshops finally agreed

  From January 1999 the legally guaranteed minimum wage in Belgium has at last been extended to cover workers with disabilities employed in sheltered workshops. The federal government and the regional governments have thereby carried out their promise made in July 1998.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Belgium: 10,000 new jobs created in non-profit care sector

  Following widespread industrial action in late 1997 and early 1998, the non-profit care sector in Belgium has witnessed an increase of about 10,000 jobs. These have been created by a variety of means, including an improvement in staffing ratios, the introduction of mobile teams and reductions in employers' social security contributions. The number could have been even higher, but the employers have not yet used up their full budget for new recruitment.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Belgium: Unions' agenda for 1999 bargaining round focuses on working time

  The central demands of the three main trade union confederations at the start of the 1999 Belgian sectoral bargaining round include the gradual introduction of a four-day working week, improvements in working conditions in small and medium-sized enterprises and full use of the maximum permitted wage increase for the 1999-2000 period.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Germany: Employment security: the new big issue at establishment level

  In the 1990s, measures to secure employment have become an increasingly prominent topic for the bodies which represent employee interests at establishment level in Germany - works and staff councils. A recent survey by WSI documents this trend and shows that in winter 1997/8, agreements on employment security existed in 24% of private sector establishments covered by works councils and in 12% of public sector establishments covered by staff councils.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Germany: Pirelli returns to 40-hour working week

  In December 1998, a works agreement was concluded at the tyre company Pirelli Germany, which includes a return to a 40-hour working week from 1 January 1999.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Germany: Agreement individualises working time decisions at IBM

  In December 1998 in Germany, IBM Informationssysteme GmbH and the DAG trade union concluded a company collective agreement which individualises the working time decisions of employees.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Germany: Court rejects IG Metall case against Christian Metalworkers' Union

  In December 1998, the federal state Labour Court in Stuttgart, Germany, rejected a case brought by the IG Metall metalworkers' union against the Christian Metalworkers' Union (CGM), in which it demanded that the Court deprive CGM of the right to conclude collective agreements.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Germany: Unions demand creation of new jobs through reduction of overtime

  Given that about 1.8 billion paid overtime hours were worked in Germany in 1998 - according to figures released in January 1999 - trade unions estimate that a substantial reduction of overtime could create about 400,000 new jobs.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Germany: Unions seek right to bring cases against employers contravening agreements

  With a growing number of German employers reportedly contravening valid collective agreements, in January 1999 the trade unions renewed their demand for an "association-level right" for unions to take these employers to the Labour Court.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Germany: Labour law amendments come into force

  From 1 January 1999, a package of labour law amendments came into force in Germany, largely arising from the wish of the new "red-green" coalition government to revoke some of the more controversial changes introduced by its conservative-liberal predecessor. The amendments concern continued payment in the event of sickness, dismissal protection and regulations on posted workers.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Denmark: Less agreement on link between pay and competitiveness

  Support for the pay restraint policies which have characterised collective bargaining in Denmark since November 1987 is falling away. This is the conclusion of a survey, published in late 1998, of employees' attitude to the question of whether pay rises create unemployment by destroying competitiveness. The finding raises questions such as: Can pay trends be kept under control, or will Denmark return to the situation of the mid-1980s, when pay increased in an uncontrolled way, ushering in many years of high unemployment? And is a new tripartite agreement required between the Government and the social partners?

• 28 Jan 1999
  Denmark: Danes need to work longer, says Ministry

  In January 1999, the Danish Finance Ministry published an analysis which indicates that the existing level of social provision can be maintained in the coming decades only by Danes working longer, or else by increased taxation. One solution proposed by the Ministry would be the abolition of compulsory time off in lieu for overtime and the introduction of a new right to receive pay for holidays not taken. These ideas have been rejected by trade unions, though without closing the door totally.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Denmark: Breakthrough in agriculture and forestry pay negotiations

  Denmark's first major collective pay settlement for 1999 was concluded on 17 January. Some 20,000 employees in agriculture, forestry and horticulture are to receive three additional days off per year, expanded pension schemes and wage rises. The outcomes are similar to the provisions of the government's intervention to end the main private sector collective bargaining round in spring 1998.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Denmark: Working environment most important task for unions

  In early 1999, for the second year running, Denmark's LO trade union confederation published the results of an attitude survey of members' priorities for union activity. Once again at the top of the list are work to improve the working environment and continued efforts to counter unemployment. In this context, pay and longer holidays are relegated to a lower position

• 28 Jan 1999
  Denmark: Rulings clarify time off for care of children

  The "time off for children" scheme, introduced as part of Danish government's intervention to settle the private sector collective bargaining round in May 1998, has given rise to many employment law cases. Recent employment tribunal decisions - including an arbitration award in January 1999 - have made the time off more expensive, according to employers.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Spain: Difficult 1999 bargaining round opens

  The collective bargaining agenda in Spain in 1999 reveals the greatest disagreements amongst the social partners for a number of years, especially on two topics - a new form of part-time employment contract and pay increases.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Spain: Trade unions criticise liberalisation of telecommunications sector

  The liberalisation of the telecommunications sector began in Spain in 1996, and is in its final stages in early 1999. Over this period, the trade unions have opposed the liberalisation programme on the grounds of its effects on both employees and consumers. In late 1998 and early 1999, the opposition has taken the form of demonstrations and planned industrial action.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Spain: Disagreements arise amongst trade unions

  Over the closing months of 1998, the Spanish press noted divergences in the views and activities of the two main trade union confederations, CC.OO and UGT. Though it has been suggested that the unity of action of the past 10 years is in crisis - and it is true that there are certain problems - it seems that these divergences are not sufficiently important to threaten the unity of strategic action.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Spain: Social partners take positions on the euro

  The introduction of the euro single currency in January 1999 prompted differing reactions from the social partners in Spain, though they have all adopted a positive view of it from a macroeconomic perspective.

• 28 Jan 1999
  EU Level: Commission proposes Directives to end exclusion of sectors from working time Directive

  In November 1998, the European Commission adopted a Communication outlining an extensive package of proposals for Council Directives to cover workers in sectors currently excluded from the provisions of the 1993 working time Directive, following consultation with the social partners at sectoral and intersectoral level. The proposals pursue a flexible, differentiated approach, enabling the Commission to accommodate existing European-level sectoral agreements in the maritime and rail transport sectors. The proposal also takes into account the points of convergence in the failed negotiations in the road transport sector.

• 28 Jan 1999
  EU Level: Economic and Social Committee introduces work programme for 1999-2000

  In December 1998, the EU's Economic and Social Committee presented its new work programme, which emphasises the Committee's role in fostering the dialogue and involvement of the social partners and other parts of "civil society" in the development of the European Union. The Committee is particularly keen to highlight youth unemployment and the achievement of greater equality of opportunity, in its contribution to the 1999 Employment Guidelines.

• 28 Jan 1999
  EU Level: Commission invites social partners to take the lead in modernising work organisation

  In November 1998, the European Commission adopted a Communication on "Modernising the organisation of work - a positive approach to change", aimed at stimulating and strengthening partnership in the modernisation of work organisation. The Communication calls on the social partners at all levels to consider the best possible means to facilitate and complement the "adaptability pillar "of the EU Employment Guidelines, and to develop at appropriate levels a framework to advance the modernisation of work organisation. The new document builds on the responses to the consultative Green Paper on work organisation launched in April 1997.

• 28 Jan 1999
  EU Level: Social partners reach draft framework agreement on fixed-term contracts

  After 10 months of intense negotiations, during which success did not always appear likely, the central EU-level social partners - ETUC, UNICE and CEEP - reached a draft framework agreement on fixed-term employment contracts on 14 January 1999. The deal aims to enshrine the principle of non-discrimination between open-ended and fixed-term contract workers and to establish a framework to prevent abuse arising from the use of successive fixed-term contracts. The agreement must now be ratified by each organisation's governing body.

• 28 Jan 1999
  EU Level: Social partners issue joint declaration on 1999 Employment Guidelines

  In December 1998, the central European-level social partners issued a joint declaration to the Vienna European Council on the 1999 Employment Guidelines. They underline the need for continuity in order to strengthen the four "pillars" of the Guidelines. However, disagreements remain - particularly in relation to setting targets for an increase in the employment rate.

• 28 Jan 1999
  EU Level: ETUC calls for amendments to European Works Council Directive

  In a working paper issued in December 1998, ETUC calls for the review of the European Works Council Directive to lead to a clarification of information and consultation rights, so as to ensure that information is given in a manner which gives employee representatives sufficient time to prepare a response. It would also like to see workforce-size thresholds lowered and sanctions strengthened. The Directive is to be reviewed by September 1999.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Finland: Employers propose balance sheet buffers for employees

  With the dawn of the European single currency in January 1999, the managing director of Finland's PT service sector employers' organisation has called for the national industrial relations system to be adapted to the changed operational environment. He proposes the creation of "buffer reserves" in company balance sheets, for the benefit of employees. These buffers should be accumulated in periods of economic upswing and spent when enterprises are facing hard times.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Finland: Nearly 1,000 redundancies in the food industry

  In January 1999, companies in the Finnish food industry announced restructuring which will lead to nearly 1,000 redundancies. Employers say that the job losses are motivated by profit expectations, market changes and intensified competition. The Food Workers' Union demands cancellation of the plans.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Finland: Employers outline priorities for Finnish EU Presidency

  In January 1999, Finland's main employers' confederations, TT and PT, issued a joint statement concerning their priorities for the Finnish EU Presidency in the second half of the year. The organisations state that neither transfer of decision-making to the EU level nor EU legislation are absolute values in themselves.

• 28 Jan 1999
  France: ARPE early retirement for jobs scheme is renewed and expanded

  On 22 December 1998, France's MEDEF employers' confederation and the five trade union confederations represented in the UNEDIC unemployment insurance fund signed an agreement to renew and expand the "job substitution allowance" scheme (ARPE), which enables employees to retire early on the condition that new workers be taken on to replace them.

• 28 Jan 1999
  France: Implementing the 35-hour week legislation: the first six months

  In mid-December 1998, the French Ministry of Employment and Solidarity published a review of the first six months of the application of the law on the 35-hour working week. It reveals considerable diversity in the way the legislation is being implemented at company and sector level, and leaves many issues to be resolved when the follow-up law is drafted for adoption at the end of 1999.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Greece: New law provides framework for local employment agreements

  Since September 1998, a legislative framework has been in place in Greece for the conclusion of "local employment agreements" (TSAs). These local development and employment initiatives may include labour clauses, governing minimum pay and conditions for the staff employed to carry out the work or activities which the agreements create.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Greece: Pioneering trade union initiative on forest conservation

  In January 1999, the Athens Labour Centre held a seminar on the conservation of Attica's forests. This environmental initiative is the first such action undertaken by a Greek trade union organisation

• 28 Jan 1999
  Greece: Unions revive issue of 35-hour week without a reduction in pay

  On 11 January 1999, Greece's GSEE trade union confederation invited employers' organisations to begin negotiations on the introduction of a 35-hour working week without a reduction in pay in the private sector. The invitation was also communicated to the Speaker of parliament and the competent ministries.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Ireland: Local union recognition deal may point the way forward

  A November 1998 agreement, drawn up in face-to-face talks between the vice-president of Ireland's largest trade union and the managing director of Karavale, a medium-sized electronics company, could act as a model for trade union representation in non-union companies.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Ireland: 1999 Budget makes new agreement more likely

  By concentrating largely on income tax cuts for the lower paid, the Irish Government's tax-cutting Budget for 1999, unveiled on 3 December 1998, may help to prepare the way for a new national pact to replace the current three-year Partnership 2000 agreement. which expires in March 2000.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Italy: Changes in leadership of Cisl

  Cisl, Italy's second largest trade union confederation, experienced internal difficulties in late 1998, which have now been overcome through a reshaping of its leadership. Sergio D'Antoni, the general secretary, has been given a third four-year term of office, though Cisl's statutes allow normally for only two such terms, while six new confederal secretaries have been appointed.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Italy: Employers and unions sign development pact for Vibo Valentia province

  In January 1999, the social partners were among the signatories of an agreement seeking to promote the location of new companies in the Italian province of Vibo Valentia (Calabria). The "development pact" includes three separate agreements, covering: ways of easing bureaucracy for companies; financial aid for companies; and general employment conditions (signed by employers and trade unions).

• 28 Jan 1999
  Italy: Welfare and pensions fund agreement signed in building sector

  In December 1998, an agreement was signed which unifies the "Special Construction Workers' Funds" for the industrial and artisan sectors of the Italian building industry. The agreement also promotes worker mobility between companies in the industry and establishes a single national supplementary occupational pensions fund.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Italy: Pact signed on concertation and the right to strike in transport

  In December 1998, a tripartite agreement to set up a system of "concertation" in Italy's transport sector and to define new rules on the right to strike was reached at the Ministry of Transport. The agreement was signed on the trade union side by the main Cgil, Cisl and Uil confederations, together with their respective sectoral federations, and by other confederations such as Cisal and Ugl. On the employers' side, the deal was signed by organisations including Confindustria, Federtrasporto, Agens and Lega delle Cooperative. The effectiveness of the pact has been called into question by its rejection by a number of independent unions, mostly in the railways sector, and by foreseeable difficulties in enforcing the rules on the right to strike.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Italy: National social pact for development and employment signed

  On 22 December 1998, the Italian government and 32 employers' associations and trade union organisations signed a "social pact for development and employment". With the aim of creating employment, the pact will reduce labour costs and the tax burden, and reform the training system. The two-tier collective bargaining structure - national and company/local - defined by the national tripartite agreement of 23 July 1993 has been confirmed, while concertation will be extended to the local level. The reactions of both government and the social partners have been positive.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Luxembourg: National Action Plan on employment still not approved

  Luxembourg's National Action Plan on employment, in response to the EU Employment Guidelines, had still not been adopted by the Chamber of Deputies in January 1999. The Council of State continued to express formal opposition on a number of points, while the consultative Chamber representing white-collar workers was extremely critical of the Council of State's opinion. A parliamentary commission thus issued a new series of 36 supplementary amendments that it hoped would be accepted by all concerned, enabling the Action Plan to be voted through in February 1999.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Luxembourg: Insurance sector negotiations heading for conciliation

  In December 1998, the social partners in Luxembourg's insurance sector finally gave up their efforts to reach an agreement on the principle of introducing performance-linked pay into the sector's collective agreement. The National Conciliation Office has been notified.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Luxembourg: Minimum wage increased by 1.3%

  As of 1 January 1999, Luxembourg's statutory minimum wage has been increased by 1.3%, in the light of developments in the economy and incomes.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Luxembourg: Agreement on civil service pay?

  In December 1998, the Luxembourg government and the CGFP trade union, in a meeting with the conciliator, reached a form of agreement in a dispute over back pay in the civil service, through the introduction of an extra day's leave. Other issues under dispute still require clarification.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Netherlands: Flexicurity Act makes major changes to labour law

  From 1 January 1999, the date on which the Flexibility and Security Act came into force, several areas of Dutch labour law have begun to look quite different. There has already been a degree of controversy about some of the potential effects, such as the cost of terminating an employment contract. At this initial stage at least, the social partners have reacted quite differently to the Act that they were themselves largely responsible for creating.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Netherlands: Tensions over terms and conditions in public sector challenge polder model

  In late 1998 and early 1999, the Dutch education sector and police force have seen bitter pay disputes, while central and local government civil servants have announced pay demands that far exceed what the government feels it can offer in 1999. The differences appear unbridgeable for the time being, and strikes were expected in the police force and education. The Dutch consultation system (the "polder model"), partly as a result of its own success, is now being put to the test.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Netherlands: Teachers strike, but police sign collective agreement

  The threat of strikes proved sufficient to produce a new collective agreement for the Dutch police force on 16 January 1999. Teachers' trade unions, on the other hand, launched a series of rotating nationwide strikes on 18 January to underline their demands. Both sides in the teachers' conflict are now assessing the outcome of the police dispute as a possible model.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Netherlands: Employers demand more stringent policy on disability benefits

  In January 1999, the main Dutch employers' organisation, VNO/NCW, demanded more stringent government implementation of the Occupational Disability Insurance Act. Despite the Prime Minister's cautious reaction, the state secretary responsible has pledged stricter application of the Act in future. The Liberal Party has called for the adoption of far-reaching measures, while the FNV trade union confederation's reaction to the employers' position has been highly dismissive.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Netherlands: Union membership rises, while largest union announces reorganisation

  All three main trade union confederations in the Netherlands witnessed a slight net increase in their membership in 1998. Meanwhile, FNV Bondgenoten, the largest Dutch union - the result of a merger in 1998 - announced a major reorganisation in January 1999.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Norway: New opening hours lead to dispute

  New legal provisions regulating Sunday and evening trading in Norway came into effect on 1 January 1999. The Opening Hours Act is controversial, and there is a great debate raging on the issue of how to interpret some of the exclusions from the general ban on Sunday trading.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Norway: LO seeks to appeal to the well educated

  At a conference in early January 1999, Norway's LO trade union confederation claimed that its affiliated federations were a better alternative for employees who had been educated at college or university level than other unions. At the same time, an internal LO committee asserted that some groups within the public sector who take higher degrees lose out in pay over the long term. As such, the committee's chair believes that these groups will have a strong case in future pay settlements.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Norway: NITO board recommends leaving AF

  In January 1999, the executive board of the Norwegian Society of Engineers (NITO) decided unanimously to recommend that the organisation disassociate from the Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations (AF). The final decision will be made at an extraordinary meeting of NITO's general council.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Norway: New LO union for professional sportsmen and women

  From 1 January 1999, the Norwegian Athletes Organisation (NISO), has been admitted as a federation into the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO). The federation, which organises sportsmen and women within football, ice hockey and handball, has requested collective agreements for its members at several Premier League football clubs.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Norway: Parliament adopts legislation on further and continuing education reform

  When the Norwegian Parliament adopted legislation on further and continuing education reform on 19 January 1999, it also provided for an individual right to leave of absence for educational purposes. Parliament has emphasised the value of acquired knowledge/skills and the need to set up a documented system for them.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Portugal: One-year experiment with the guaranteed minimum income examined

  In 1996, legislation introduced a guaranteed minimum income (RMG) system in Portugal, aimed at the poorest members of society, which was introduced initially on an experimental basis. This feature examines the outcomes of the pilot phase and the views expressed by the trade unions.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Portugal: Collective bargaining in Portugal: renewal through continuity?

  The latest official figures on formal and largely sector-level collective bargaining in Portugal, covering 1998, show continued stability from year to year. However, there are also informal negotiations which take place at company level, a notable example of which is a recent agreement at Autoeuropa, an important motor manufacturing company, which came into force in January 1999. The deal highlights some unresolved issues in the debate on collective bargaining, such as the representativeness of the parties involved and the normative effects of the agreements produced.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Portugal: Police officers demand union rights and better working conditions

  In January 1999, organisations representing the personnel of Portugal's PSP municipal police force reaffirmed their calls for full trade union rights and improvements in working conditions. The organisations accuse the government of dragging its feet over legislation to reform the force.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Portugal: Progress on transposition of European Works Council Directive

  Portugal's long-delayed implementation of the European Work Council Directive moved another stage nearer in December 1998, when the government issued a proposed transposition bill, which is under debate in Parliament in early 1999. At the same time, there has been a renewed debate about EWCs in Portugal, especially in the textiles sector.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Sweden: Talks on pact for growth to reopen after breakdown

  Shortly before the end of 1998, talks on a "pact for growth" between the three Swedish trade union confederations and the SAF private sector employers' confederation broke down. At the beginning of 1999, the Minister for Labour Law placed two mediators at the disposal of the parties, to encourage them to continue the talks.

• 28 Jan 1999
  Sweden: Skills validation system should help foreign workers

  Sweden should establish an organisation for the validation of professional skills, irrespective of where and how they are acquired. This should make it easier to find employment, especially for workers from other countries, according to a report presented to the Minister for Education in December 1998.

• 28 Jan 1999
  EU Countries: Temporary agency work in Europe

  Temporary agency work is a fast-growing model of employment, and the European-level social partners are negotiating over its regulation in 2000. This comparative study: provides brief information on the extent of temporary agency work; examines the extent to which this form of employment is regulated by law and/or collective bargaining; outlines the key points of regulation; and looks at the views of the social partners. We highlight the diversity in national situations and definitions, but detect a number of common trends. Despite rapid growth, the extent to which temporary agency work has spread is still generally modest, and it is concentrated in industry in some countries and in services in others. The way in which temporary agency work is regulated, either by legislation or bargaining, varies between countries and diverges quite distinctly from traditional national industrial relations practices in some cases. The regulatory constraints on companies and the protection to which employees are entitled, as well as the strategies and forms of organisation adopted by the social partners, are also widely divergent.

• 28 Jan 1999
  EU Countries: Le travail intérimaire en Europe

  Le travail intérimaire est un modèle d'emploi qui se développe rapidement, et les partenaires sociaux européens négocient actuellement (2000) sa réglementation. Dans la présente étude comparative, nous donnons de brèves informations sur son importance, nous considérons dans quelle mesure cette forme d'emploi est réglementée par la loi et par les négociations collectives, nous résumons les principaux points des réglementations et examinons les attitudes des partenaires sociaux. Nous mettons en lumière la diversité des situations et définitions nationales, mais nous détectons plusieurs tendances communes. Malgré sa croissance rapide, l'intérim reste limité et il est concentré dans l'industrie dans certains pays et dans les services, dans d'autres. La réglementation de l'intérim, par législation ou par négociation, varie selon les pays et, dans certains cas, s'avère très différente des pratiques nationales traditionnelles en matière de relations sociales. Les contraintes réglementaires imposées aux entreprises et la protection accordée aux employés, ainsi que les stratégies et formes d'organisation adoptées par les partenaires sociaux, varient aussi considérablement.

• 28 Jan 1999
  EU Countries: Zeitarbeit in Europa

  Zeitarbeit ist ein schnell wachsendes Beschäftigungsmodell, und auf europäischer Ebene verhandeln derzeit die Sozialpartner über eine entsprechende Regelung für das Jahr 2000. In dieser vergleichenden Studie sind Kurzinformationen über die Ausmaße der Zeitarbeit aufgeführt. Des weiteren wird untersucht, inwiefern diese Beschäftigungsform gesetzlich und/oder durch Tarifverhandlungen geregelt wird. Die Hauptpunkte der Regelung werden herausgestellt und die Ansichten der Sozialpartner erwogen. Wir heben die Verschiedenheit der einzelstaatlichen Situationen und Definitionen hervor, stellen gleichzeitig aber auch einige gemeinsame Tendenzen fest. Trotz des schnellen Wachstums ist das Maß, in dem sich Zeitarbeit verbreitet hat, allgemein immer noch recht bescheiden, wobei sie sich in einigen Ländern eher auf den Industriesektor und in anderen Ländern wiederum auf den Dienstleistungssektor konzentriert. Die Art und Weise, wie Zeitarbeit reguliert ist - sei es durch Gesetze oder durch Tarifverhandlungen -, ist von Land zu Land unterschiedlich und weicht doch in einigen Fällen in bedeutendem Maße von den traditionellen, auf nationaler Ebene in der Industrie zu beobachtenden Arbeitsverhältnissen ab. Die Durchführungsbeschränkungen für Unternehmen und der Schutz, auf den Arbeitnehmer einen Anspruch haben, sowie die von den Sozialpartnern angenommenen Strategien und Organisationsformen weisen ebenfalls erhebliche Unterschiede auf.

• 28 Jan 1999
  United Kingdom: Recession in engineering intensifies pressures on jobs, pay and working time

  The growth of the UK economy as a whole disguises declining performance in the manufacturing sector in 1998. Industries exposed to intense international competition, such as engineering, are now warning of developments reaching crisis point. With skills shortages limiting the ability of employers to address pay directly, most have focused on redundancies, work reorganisation and working time to enhance flexibility and productivity.

• 28 Jan 1999
  United Kingdom: Industrial relations in German-owned companies in the UK

  Events in the UK during 1998, such as the deal struck at Rover to secure the Longbridge plant and the closure of the Siemens plant on Tyneside, have drawn attention to managerial attitudes towards redundancies and towards consultation and negotiation in German companies in the UK. New research into the human resource management practices of German multinationals operating in the UK sheds light on the issues.

• 28 Jan 1999
  United Kingdom: Government announces refinements to Fairness at work proposals

  In December 1998, the UK Government published details of its forthcoming "Fairness at work" employment rights legislation following consultations on its earlier white paper. The refinements announced were widely seen as signalling a successful outcome for lobbying by employers' groups.

• 28 Jan 1999
  United Kingdom: Equal Opportunities Commission urges new sex equality law

  In November 1998, the Equal Opportunities Commission published proposals for the reform of British sex equality laws. These are now under consideration by the government.

• 28 Jan 1999
  United Kingdom: Union mounts legal challenge to working time Regulations

  In January 1999, the film, broadcasting and theatre trade union, BECTU, was allowed to proceed with a legal challenge to the holiday entitlement provisions of the UK working time Regulations introduced in October 1998. The move could potentially force the government to amend the Regulations.

• 28 Jan 1999
  United Kingdom: TUC reports fewer unions balloting on industrial action

  According to a survey published by the UK's Trades Union Congress in December 1998, balloting on industrial action is at a very low level, increasingly concerns action short of a full strike and normally leads to a negotiated settlement rather than stoppages of work.

• 28 Jan 1999
  United Kingdom: Ex-GCHQ staff win compensation

  In January 1999, a group of former intelligence officers sacked 14 years previously for refusing to leave their trade union were offered compensation by the UK government, ending a long-running trade union campaign.